BOOK REVIEW: Stop Press: The Last Days of Newspapers (Rachel Buchanan, Scribe)

From her first job as a junior reporter at a local paper in New Zealand to her time as a subeditor at the Age in the early 1990s, Rachel Buchanan has had an intimate relationship with print media. In 2012, after a decade out of the newspaper business, Buchanan returned as a subeditor for Fairfax Editorial Services in New Zealand, joining a team created to take over the subbing of numerous Australian newspapers. The world of newspapers was being turned upside down: subediting was being outsourced, printing presses were shutting and many journalists, editors and printers had lost their jobs. What did this mean for the future of the industry? How much longer would people hold a printed newspaper in their hands? Buchanan travelled between Australia and New Zealand to answer these and many other questions, and has pulled together a fascinating history of newspaper production in both countries. This is a deeply personal and emotional account, but necessarily so; it is a story of people losing their professions and countries losing cultural cornerstones. Buchanan’s account could have benefited from more discussion about why these fundamental shifts are taking place: why are Australians and New Zealanders reading fewer printed newspapers? Why do media companies believe outsourcing is the answer? Nevertheless, this book fills a gap by telling the stories of the many people who have dedicated their lives to making newspapers.

Tags: Elly KeatingRachel BuchananscribeStop PressThe Last Days of Newspapers

Category: Fancy Goods Reviews