One of New Zealand’s best-known and punchiest newspapers, the Sunday News, is closing.
Stuff announced today the title would cease publishing on July 28 after 61 years, saying it was “no longer a good fit” for its stable.
The newspaper – infamous for its tabloid headlines– once boasted a circulation of more than 200,000 and was renowned for its in-depth entertainment and sports coverage, especially in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and into the new millennium.
In recent years, however, the newspaper has suffered dramatic circulation and readership declines, as it found itself in a competitive, three-way battle with its Stuff sister paper, the Sunday Star-Times, and NZME’s Herald on Sunday, which was launched in 2004 by predecessor APN.
“We’ve been reviewing our portfolio over the past 12 months and have decided the Sunday News is no longer a good fit for our stable,” Stuff Masthead Publishing managing director Joanna Norrissaid in today’s Sunday News.
How Sunday News announced its closure today.
Over the past two decades, the Herald on Sunday has become New Zealand’s best-read Sunday newspaper – it has 320,000 readers, according to the most recent Nielsen readership survey – up 21,000 year-on-year.
Stuff’s two Sunday papers, the Sunday Star-Times and Sunday News, both suffered readership drops in the same period – the Star-Times down to 176,000 readers from 225,000 a year previously and the Sunday News now down to 129,000 readers from 137,000 at the same time last year.
Sunday News’ demise comes amid a raft of closures of Stuff community titles, as it refocuses resources on its digital journalism and a new digital subscription model.
Similarly, NZ Herald publisher NZME is proposing cutbacks in several of its regional newsrooms, and redirecting resources to its Wellington and Christchurch newsrooms and its business and political teams.
The two digital publishing giants are in a tight race for overall top news website – Stuff had a unique audience of 2.17 million in May, while the NZ Herald had a unique audience of 2.06 million.
The third-placed news website, Newshub, had a unique audience of 1.38 million. That website will no longer be updated after this Friday, leaving huge opportunities for Stuff, the Herald, RNZ and TVNZ.
Norris said in today’s Sunday News that Stuff was open to selling the newspaper.
She said the decision to close the Sunday News was difficult. She said no jobs would be affected.
Stuff Masthead Publishing managing director Joanna Norris. Photo / RNZ
Sunday News editor Tracy Watkins wrote today about some of the paper’s memorable moments.
“The first front page – published October 20, 1963 – was bursting with pride at that success: And A Good Morning To You Too – Did Anyone Say It Was Impossible?’ she wrote.
“So how would Sunday News announce the end of an era for the 61-year-old publication?” wrote Watkins. “In true Sunday News style of course. ‘Stuff’s shock exit from Sunday News!,’ the headline would trumpet. Exclamation mark mandatory.”
The newspaper has had a swag of top-notch editors in its history, including Alan Hitchens, Judy McGregor, Suzanne Chetwin, Clive Nelsonand Watkins herself.
In his recent book, Pressing On, Ian Grant wrote of Sunday News’ circulation successes in the 1970s and 1980s – including under McGregor, who took over as editor in 1983.
Today's front page of the Sunday News.
“She was committed to getting female journalists into executive positions in mainstream media. She also kept a connection with academia, studying part-time for a law degree,” wrote Grant.
“When McGregor took over, the Sunday News – its masthead proudly claiming it to be the People’s Paper – was in remarkably good shape for a paper regularly written off by its critics.
“As Dwight Whitney wrote in Metro: ‘True to its tabloid traditions, the paper’s blend of feisty, frenzied, aggressive and zany news has become as much a part of the nation’s Sunday experience as roasts, relaxation, possibly even God... On a Sunday in less than eight hours, close to 200,000 copies of Sunday News on average are sold. More than 709,000 people, more than a fifth of the population, say they read it’.”
McGregor removed naked women from the newspaper and circulation rose close to 220,000 before the end of her five-year stint.
In 1995, another editor, Suzanne Chetwin, went a step further, removing ads for sex parlours, escort agencies and prostitutes.
The closure of Sunday News continues a raft of cutbacks at New Zealand media firms over the past 15 months – including the closure of Today FM in March 2023, the end of Newshub later this week, and the demise of TVNZ’s Fair Go and Sunday shows last month.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
