Photo: RNZ
Can the proposed marriage of two of New Zealand's biggest media companies recover from an initial Commerce Commission rejection?
The commission's chairman, Mark Berry, says allowing NZME and Fairfax to merge would create a company with too much control of the news.
"The merger would result in one media outlet controlling nearly 90 percent of New Zealand's print media market.
"This would be the second highest level of print media ownership in the world, behind only China."
The two companies say they'll fight on – they now have until next month's public hearing to hone their arguments.
