Stuff scraps 28 community papers, magazines

Yesterday New Zealand's largest newspaper publisher Stuff confirmed plans to close or sell 28 local community and rural newspapers. The news is not entirely unexpected with the difficulties faced by the industry being highlighted by Stuff and rival NZME when they unsuccessfully argued for regulatory approval to merge their operations. But the move will be seen as yet another blow for local journalism which is under pressure from falling advertising revenue. With more on what this means for local journalism and communities themselves we go to the former editor of the Hutt News, Simon Edwards, who is now a Hutt City Councillor.