'Evolving with its community': New name for The Dominion Post

Thursday, 13 April 2023

Wellington’s daily newspaper, The Dominion Post, has announced it is changing its name, removing the word dominion.

The paper, which was established in 2002 through a merger of The Dominion and The Evening Post is being renamed as The Post.

“As an independently owned New Zealand company, we are under no-one’s dominion. New Zealand’s status as a dominion ended in 1945 when we joined the United Nations. It’s time for the word to go,” editor Caitlin Cherry said.

“We thought carefully about what we wanted The Post to represent now and into the future.”

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Cherry said the newspaper was evolving with its community.

The newspaper is owned by Stuff Ltd, which was bought by Wellingtonian Sinead Boucher in 2020, bringing the company into New Zealand ownership for the first time.

The group owns 48 newspapers in New Zealand, several of which are more than 150 years old. Other titles include The Press, Waikato Times and Sunday Star-Times, as well as several community papers, magazines, local social network Neighbourly and New Zealand’s biggest digital site, Stuff.co.nz.

“The Dominion Post as a paper is only 21, which is pretty young in newspaper terms. But think how much our lives, our society, our culture and outlook has changed in that time,” Boucher said.

“It felt appropriate that the paper of the capital city reflects the changes that have happened in our broader society, and keeps pace with New Zealand’s changing view of itself.”

Boucher said the change to the paper was about much more than the name change. The next two weeks would be given over to celebrating the 150 years of history of The Dominion Post and its antecedents, the Evening Post and the Dominion before the new paper was welcomed into existence.

Several other New Zealand newspapers have changed their names over the years, in response to commercial changes or changes in their communities.