William Gifford took a big hit to his wallet by publishing the Bay of Plenty Times at a loss during World War I.
The former owner and editor of the paper played a "huge" role in Tauranga during the war years by keeping residents up to date right from the start of the war to the end.
Mr Gifford's role in the war will be commemorated at a new exhibition that will be held at Classic Flyers from April 23.
Fiona Kean, Tauranga City Council cultural heritage co-ordinator, said Mr Gifford's role was huge.
"I don't think it could be overstated really. He kept the whole town up to date with the war and he provided a lot of that information free because he set up a board outside the Times office and people were able to get that news.
"They didn't need to buy the paper, which wasn't great for him financially, but he saw it as a community service really. The part he played for Tauranga was tremendous really."
When the war broke out, Mr Gifford increased the paper from three days a week to a daily to keep people informed but, in 1916, he had to take it back to three days a week because it was uneconomic and "prices went through the roof", Mrs Kean said.
He also had trouble keeping staff as the men were all going to war.
"By 1917 the paper was running at a loss. I think a lot of that had to do with Gifford, rather than looking for subscriptions and making people pay for the news, he was basically giving it away.
"He could have, during this time, very easily capitalised on that, and he chose not to, so I think he deserves a lot of recognition for that."
During the war, the Bay of Plenty Times office was renamed the Local War Office, indicating how important it was to Tauranga.
"That was the name they gave the Bay of Plenty Times. It was the heart in the centre of everything, it's where people learned about what was going on overseas.
"It was such a different time. You couldn't go to the internet, you couldn't turn on your radio to hear the news. Literally the paper and what you heard word of mouth and what you got in letters being sent home, that's all you knew.
"I think that's something that would be hard for people to get their heads around now."
Exhibition manager Michelle Whitmore, of Metro Marketing, said wartime letters to the Bay of Plenty Times editor provided a good insight into the sentiment of the time, and so were a valuable source when collating exhibition information.