Silence greets paper’s closing

Press, 27 April 1989, Page 4

Silence greets paper’s closing

PA New Plymouth Downcast faces and a stunned silence greeted Monday’s announcement that the country’s oldest newspaper, the "Taranaki Herald,” would close. But Taranaki Newspapers, Ltd, staff gathered to hear the news say they were not surprised by the details. Rumours had been running through the office for weeks. However, nothing prepared those directly affected for the finality of the announcement, the chief reporter, Bob Maetzig, said. "The tension has been terrible. It was bad news. The last week was just awful because we couldn’t get any sense out of anyone and there were all these rumours flying around,” he said. “But you only had to look at the advertising ratios to realise that the paper was pretty well gone.” The 137-year-old evening newspaper’s editorial staff was told briefly about its closing at 11.05 a.m. on Monday. Five minutes later the I.N.L. general manager, Mr Kevin Nielsen, was reading an official statement. Some people simply stared at the floor. Others patted shoulders. Lots of people cried. One of the “Herald” sub-editors clutched at her pay slip with tears rolling down her cheeks. Mr Maetzig said that while it took time for the shock to wear off on Monday, by Tuesday evening most of the staff had sorted out their options. “Most are taking the redundancy money. Some are thinking about going overseas or at least to other places. I don’t think there’s any real problem. Everything as far as the journalists are concerned should be 0.K.,” he said. While Mr Maetzig reviewed nearly 13 years of employment with the “Herald,” it was a different matter for the paper’s newest employee who had worked on the subbing bench for just a week and a day. Steven Ankar, a former employee of the “Daily News,” had been hired after moving back to New Plymouth from Melbourne with his Australian wife. “We’ve just bought a house. It’s been a bit of a blow for us having come here for the job. New Zealand appealed to us so much we thought we’d make a go of it here,” Ankar said.