Bauer's closure leaves a devastated staff and a cultural gap

Thursday, 2 April 2020

A bloody tragedy. A terrible day. Apocalyptic. 

The adjectives were strong and emotional on Thursday as journalists and media figures reacted to German-owned Bauer Media New Zealand, a Hamburg-based company which operates in 17 countries, closing its New Zealand branch.

With the closure came the shutting down of titles read, loved and loathed by generations of New Zealanders - the New Zealand Listener (started in 1939), North & South (1986) Kia Ora, Metro, Home NZ, Your Home & Garden, NZ Woman's Day (1932), New Zealand Woman's Weekly (1932), The Australian Women's Weekly NZ, and Fashion Quarterly (1980).

Bauer's 300 staff gathered at 9am on Thursday for a Zoom call. The closure was effective immediately although staff were told they would be paid redundancy and leave entitlements. Staff reported tears, anger and shock as the news sank in. Outside reaction mourned the gap left in New Zealand's media landscape.

**READ MORE:

* Publisher of Metro, Woman's Day closes in NZ amid coronavirus woes

* Can this man save Woman's Day? Bauer's new boss has a 2-year plan

* Bauer's Australia boss quits, replaced by New Zealand CEO

* Bauer launches Paperboy, sends Metro bi-monthly

* Bauer proposes distribution shake-up, closes Cleo**

Bauer fashion director Sally-Ann Mullin, who has worked for the company for nine years, said she was 'devastated' and 'in shock'.

'It's hard to imagine New Zealand without all these heritage magazine brands on the shelves in the supermarket and in our readers' homes.'

Executive director of the Magazine Publishers' Association Sally Duggan felt the closure was a great loss to Kiwis, and to the wider magazine industry. 

Peter Griffin, a Listener writer for 10 years, said the closure was 'heartbreaking'.

'A terrible day for the media.'

'It's like the apocalypse has hit the publishing industry right now. It's like nothing is sacred anymore,' former Fashion Quarterly editor Fiona Hawtin said.

Former Metro editor Simon Wilson called the magazines cultural and community treasures and Listener columnist Bill Ralston described the closure as a 'bloody tragedy'.

The severe economic impact of Covid-19 and the 'untenable' position the business was put in was to blame, said Bauer chief executive Brendon Hill.

Bauer's magazines could not be published during the lockdown as they were not classed as an essential media service under the Level 4 emergency.

However, it was the post-lockdown phase that Hill seemed to be worried about.

'Publishing in New Zealand is very dependent on advertising revenue and it is highly unlikely that demand will ever return to pre-crisis levels,' his statement said.

The company had 'engaged' with the Government, he said, but he neglected to mention it had turned down the wage subsidy worth about $500,000 and a Government business finance guarantee. 

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she was gutted at the closure.

The magazines were part of New Zealand's history and she 'deeply regretted' the fact that Bauer did not take the Government up on the wage scheme.

Bauer had come to the Government to say it would not be taking up the scheme and she questioned claims the company shut in New Zealand because of Covid-19.

While many commentators lamented the death of the magazines, the eulogies might be premature. Horton Media, based in Queensland, and Sydney-based Mercury Capital are touted as potential buyers.

Ardern said the Government wanted to see the company continue to operate, maybe with more of an online presence.

Although Hill said no buyers for the iconic titles had yet been found, it's a sure bet interested parties were prudently waiting to see what transpired. A fire sale is always better for buyers. Although time will tell, the demise of the publications is far from sure.

The current environment is not, however, conducive to businesses making brave investment decisions. All media companies have their hands full trying to survive while reporting an unprecedented catastrophe.

The most prominent title facing the end is the Listener and many New Zealanders will also miss the deep probes and fine writing in North and South and Metro.

Readers will yearn for their favourites in each of the publications, be it the Listener quiz or crime and travel features by Mike White in North and South.

The deeper loss, however, is the removal of the resource provided by a stable of talented and productive journalists who provided both variety, diversity and healthy competition for other publications.

'They have employed some of the country's best journalists and opinion leaders and provided in-depth analysis and context to daily news,' Duggan said.

Former Listener editor Finlay Macdonald said Bauer's exit would leave a 'massive gap in the market,' particularly in the areas of long-form investigative journalism and criticism.

The Listener has been part of New Zealand households since June 1939 when it started as a weekly broadcasting guide owned by state broadcasting. In its heyday it sold 400,000 copies a week and published work by authors like Janet Frame, Denis Glover, Noel Hilliard and Joy Cowley. It made household names of political humorist Tom Scott and feminist columnist Rosemary McLeod.

More recent generations have enjoyed Jane Clifton's cheerfully insightful political columns, the brilliant reviews of Diana Wichtel, Chris Slane's cartoons and health features by Donna Chisholm. It used to be a regarded as a left wing bulwark against National governments but in the last 16 years under editor Pamela Stirling it took a more centrist approach.

The big question for the media industry and for the Government is why Bauer was the first media company to fold and whether others will follow. 

Even before Covid-19 put many businesses on life support, most media organisations were already fragile and bleeding money due to the predations of Google and Facebook on limited advertising revenue. 

TV3 is in a fight for its life and NZME, which publishes the New Zealand Herald, this week warned staff about job cuts and redundancies.

Duggan wanted the Government to reconsider its treatment of magazines.

'We urge the government to provide clear direction…and allow magazines to deliver their product to readers as soon as possible. We  believe our tight supply chains mean that magazine publication is not a safety risk and that magazines are a rich and important source of quality information and news coverage that we can ill-afford to shut down at this time of crisis.' 

In a piece written for Newsroom, Macdonald questioned whether the financial turndown was as abrupt as Bauer made out, saying the crisis might provide 'an opportunity and a cover for companies to do things they wanted to but knew they couldn't, or couldn't do as radically under normal circumstances'.

It was 'extraordinary' that the cultural voice of the Listener was now potentially lost.

'How the hell did one foreign company end up owning nearly all the magazines in one country? We're getting fewer and fewer voices and outlets for citizens and consumers, which can't be healthy,' Macdonald said. 

'It's strange and ironic that the Fourth Estate is taking such a hammering now in a state of Government-imposed lockdown when all kinds of democratic and constitutional assumptions are being tested and we need the media more than ever.'

Woman's Weekly editor-turned-columnist Wendyl Nissen said the classification of magazines as non-essential would have contributed to their demise.

'It's just ridiculous – it's like saying a box of cereal or a packet of cigarettes is non-essential –  but they're still allowed to be sold. I don't know how magazines were supposed to be spreading a bloody disease.'

Previous editors also pondered the place and purpose of the magazines in New Zealand society.  

Former NZ Woman's Weekly editor Fiona Fraser said: 'For lots of Kiwis, particularly those living alone, or living rurally, getting their copy of The Listener or NZ Woman's Weekly delivered or picking it up with the shopping was something to look forward to.

'Bauer produced titles that really understood New Zealanders and I think we're all going to feel this loss very deeply,' she said.

'There are some absolute treasures on the Bauer roster, magazines that are, in my mind, absolutely irreplaceable.'

​Jeremy Hansen, who edited Home magazine for 11 years and was later editor of Paperboy magazine, said the loss of so many titles was a massive blow to New Zealand culture.

'These magazines were cultural trackers for the ways in which we looked at ourselves and reflected on our society. It's a bit hard to process at this stage what it's going to be like without them in the media landscape.'

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