Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa

By Freerange Press

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Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism In Aotearoa

Project 2016-05-17 13:39:00 +1200

Can you support us to help reimagine journalism in Aotearoa NZ?

 

Lay-offs. Online convergence. A mass of content and noise. Citizen journalists, clickbait and PR. Digital platforms. Political influence. Mainstream media. Funding. Regulations... There are many factors contributing to the changing mediascape today in Aotearoa.

 

Freerange Press –  the small, independent and cooperative press that published Once in a Lifetime: City-building after Disaster in Christchurch plus Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV –  is making a book about journalism in New Zealand and we need your help to bring it into the world.

 

Don’t Dream It’s Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand is a multi-author book that explores the changing nature of journalism in this country: as it once was, as it is today, and how we might imagine it working in the future.

 

We need to raise $11,500 to print this important and beautiful 300-page book in New Zealand. 

 

"Journalism today is facing more pressure and change but also more opportunity than ever before. To have such a diverse range of views on reimagining journalism is important in navigating what happens next - both for those in the industry and those who value what journalism in New Zealand should look like." – Paula Penfold (contributing author)

We have gathered a wide range of voices together to build an in-depth discussion on a rapidly changing industry. Don’t Dream It’s Over looks at how journalism is changing in response to the current environment and how it might flourish again. The book explores the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional media and seeks new directions we could take to enhance journalism’s role as the fourth estate and as an important pillar of democracy.

 

We have contributions from a broad range of highly-respected, experienced journalists, commentators, academics, writers, thinkers, designers, as well as emerging journalists. The contributors include Peter Arnett, Brent Edwards, Mihingarangi Forbes, Toby Morris, Paula Penfold, Nicky Hager, Morgan Godfery, Simon Wilson, Cate Brett, Sara Vui-Talitu and many more (see below).

 

 

 

Why pledge for this book?

 

 ‘We are at a critical time for journalism in New Zealand – either reimagine the future of media or watch it wither. And it’s not enough to reimagine a future based on the old media models – we need to reorganize and rethink the role of journalism a society where anyone can report news. Pausing to reflect, take stock and generate new perspectives on New Zealand’s journalism industry – as this book does - is an important step in this reimagining.’ – Hannah Spyksma (contributing author)  

 

This topic deserves attention. It deserves the kind of close, slow and deep attention only a book can provide. But as you are probably aware, making books in New Zealand is expensive. So we are asking you to pledge for Reimagining Journalism. If you think this topic is important too, please help us spread awareness and strengthen the quality of debate around the challenges and opportunities facing journalism.

 

The budget

 

Creative NZ is generously helping us to pay the contributors for their work. Two other great sponsors have also contributed funds towards the costs. The contributors are being paid, but below market rates (a few have even generously waived their fees or donated their fee to charity). As you will see in the budget below, we need to crowdfund to help pay for the printing of this book in New Zealand, to cover the remaining costs, and to pay everyone, a little, for their work.  

 

COSTS

 

Support and funding

 

Contributor fees

13480

CNZ funding for contributor fees

5000

Design, marketing, admin and proofing

5600

Simpson Grierson, Auckland University of Technology

7000

Printing fees (1500 books)

16,700

Freerange loans

12,600

Total costs

35,780

Total financing

24,600

 

The difference between our costs and financing is $11,180 – so we are crowdfunding for $11,500 to get us over the line (and pay our crowdfunding fees). This will help us with the cashflow issue involved with a large printing bill, and make sure the project covers its costs. 

 

Once we have gathered these funds, we can print the book! Then once it is released, we will sell it through bookstores. Bookstores buy books at 60% of the retail price, that’s how they survive! This means that if we sell all the books - after providing contributor and review copies, and having paid loans back - we would make $16,604. This might take a year or two. This ‘profit’ money will be invested into future Freerange collaborative projects on other important topics. (Some of the funding for this book is the surplus from our two big books about the Christchurch recovery.)

 

We are asking you to pledge for this important discussion and to allow us to bring the book to to the public, and to support us in making a valuable contribution to journalism and to how the country understands and defines itself in the media.

 

We are really excited about the list of contributors that are supporting this project and the wonderful things they have written for the book:

  • Peter Arnett is Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent (one of the only New Zealanders to win this honour for jounalism). He has spent a lifetime covering wars and international crises for major American news organizations. Arnett is best known for his live television coverage from Baghdad during the first Gulf War in 1991, including his interview with President Saddam Hussein.
  • Brent Edwards has been a journalist for more than thirty years, and is now director of news gathering at Radio New Zealand.
  • Paula Penfold is an award-winning investigative journalist and has worked on 60 Minutes, 3rd Degree, 3D and 3D Investigates.
  • Simon Wilson is the editor-at-large at Metro, Auckland’s award-winning magazine of current affairs and culture.
  • Mihingarangi Forbes is an award-winning journalist, who started out at Te Karere Maori News as a rookie and now divides her time between RNZ and TV3's The Hui.
  • Nicky Hager  has produced six books since 1996, and is the only New Zealand member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
  • Naomi Arnold is an award-winning freelance journalist who writes regularly for New Zealand’s top magazines and newspapers.
  • Chris Barton is the architecture critic for Metro magazine and teaches part time at the Auckland School of Architecture. His journalism career spans 30 years.
  • Adjunct Associate Professor Jim Tully is the Adjunct Associate Professor with the School of Language, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Canterbury.
  • Nicola Gaston is a New Zealand scientist and academic, and the author of Why Science Is Sexist, published as a BWB text by Bridget Williams Books
  • Nick Bollinger is a writer, critic and broadcaster. He has been a music columnist for The Listener and presents the music review programme The Sampler on RNZ National.
  • Morgan Godfery is a writer and trade unionist based in Wellington. His writing regularly appears in the Guardian and the Herald.
  • Cate Brett is an award winning writer with 20 years of experience as a journalist, including a five-year stint as editor of the Sunday Star Times
  • Murdoch Stephens is the spokesperson and researcher for Doing Our Bit – a campaign that seeks to double New Zealand’s refugee quota.
  • Richard Pamatatau leads the Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism at Auckland University of Technology.  He worked on The Dominion, The New Zealand Herald and Radio New Zealand.
  • Sara Vui-Talitu is a journalism academic at Auckland University of Technology.  She is a Qantas award winner known for her extensive work at Radio New Zealand as a specialist journalist covering the Pacific region.
  • Toby Morris is a cartoonist, illustrator and designer who produces the non-fiction comic The Pencilsword for The Wireless, and the weekly column Toby & Toby for RNZ.
  • Hannah Sperber is a former staff writer at North & South magazine, who now works as an adviser to Labour MP David Shearer (Foreign Affairs).
  • Dr. Peter A. Thompson is a senior lecturer in the media studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington.
  • Russell Brown was founding host of RNZ’s Mediawatch and TVNZ7’s Media 7. He writes the blog Hard News, which continues to this day as part of Russell's Public Address group blog site, where it became the first blog to win a Qantas Media Award.
  • Giovanni Tiso is an Italian writer and translator based in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
  • Dr Sarah Baker is a lecturer at AUT’s in the school of communication She is the co-founder of the AUT Popular Culture Research Centre
  • Peter Griffin is the founding manager of the Science Media Centre and the founder and editor of Sciblogs.
  • Sarah Illingworth is a journalist and writer. She edits Impolitikal.com, a digital-only publication with a social, political focus.
  • Geoff Lealand writes about, teaches and creates media. He has been doing this in Screen and Media Studies at the University of Waikato since 1992. 
  • Alex Stone has written a weekly column for nearly twenty years, called In the Wind, for the island's feisty newspaper Gulf News - never missing a week in the entire tenure of the column.
  • Dr Michalia Arathimos is a writer and academic. She has published work in Best New Zealand Fiction Volume 4, Lost in Translation: New Zealand Short Stories, Sport, JAAM, Turbine, Metro, The NZ Listener and Headland.
  • Dr Thomas Owen is a lecturer, author and filmmaker, based at Auckland University of Technology. 
  • Hannah Spyksma holds a joint MA in journalism, media and globalisation from Aarhus University and University of Hamburg. She is interested in exploring new forms of journalism.
  • Ron Hanson is the founding editor of arts magazine White Fungus. Beginning in Wellington in 2004, the publication is now based in Taiwan and distributed in more than 20 countries.
  • Jono Hutchison is the head of digital news at MediaWorks. He has also been a freelance writer for the New York Times since 2010.
  • John Sellwood has been a broadcast journalist in radio and television for 35 years. He runs Telling Lives, a small media company focused on producing bespoke stories and visual content for businesses, community groups, individuals and families.

 Group contributions:

  • Joe Cederwall (a writer, social entrepreneur and advocate for human rights and the commons with a grounding in law and anthropology) with David Bollier (an American author, activist, blogger and consultant who explores the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture) and Max Rashbrooke (an established journalist and author of Wealth and New Zealand editor of the best-selling Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis)

  • Michel Bauwens, (the founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives, which works in collaboration with a global group of researchers in the exploration of peer production, governance, and property) in conversation with Alastair Thompson (the co-founder of Scoop and winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work).

  • Beck Eleven (a freelance writer and columnist who worked for the Press for almost a decade) in conversation with Gerard Smyth (an award-winning film maker with a strong and long history in telling New Zealand stories, having produced and/or directed over 60 documentaries).

  • Matt Galloway (lecturer at the Otago Polytechnic School of Design), Jeremy Hansen (Home magazine), Esther Kirkland-Smith (design editor at Dominion Post), Delaney Tabron (designer of No magazine) talk about the challenges and opportunities of journalism from a designer’s perspective.

  • AUT journalism students – a group of students from AUT discuss their reasons for entering the industry now and what excites them about it.

This book is being designed by Jessica Tabke, a freelance graphic designer who has worked in the cultural sector since graduating in 2014. Her practice explores typography, publication design and printing.

 

About Freerange Press

Freerange Press is a small, independent press that makes unique, beautiful books through a collaborative approach to content generation and curation. We are a cooperative and rely on the goodwill of many to help us do the work we do.

We have published Once in a Lifetime: City-building after Disaster in Christchurch plus Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. We are very proud of both of these titles – Graham Beattie called the Transitional City book ‘an inspiring piece of publishing’ while Will Harvie from The Press called Once in a Lifetime ‘the most important earthquake book so far’.  We are really excited about this project and will produce another beautiful book.

To find out more about Freerange Press, please click here.

Like us on Facebook
 

 

Comments

Updates 5

Hot off the press!

23/08/2016 at 11:59 AM

The advance copies of Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand have arrived! So thank you all for making this book a reality.

If you are in Christchurch, we would love for you to join us at the launch this Sunday night (28 August), 6.30pm on the first floor of the Unimed Building (165 Gloucester St) to celebrate. If your reward was a copy of the book, you will be able to collect it at the launch!

There is a panel discussion beforehand (a ticketed event for the WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival) featuring some of our fantastic contributing writers. Join Cate Honoré Brett, Simon Wilson, Morgan Godfery, Duncan Greive and Paula Penfold in discussion with Russell Brown.

If you live in Auckland and Wellington, please visit our events page to find out more about the launches and panel discussions coming your way in the first two weeks of September.

We are very proud. Thank you all for participating in this reimagining.

 

Thank you!

01/07/2016 at 8:33 AM

We did it! Thank you to all who pledged and supported this campaign, and indicated that there is a strong desire for a reimagining of journalism in New Zealand.

In light of your fantastic and timely support, we would like to offer you all a little extra recognition and thank all of you publicly (aside from those who donated anonymously) by listing your names on our website for the book - which will be live soon. We will keep you updated!

Our campaign has one day left,  so if you would like to pre-order a signed copy of the book, or secure one of the other great rewards - now is the time to do so!

And if you would like to know a little bit more about this project, listen to Giovanni Tiso, one of the book editors and the person whose idea this publication was, talk to bFM.

Thank you all once again! We will be back in contact with news of launches, panel events and when the website goes live.

 

 

Seven days to go, go, go!

25/06/2016 at 3:09 PM

We have one week left in our campaign and need to raise another $2019 in pledges in order to reach our target of $11,500. And then we can print this wonderful book in NZ. So big thank yous to all who have supported this campaign thus far.

In this last week we have enjoyed some great progress on the campaign and on the book:

  • Firstly, we would like to acknowledge and thank the wonderful Science Media Centre for their generosity, which took us a lot closer to our target. The good people there help journalists when science is in the headlines by offering expert reaction on the big science-related issues facing society. They also work with journalists across the New Zealand media to inject evidence into stories. (www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz)
  • We had one of our contributing authors, Morgan Godfery (who has written a fantastic essay called 'Against "political commentary"') talk about the book and his thoughts on the state of play of NZ journalism with James Dann on RDU. You can listen to the interview here.
  • We have been working on some pretty spectacular graphics with our wonderful designer Jessica Tabke - all shall be revealed once this book is published!
  •   

 

Seven days to go, $2019 dollars in pledges needed. We are so close to making this fantastic book a reality! If you haven’t already pledged or shared info about the campaign, it would be really great if you could do so, especially with those whom you think would find this topic important.

 

82 Pledgers and 4 pullquotes!

18/06/2016 at 3:31 PM

With two weeks to go in our campaign, 82 supporters have generously donated a total of $4291 to Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. We could not have come this far without you.

So we would like to share with you some short, snappy extracts from the book. Here are some of our favourite quotes thus far:

 

“information must be free”. Now, many people mistakenly belief this must mean gratis, but it is not; it’s free as in free speech, not as in free beer.
- Michel Bauwens (the founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives, which works in collaboration with a global group of researchers in the exploration of peer production, governance, and property)

 

one of the simplest definitions of journalism is ‘being there’

- Brent Edwards (a journalist  with more than thirty years of experience, who is now director of news gathering at Radio New Zealand)

 

we’re liberated to push the genre in an experimental direction. We’re now able to tell stories in whatever format we like. . .

- Paula Penfold (award-winning investigative journalist, who has worked on 60 Minutes, 3rd Degree, 3D and 3D Investigates)

 

We like to keep it fresh on the coconut wireless. News and views about population groups are shared and aired widely, but not always within earshot of outsiders. We don’t have to wait for big newsrooms to break our stories, which have often already been dissected and digested in private spaces. Often many of our stories fall outside the mainstream media spotlight.

- Richard Pamatatau (leads the Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism at AUT) & Sara Vui-Talitu  (Qantas award winner known for her extensive work at Radio New Zealand as a specialist journalist covering the Pacific region)

Thanks for all of the support, but if you feel this topic is important, do let others know about it and help us to reach our target. Two weeks to go!

 

 

 

A third of the way there!

14/06/2016 at 9:15 AM

Firstly, a big thank you to all who have supported this project thus far - we are one third of the way there! Please continue to help spread the word.

A lot of issues and themes have emerged in the making of Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, so we wanted to thank you by sharing some extracts with you throughout the campaign and introducing you to some of the wonderful contributors.

In his piece Chris Barton takes a look at layoffs, commercial pressures, the culture of the newsroom (among many other things) and the effects these various elements have on the quality of journalism produced in mainstream media. This gives rise to the question 'How can we help serious, in-depth journalism flourish again?'.

Here he opens his piece 'Anatomy of redundancy: suffocation of long-form journalism in New Zealand':

When the end came, in December 2012, it was brutal. I was called to a meeting in an editor’s office. It was immediately clear that, to all intents and purposes, I had ceased to exist. The editor began an Orwellian recital from the how-to-make-someone-disappear handbook. The routine required another editor, a long time colleague, to sit silently beside him, his main purpose seeming to be to avoid eye contact.  Tough economic times meant the paper couldn’t ‘sustain some roles going forward’. They proposed to disestablish my position. ‘It’s only a proposal at this stage,’ insisted the editor. ‘No decision has been made.’ Yeah, right. ‘It’s got nothing to do,’ he said, ‘with your performance.’

The performance. Fifteen years with the newspaper. Ten awards – seven for features, one for reporting, two for columns, and the Wolfson Press Fellowship in 2009. My more cynical colleagues always said those things meant nothing. You secretly hoped they did. Turns out they don’t.

 

If you wish to read these fantastic contributions in full, please do help us bring this important book into the world by pledging and/or spreading the word about our campaign.

 

Chris Barton is the architecture critic for Metro magazine and teaches part time at the Auckland School of Architecture as well as working as a freelance journalist. His journalism spans 30 years in newspapers and magazines including 7 years as the founding editor of New Zealand PC World and 15 years at the New Zealand Herald, starting as IT editor and then as a senior feature writer. Barton, who has a Master of Architecture, has won numerous media awards, including, in 2009, journalism's top prize, the Wolfson Press Fellowship to Cambridge and, in 2014, the Canon Media Awards Reviewer of the Year.

 

    Pledgers 166

    Rebecca Macfie
    23/06/2016 at 7:49am
    Rod Oram
    22/06/2016 at 12:40pm

    "Greatly looking forward to reading the book...and to NZ journalism's robust future!"

    Phil Stewart
    22/06/2016 at 9:23am
    Ayla Grimgood
    22/06/2016 at 12:36am

    "Best of luck!"

    Anonymous pledger
    21/06/2016 at 1:23pm

    "This is an important initiative. Well done for spotting the need and attending to it. S,"

    natalie wilson
    21/06/2016 at 12:29pm
    David ten Have
    21/06/2016 at 12:12pm
    Vanessa Rushton
    21/06/2016 at 9:54am
    Arif Rasheed
    20/06/2016 at 10:42pm

    "Glad to flick something into this hat! Stop complaining about the state of the media and put some clean money with your mouth is! "

    Rosalee Jenkin
    20/06/2016 at 9:48pm
    Andrew Riddell
    20/06/2016 at 9:27pm
    Anonymous pledger
    20/06/2016 at 8:31pm
    Harry Chapman
    20/06/2016 at 7:29pm
    david rohan
    20/06/2016 at 5:36pm
    Tiaria Fletcher
    20/06/2016 at 4:13pm

    "So excited about this initiative...nga mihi ki a koutou katoa - Kia Kaha!"

    Lesley Parker
    20/06/2016 at 2:03pm
    Jamie Scott
    20/06/2016 at 9:59am
    Peter Griffin
    20/06/2016 at 9:59am
    Sam Gribben
    20/06/2016 at 9:47am

    "Sounds like a great book. Important now more than ever. "

    Dennis Scott
    20/06/2016 at 9:39am

    "Diversity of opinion and a voice in a complex world is now more critical than ever. "

    Rhys Taylor
    19/06/2016 at 9:43pm

    "Looking forward to the rediscovery of public broadcasting and investigative journalism in NZ, assisted by the net."

    Janet Bland
    19/06/2016 at 7:56pm
    Alan Wylde
    19/06/2016 at 2:13pm
    Anonymous pledger
    18/06/2016 at 4:18pm
    Nick Laurence
    18/06/2016 at 7:40am

    "The state of journalism worries me a lot - thanks for doing something about it!"

    Anonymous pledger
    17/06/2016 at 9:00pm
    Dan Liu
    17/06/2016 at 2:47pm
    Mike Hornblow
    17/06/2016 at 1:59pm
    Simon Palenski
    16/06/2016 at 8:25pm
    Steph Walker
    16/06/2016 at 7:31pm

    Followers 2

    Followers of Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa

    Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism In Aotearoa

    Project 2016-05-17 13:39:00 +1200

    Can you support us to help reimagine journalism in Aotearoa NZ?

     

    Lay-offs. Online convergence. A mass of content and noise. Citizen journalists, clickbait and PR. Digital platforms. Political influence. Mainstream media. Funding. Regulations... There are many factors contributing to the changing mediascape today in Aotearoa.

     

    Freerange Press –  the small, independent and cooperative press that published Once in a Lifetime: City-building after Disaster in Christchurch plus Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV –  is making a book about journalism in New Zealand and we need your help to bring it into the world.

     

    Don’t Dream It’s Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand is a multi-author book that explores the changing nature of journalism in this country: as it once was, as it is today, and how we might imagine it working in the future.

     

    We need to raise $11,500 to print this important and beautiful 300-page book in New Zealand. 

     

    "Journalism today is facing more pressure and change but also more opportunity than ever before. To have such a diverse range of views on reimagining journalism is important in navigating what happens next - both for those in the industry and those who value what journalism in New Zealand should look like." – Paula Penfold (contributing author)

    We have gathered a wide range of voices together to build an in-depth discussion on a rapidly changing industry. Don’t Dream It’s Over looks at how journalism is changing in response to the current environment and how it might flourish again. The book explores the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional media and seeks new directions we could take to enhance journalism’s role as the fourth estate and as an important pillar of democracy.

     

    We have contributions from a broad range of highly-respected, experienced journalists, commentators, academics, writers, thinkers, designers, as well as emerging journalists. The contributors include Peter Arnett, Brent Edwards, Mihingarangi Forbes, Toby Morris, Paula Penfold, Nicky Hager, Morgan Godfery, Simon Wilson, Cate Brett, Sara Vui-Talitu and many more (see below).

     

     

     

    Why pledge for this book?

     

     ‘We are at a critical time for journalism in New Zealand – either reimagine the future of media or watch it wither. And it’s not enough to reimagine a future based on the old media models – we need to reorganize and rethink the role of journalism a society where anyone can report news. Pausing to reflect, take stock and generate new perspectives on New Zealand’s journalism industry – as this book does - is an important step in this reimagining.’ – Hannah Spyksma (contributing author)  

     

    This topic deserves attention. It deserves the kind of close, slow and deep attention only a book can provide. But as you are probably aware, making books in New Zealand is expensive. So we are asking you to pledge for Reimagining Journalism. If you think this topic is important too, please help us spread awareness and strengthen the quality of debate around the challenges and opportunities facing journalism.

     

    The budget

     

    Creative NZ is generously helping us to pay the contributors for their work. Two other great sponsors have also contributed funds towards the costs. The contributors are being paid, but below market rates (a few have even generously waived their fees or donated their fee to charity). As you will see in the budget below, we need to crowdfund to help pay for the printing of this book in New Zealand, to cover the remaining costs, and to pay everyone, a little, for their work.  

     

    COSTS

     

    Support and funding

     

    Contributor fees

    13480

    CNZ funding for contributor fees

    5000

    Design, marketing, admin and proofing

    5600

    Simpson Grierson, Auckland University of Technology

    7000

    Printing fees (1500 books)

    16,700

    Freerange loans

    12,600

    Total costs

    35,780

    Total financing

    24,600

     

    The difference between our costs and financing is $11,180 – so we are crowdfunding for $11,500 to get us over the line (and pay our crowdfunding fees). This will help us with the cashflow issue involved with a large printing bill, and make sure the project covers its costs. 

     

    Once we have gathered these funds, we can print the book! Then once it is released, we will sell it through bookstores. Bookstores buy books at 60% of the retail price, that’s how they survive! This means that if we sell all the books - after providing contributor and review copies, and having paid loans back - we would make $16,604. This might take a year or two. This ‘profit’ money will be invested into future Freerange collaborative projects on other important topics. (Some of the funding for this book is the surplus from our two big books about the Christchurch recovery.)

     

    We are asking you to pledge for this important discussion and to allow us to bring the book to to the public, and to support us in making a valuable contribution to journalism and to how the country understands and defines itself in the media.

     

    We are really excited about the list of contributors that are supporting this project and the wonderful things they have written for the book:

    • Peter Arnett is Pulitzer Prize winning correspondent (one of the only New Zealanders to win this honour for jounalism). He has spent a lifetime covering wars and international crises for major American news organizations. Arnett is best known for his live television coverage from Baghdad during the first Gulf War in 1991, including his interview with President Saddam Hussein.
    • Brent Edwards has been a journalist for more than thirty years, and is now director of news gathering at Radio New Zealand.
    • Paula Penfold is an award-winning investigative journalist and has worked on 60 Minutes, 3rd Degree, 3D and 3D Investigates.
    • Simon Wilson is the editor-at-large at Metro, Auckland’s award-winning magazine of current affairs and culture.
    • Mihingarangi Forbes is an award-winning journalist, who started out at Te Karere Maori News as a rookie and now divides her time between RNZ and TV3's The Hui.
    • Nicky Hager  has produced six books since 1996, and is the only New Zealand member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
    • Naomi Arnold is an award-winning freelance journalist who writes regularly for New Zealand’s top magazines and newspapers.
    • Chris Barton is the architecture critic for Metro magazine and teaches part time at the Auckland School of Architecture. His journalism career spans 30 years.
    • Adjunct Associate Professor Jim Tully is the Adjunct Associate Professor with the School of Language, Social and Political Sciences at the University of Canterbury.
    • Nicola Gaston is a New Zealand scientist and academic, and the author of Why Science Is Sexist, published as a BWB text by Bridget Williams Books
    • Nick Bollinger is a writer, critic and broadcaster. He has been a music columnist for The Listener and presents the music review programme The Sampler on RNZ National.
    • Morgan Godfery is a writer and trade unionist based in Wellington. His writing regularly appears in the Guardian and the Herald.
    • Cate Brett is an award winning writer with 20 years of experience as a journalist, including a five-year stint as editor of the Sunday Star Times
    • Murdoch Stephens is the spokesperson and researcher for Doing Our Bit – a campaign that seeks to double New Zealand’s refugee quota.
    • Richard Pamatatau leads the Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism at Auckland University of Technology.  He worked on The Dominion, The New Zealand Herald and Radio New Zealand.
    • Sara Vui-Talitu is a journalism academic at Auckland University of Technology.  She is a Qantas award winner known for her extensive work at Radio New Zealand as a specialist journalist covering the Pacific region.
    • Toby Morris is a cartoonist, illustrator and designer who produces the non-fiction comic The Pencilsword for The Wireless, and the weekly column Toby & Toby for RNZ.
    • Hannah Sperber is a former staff writer at North & South magazine, who now works as an adviser to Labour MP David Shearer (Foreign Affairs).
    • Dr. Peter A. Thompson is a senior lecturer in the media studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington.
    • Russell Brown was founding host of RNZ’s Mediawatch and TVNZ7’s Media 7. He writes the blog Hard News, which continues to this day as part of Russell's Public Address group blog site, where it became the first blog to win a Qantas Media Award.
    • Giovanni Tiso is an Italian writer and translator based in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
    • Dr Sarah Baker is a lecturer at AUT’s in the school of communication She is the co-founder of the AUT Popular Culture Research Centre
    • Peter Griffin is the founding manager of the Science Media Centre and the founder and editor of Sciblogs.
    • Sarah Illingworth is a journalist and writer. She edits Impolitikal.com, a digital-only publication with a social, political focus.
    • Geoff Lealand writes about, teaches and creates media. He has been doing this in Screen and Media Studies at the University of Waikato since 1992. 
    • Alex Stone has written a weekly column for nearly twenty years, called In the Wind, for the island's feisty newspaper Gulf News - never missing a week in the entire tenure of the column.
    • Dr Michalia Arathimos is a writer and academic. She has published work in Best New Zealand Fiction Volume 4, Lost in Translation: New Zealand Short Stories, Sport, JAAM, Turbine, Metro, The NZ Listener and Headland.
    • Dr Thomas Owen is a lecturer, author and filmmaker, based at Auckland University of Technology. 
    • Hannah Spyksma holds a joint MA in journalism, media and globalisation from Aarhus University and University of Hamburg. She is interested in exploring new forms of journalism.
    • Ron Hanson is the founding editor of arts magazine White Fungus. Beginning in Wellington in 2004, the publication is now based in Taiwan and distributed in more than 20 countries.
    • Jono Hutchison is the head of digital news at MediaWorks. He has also been a freelance writer for the New York Times since 2010.
    • John Sellwood has been a broadcast journalist in radio and television for 35 years. He runs Telling Lives, a small media company focused on producing bespoke stories and visual content for businesses, community groups, individuals and families.

     Group contributions:

    • Joe Cederwall (a writer, social entrepreneur and advocate for human rights and the commons with a grounding in law and anthropology) with David Bollier (an American author, activist, blogger and consultant who explores the commons as a new paradigm of economics, politics and culture) and Max Rashbrooke (an established journalist and author of Wealth and New Zealand editor of the best-selling Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis)

    • Michel Bauwens, (the founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives, which works in collaboration with a global group of researchers in the exploration of peer production, governance, and property) in conversation with Alastair Thompson (the co-founder of Scoop and winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work).

    • Beck Eleven (a freelance writer and columnist who worked for the Press for almost a decade) in conversation with Gerard Smyth (an award-winning film maker with a strong and long history in telling New Zealand stories, having produced and/or directed over 60 documentaries).

    • Matt Galloway (lecturer at the Otago Polytechnic School of Design), Jeremy Hansen (Home magazine), Esther Kirkland-Smith (design editor at Dominion Post), Delaney Tabron (designer of No magazine) talk about the challenges and opportunities of journalism from a designer’s perspective.

    • AUT journalism students – a group of students from AUT discuss their reasons for entering the industry now and what excites them about it.

    This book is being designed by Jessica Tabke, a freelance graphic designer who has worked in the cultural sector since graduating in 2014. Her practice explores typography, publication design and printing.

     

    About Freerange Press

    Freerange Press is a small, independent press that makes unique, beautiful books through a collaborative approach to content generation and curation. We are a cooperative and rely on the goodwill of many to help us do the work we do.

    We have published Once in a Lifetime: City-building after Disaster in Christchurch plus Christchurch: The Transitional City Pt IV. We are very proud of both of these titles – Graham Beattie called the Transitional City book ‘an inspiring piece of publishing’ while Will Harvie from The Press called Once in a Lifetime ‘the most important earthquake book so far’.  We are really excited about this project and will produce another beautiful book.

    To find out more about Freerange Press, please click here.

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    Comments

    Hot off the press!

    23/08/2016 at 11:59 AM

    The advance copies of Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand have arrived! So thank you all for making this book a reality.

    If you are in Christchurch, we would love for you to join us at the launch this Sunday night (28 August), 6.30pm on the first floor of the Unimed Building (165 Gloucester St) to celebrate. If your reward was a copy of the book, you will be able to collect it at the launch!

    There is a panel discussion beforehand (a ticketed event for the WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival) featuring some of our fantastic contributing writers. Join Cate Honoré Brett, Simon Wilson, Morgan Godfery, Duncan Greive and Paula Penfold in discussion with Russell Brown.

    If you live in Auckland and Wellington, please visit our events page to find out more about the launches and panel discussions coming your way in the first two weeks of September.

    We are very proud. Thank you all for participating in this reimagining.

     

    Thank you!

    01/07/2016 at 8:33 AM

    We did it! Thank you to all who pledged and supported this campaign, and indicated that there is a strong desire for a reimagining of journalism in New Zealand.

    In light of your fantastic and timely support, we would like to offer you all a little extra recognition and thank all of you publicly (aside from those who donated anonymously) by listing your names on our website for the book - which will be live soon. We will keep you updated!

    Our campaign has one day left,  so if you would like to pre-order a signed copy of the book, or secure one of the other great rewards - now is the time to do so!

    And if you would like to know a little bit more about this project, listen to Giovanni Tiso, one of the book editors and the person whose idea this publication was, talk to bFM.

    Thank you all once again! We will be back in contact with news of launches, panel events and when the website goes live.

     

     

    Seven days to go, go, go!

    25/06/2016 at 3:09 PM

    We have one week left in our campaign and need to raise another $2019 in pledges in order to reach our target of $11,500. And then we can print this wonderful book in NZ. So big thank yous to all who have supported this campaign thus far.

    In this last week we have enjoyed some great progress on the campaign and on the book:

    • Firstly, we would like to acknowledge and thank the wonderful Science Media Centre for their generosity, which took us a lot closer to our target. The good people there help journalists when science is in the headlines by offering expert reaction on the big science-related issues facing society. They also work with journalists across the New Zealand media to inject evidence into stories. (www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz)
    • We had one of our contributing authors, Morgan Godfery (who has written a fantastic essay called 'Against "political commentary"') talk about the book and his thoughts on the state of play of NZ journalism with James Dann on RDU. You can listen to the interview here.
    • We have been working on some pretty spectacular graphics with our wonderful designer Jessica Tabke - all shall be revealed once this book is published!
    •   

     

    Seven days to go, $2019 dollars in pledges needed. We are so close to making this fantastic book a reality! If you haven’t already pledged or shared info about the campaign, it would be really great if you could do so, especially with those whom you think would find this topic important.

     

    82 Pledgers and 4 pullquotes!

    18/06/2016 at 3:31 PM

    With two weeks to go in our campaign, 82 supporters have generously donated a total of $4291 to Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand. We could not have come this far without you.

    So we would like to share with you some short, snappy extracts from the book. Here are some of our favourite quotes thus far:

     

    “information must be free”. Now, many people mistakenly belief this must mean gratis, but it is not; it’s free as in free speech, not as in free beer.
    - Michel Bauwens (the founder of the Foundation for Peer-to-Peer Alternatives, which works in collaboration with a global group of researchers in the exploration of peer production, governance, and property)

     

    one of the simplest definitions of journalism is ‘being there’

    - Brent Edwards (a journalist  with more than thirty years of experience, who is now director of news gathering at Radio New Zealand)

     

    we’re liberated to push the genre in an experimental direction. We’re now able to tell stories in whatever format we like. . .

    - Paula Penfold (award-winning investigative journalist, who has worked on 60 Minutes, 3rd Degree, 3D and 3D Investigates)

     

    We like to keep it fresh on the coconut wireless. News and views about population groups are shared and aired widely, but not always within earshot of outsiders. We don’t have to wait for big newsrooms to break our stories, which have often already been dissected and digested in private spaces. Often many of our stories fall outside the mainstream media spotlight.

    - Richard Pamatatau (leads the Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism at AUT) & Sara Vui-Talitu  (Qantas award winner known for her extensive work at Radio New Zealand as a specialist journalist covering the Pacific region)

    Thanks for all of the support, but if you feel this topic is important, do let others know about it and help us to reach our target. Two weeks to go!

     

     

     

    A third of the way there!

    14/06/2016 at 9:15 AM

    Firstly, a big thank you to all who have supported this project thus far - we are one third of the way there! Please continue to help spread the word.

    A lot of issues and themes have emerged in the making of Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, so we wanted to thank you by sharing some extracts with you throughout the campaign and introducing you to some of the wonderful contributors.

    In his piece Chris Barton takes a look at layoffs, commercial pressures, the culture of the newsroom (among many other things) and the effects these various elements have on the quality of journalism produced in mainstream media. This gives rise to the question 'How can we help serious, in-depth journalism flourish again?'.

    Here he opens his piece 'Anatomy of redundancy: suffocation of long-form journalism in New Zealand':

    When the end came, in December 2012, it was brutal. I was called to a meeting in an editor’s office. It was immediately clear that, to all intents and purposes, I had ceased to exist. The editor began an Orwellian recital from the how-to-make-someone-disappear handbook. The routine required another editor, a long time colleague, to sit silently beside him, his main purpose seeming to be to avoid eye contact.  Tough economic times meant the paper couldn’t ‘sustain some roles going forward’. They proposed to disestablish my position. ‘It’s only a proposal at this stage,’ insisted the editor. ‘No decision has been made.’ Yeah, right. ‘It’s got nothing to do,’ he said, ‘with your performance.’

    The performance. Fifteen years with the newspaper. Ten awards – seven for features, one for reporting, two for columns, and the Wolfson Press Fellowship in 2009. My more cynical colleagues always said those things meant nothing. You secretly hoped they did. Turns out they don’t.

     

    If you wish to read these fantastic contributions in full, please do help us bring this important book into the world by pledging and/or spreading the word about our campaign.

     

    Chris Barton is the architecture critic for Metro magazine and teaches part time at the Auckland School of Architecture as well as working as a freelance journalist. His journalism spans 30 years in newspapers and magazines including 7 years as the founding editor of New Zealand PC World and 15 years at the New Zealand Herald, starting as IT editor and then as a senior feature writer. Barton, who has a Master of Architecture, has won numerous media awards, including, in 2009, journalism's top prize, the Wolfson Press Fellowship to Cambridge and, in 2014, the Canon Media Awards Reviewer of the Year.

     

      Rebecca Macfie
      23/06/2016 at 7:49am
      Rod Oram
      22/06/2016 at 12:40pm

      "Greatly looking forward to reading the book...and to NZ journalism's robust future!"

      Phil Stewart
      22/06/2016 at 9:23am
      Ayla Grimgood
      22/06/2016 at 12:36am

      "Best of luck!"

      Anonymous pledger
      21/06/2016 at 1:23pm

      "This is an important initiative. Well done for spotting the need and attending to it. S,"

      natalie wilson
      21/06/2016 at 12:29pm
      David ten Have
      21/06/2016 at 12:12pm
      Vanessa Rushton
      21/06/2016 at 9:54am
      Arif Rasheed
      20/06/2016 at 10:42pm

      "Glad to flick something into this hat! Stop complaining about the state of the media and put some clean money with your mouth is! "

      Rosalee Jenkin
      20/06/2016 at 9:48pm
      Andrew Riddell
      20/06/2016 at 9:27pm
      Anonymous pledger
      20/06/2016 at 8:31pm
      Harry Chapman
      20/06/2016 at 7:29pm
      david rohan
      20/06/2016 at 5:36pm
      Tiaria Fletcher
      20/06/2016 at 4:13pm

      "So excited about this initiative...nga mihi ki a koutou katoa - Kia Kaha!"

      Lesley Parker
      20/06/2016 at 2:03pm
      Jamie Scott
      20/06/2016 at 9:59am
      Peter Griffin
      20/06/2016 at 9:59am
      Sam Gribben
      20/06/2016 at 9:47am

      "Sounds like a great book. Important now more than ever. "

      Dennis Scott
      20/06/2016 at 9:39am

      "Diversity of opinion and a voice in a complex world is now more critical than ever. "

      Rhys Taylor
      19/06/2016 at 9:43pm

      "Looking forward to the rediscovery of public broadcasting and investigative journalism in NZ, assisted by the net."

      Janet Bland
      19/06/2016 at 7:56pm
      Alan Wylde
      19/06/2016 at 2:13pm
      Anonymous pledger
      18/06/2016 at 4:18pm
      Nick Laurence
      18/06/2016 at 7:40am

      "The state of journalism worries me a lot - thanks for doing something about it!"

      Anonymous pledger
      17/06/2016 at 9:00pm
      Dan Liu
      17/06/2016 at 2:47pm
      Mike Hornblow
      17/06/2016 at 1:59pm
      Simon Palenski
      16/06/2016 at 8:25pm
      Steph Walker
      16/06/2016 at 7:31pm

      Followers of Don't Dream It's Over: Reimagining Journalism in Aotearoa

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 02/07/2016 at 2:00 PM.