The Structure and Functions of the Press in New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis describes the general functions of the New Zealand news media system and the structure, organisation and control of both the daily press and broadcasting and television services in New Zealand. In order to analyse the performance of daily newspapers in detail, a methodology is laid down for the quantitative description of the subject content of newspapers. A sample of the wire copy transmitted to daily newspapers in New Zealand by the New Zealand Press Association is analysed and a study is made of the news selection and display practices observed by 16 daily newspapers in their handling of this material. Further samples of the content of the same 16 daily papers are then analysed in order to obtain characteristic subject content descriptions and to provide material for a generalised discussion of the way in which the newspapers appear to be exercising their functions. This leads to a treatment of the problems facing the New Zealand daily press and a brief outline of the role of the New Zealand Press Association in the New Zealand news media system, as well as a discussion of the possibilities that exist for the improved education and training of journalists. The work then concludes with a set of appendices in which the full texts of various documents are reproduced, as well as a bibliography of literature relevant to the general field of research on the New Zealand mass media.