''The Timaru Herald'' is a daily provincial newspaper serving the

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

South Canterbury South Canterbury is the area of the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand bounded by the Rangitata River in the north and the Waitaki River (the border with the Otago Region) to the south. The Pacific Ocean and ridge of the Southe ...

and North

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

districts of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The current audited daily circulation is about 14,500 copies, with a readership of about 31,000 people. The paper is owned by media company Stuff Ltd.

History

The ''Timaru Herald'' was first founded by '' Thames Advertiser'' co-owner Alfred G. Horton in 1864. In 1872, he sold the newspaper to fund a lengthy visit to England. Initially it appeared as a weekly paper, and then in bi- and tri-weekly form, before eventually becoming a daily morning paper from 1875. By the mid–1870s, the ''Timaru Herald'' had become the dominant newspaper in Timaru with its main rival being the ''South Canterbury Times''. In early 1876, the newspaper launched a weekly newspaper, which was later renamed the ''Geraldine County Chronicle'' in 1879. The ''Chronicle'' ceased publication in late 1884. By 1885, the journalist T. Triggs worked as an editor for ''The Herald''. When the newspaper was sold in 1886, he left to work for the

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

–based ''The Press''. In 1887, the former businessman and mayor Edward G. Kerr acquired the ''Timaru Herald'', bringing both the ''Herald'' and ''South Canterbury Times'' under his ownership. The ''Herald'' has a history of technical innovation within the New Zealand newspaper industry. At the beginning of the 20th century it became one of the first New Zealand daily papers to replace hand-composed type with Linotype setting. In 1914 the company began New Zealand's first daily rural mail and newspaper delivery service. In 1918, the ''Timaru Herald'' acquired the ''North Otago Times'', which it managed until 1930. For a brief period in the 1920s the Herald was edited by John Hardcastle. He was a journalist with the Herald for about 40 years, but he was also a very keen amateur scientist who has subsequently gained fame for his studies on

loess Loess (, ; from german: Löss ) is a clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loess or similar deposits. Loess is a periglacial or aeolian ...

and is now seen as a significant pioneer in the study of

palaeoclimatology Paleoclimatology (American and British English spelling differences, British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the study of climates for which direct measurements were not taken. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the ...

. By 1957 the ''Timaru Herald'' was offering two-colour printing, and in 1988 the paper introduced direct copy entry by journalists. During the late 1980s it was the first newspaper in the South Pacific to employ fully computerised

page layout In graphic design, page layout is the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives. The high-level page layout involves deciding on the ov ...

and production systems. In 2005 printing moved to Guardian Print, of Ashburton. In April 2013 printing moved to Fairfax Print & Logistics in

. Since 30 April 2018, it is published six days a week, Monday to Friday in a tabloid format, and on Saturdays in a broadsheet format, with full process colour printing. It was previously printed in a broadsheet format on Monday to Friday.

Community newspapers

The ''South Canterbury Herald'' (formerly the ''High Country Herald'') is a weekly newspaper, delivered on Wednesdays. It is free to residents and can be viewed free at the Fairfax Media Digital Edition website (under Select Title). It is distributed to Timaru, Temuka, Geraldine, Waimate, Pleasant Point, Albury, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Ohau, Twizel, Mount Cook and rural mail deliveries in these areas. The ''Waitaki Herald'' is a bi-weekly newspaper, delivered on Wednesdays and Fridays to Oamaru, Kurow, Omarama, Otematata, Maheno, Hampden, Herbert, Moeraki, Palmerston and rural mail deliveries in these areas.

References

External links

''The Timaru Herald''

''The Timaru Herald'' – Daily Newspaper Cover
{{DEFAULTSORT:Timaru Herald Newspapers published in New Zealand Mass media in Timaru Publications established in 1864 Stuff (company) 1864 establishments in New Zealand

History

Community newspapers

References

Further reading

External links