Taupo Times

Once a small town on Lake Taupō’s northern edge, Taupō had no local newspaper until the Taupo Times began in January 1952. There were only 750 residents in 1945 but the town grew rapidly thanks to tourism, forestry and farming, from 1,358 in 1951 to just over 8,000 in 1966. The Times thrived as the town burgeoned and for decades was an example of a successful community newspaper.

The paper was established by George A Acres and Charles J McKinnon. McKinnon, who had previously been a leader writer on the Dominion in Wellington, edited the Taupo Times for the first year.

It was said that one of the initial reasons for establishing the newspaper was to provide a local voice in the struggle to get electricity supplied to the town. The town council had been trying since 1940 to get approval to build a local hydro scheme, first at the Huka Falls and then on the Hinemaiaia River. While the Times did advocate for the cause, in fact the hydro scheme was almost complete and the town had electricity by the end of 1952.

The newspaper started as a weekly and remained as such for eight years, although the day of publication shifted over that time. For the first eight years it was also printed elsewhere, but on 21 June 1960 the Times opened its own printing plant in Taupō and quickly developed a strong commercial printing and stationery section. At the same time the paper became twice-weekly, with issues initially coming out on Tuesdays and Fridays.

By its ten-year anniversary in January 1962 the Taupo Times boasted nearly 8,000 readers and employed 22 staff. It also announced it would move to three issues a week - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

In August 1986 it was announced that the Taupo Times would be published four days a week, Tuesday to Friday, from early September. This would, the directors believed, be appropriate given the continued growth of the district. For a period, the Taupo Times was the country’s only four-day-a-week community newspaper.

Over this time, the ownership of the newspaper changed from the original company, the Taupo Times Ltd. From 1964 the Times Ltd operated as a subsidiary under different owners, including the East Waikato Publishers and the Waikato and King Country Press. By 1990 it was part of the Independent Community Newspapers group, itself part of Independent Newspapers Ltd (INL). In 2003 the Times was sold to Fairfax NZ along with the other INL newspapers. Fairfax became Stuff Ltd in 2018.

On 28 June 2024, Stuff Ltd announced the immediate closure of the Taupo Times, by then back to a once-a-week publication. The company claimed it was because audiences had moved to viewing local news online – and it intended ‘to deliver local news in the formats that suit our audiences and customers best’ (Taupō & Tūrangi Herald, 4 July 2024). Local competitor, the Taupō & Tūrangi Herald, was also closed by its parent company, NZME, later that year.