Newspaper industry honours The Gisborne Herald’s managing director

NPA LIFE MEMBER: Michael Muir receives a certificate of life membership from News Publishers' Association (NPA) general manager Brook Cameron. Picture supplied

Long service to the News Publishers' Association (NPA) and the newspaper industry was recognised last week when The Gisborne Herald's managing director, Michael Muir, became a life member of the NPA.

The honour was a surprise for Mr Muir. It was announced during the NPA annual meeting in Wellington and celebrated over a dinner that night with family, members of the NPA and industry associates.

Mr Muir has served on various newspaper industry boards and committees since 1969 and was president of the NPA from 2007 to 2016.

NPA president Michael Boggs, chief executive of The New Zealand Herald owner NZME, said he was delighted to bestow this honour on Mr Muir.

NPA general manager Brook Cameron said: “Michael is wonderful to work with and provides regular insight and context to all areas the association operates in and I value this immensely.”

Sir Julian Smith, chairman of Dunedin-based Allied Press and a fellow life member of the NPA, said: “Michael has been a stalwart of the industry for many, many years. He has been a tireless worker . . . and has been a great member of the international organisations associated with the newspaper industry.”

Mr Muir became involved in the newspaper industry thanks to his great-great grandfather James Muir, who was one of three men who printed New Zealand's first newspaper in 1840.

His great-grandfather took full ownership of the Poverty Bay Herald in 1887 (which became The Gisborne Herald in 1939).

Mr Muir is the fifth generation to follow in the family footsteps and has now been with The Gisborne Herald — one of only four independently owned daily newspapers in New Zealand — for 55 years. His contributions to business management and the community were recognised in 1993 with the awarding of an OBE.