After mounting pressure from politicians and readers alike, the New Zealand Herald’s publisher, NZME, has rejected a follow-up advertisement from Hobson’s Pledge booked to run on the front page of this Wednesday’s print edition.
Former National/Act leader Don Brash, leader of the right-wing lobby group, issued a message to supporters earlier today, offering a “sneak peek” at the advertisement, which has been rejected by the Herald.
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The revelation came in a Herald Premium article this evening by editor-at-large Shayne Currie.
Due to the nature of a content-sharing agreement between the New Zealand Herald and Te Ao Māori News, we are prohibited from sharing details of the article, but you can read it here with a Herald Premium membership.
Te Ao Māori News has, however, chosen to report that an NZME spokesperson told Currie the ad would not be published, saying, “We are reviewing our policies and processes around advocacy advertising and we have advised Hobson’s Pledge that we will not be running their advertisement”.
Brash’s message to supporters claimed a wave of death threats had been sent to the group, but that it remained undeterred in sharing its belief.
“We are not backing down. We are running another full-page ad in the New Zealand Herald on Wednesday.”
Reaction to the Hobson’s Pledge ad on the front page of the Wednesday, August 7 edition of the NZ Herald was swift and thorough, condemned by Kawea Te Rongo, the independent Māori journalists association, and earning the ire of Auckland University of Technology’s Dean of Law Khylee Quince, who said she cancelled her Herald premium membership as a result.
Te Ao Māori News saw dozens of social media posts last week showing many others had cancelled their Herald premium memberships and had encouraged others to do the same.
This afternoon, in light of the advertisement, Waatea News announced it had formally ended its content-sharing arrangement with NZME.
Te Pāti Māori also announced late last week that it would no longer engage with the New Zealand Herald as a result of the advertisement.
It is unclear what impact the rejection of the forthcoming Hobson’s Pledge advertisement, or the NZME review, will have on the aforementioned partnerships.