140 years: Memories from behind the scenes
As we conclude our series marking the Manawatu¯ Standard’s 140th anniversary, we look at some of the faces who don’t get bylines but play a huge role in putting a paper out.
Every day, the Standard’s reporters and visual journalists are out gathering news. They’re the public faces of the newspaper. But a team of other people, some unseen, also work – or have worked – within the organisation.
Step inside the Standard building on The Square and the first people you’ll see are Julie Scott and Linda Sinclair, the front-counter receptionists.
‘‘The front counter is an amazing place to work,’’ says Scott, who has been with the
Standard for 18 years. She started part-time at night in sales.
‘‘Linda and I are the ‘front of the house’. You get people coming in from all walks of life. You never judge a book by its cover.
‘‘Over time, we’ve got to know our customers, their lives and families. We worry sometimes when we haven’t seen our regular customers for a while and hope they’re OK.
‘‘People pop in for a chat, for directions, for general information. They say we are the
Standard, sowemust knowwhat’s going on in the community.’’
She remembers one particular visitor. He was a ‘‘known businessmanwho used to come in to pay his account and he talked of his experience in World War II as a fighter pilot. We hear amazing stories of their pasts’’.
Others like to chat because these two friendly women might be the only people they see during their day.
Scott: ‘‘I remember a lady contacting me to say she needed her paper delivered to her doorstep, as she was 100 years of age and unable to pick it up at the end of her drive.
‘‘Then she added she was off to mow her lawns.
‘‘Linda also had an elderly lady ring the office to say her paper was missing. She had looked everywhere for it and even got the ladder out to climb up to the roof to look for it there in case it was thrown on the roof.
‘‘There have been days that customers have been unhappy about wet papers or missed papers, but we listen and then fix the problems.’’
Sinclair started out at the Standard to cover amaternity leave. When a vacancy opened at the Feilding Herald office, she became ‘‘front of house’’ there. When the Herald closed the office, she returned to the Standard and has worked there for three years.
‘‘Reception’’ also looks after the building, staff, contractors and other matters.
‘‘We are the mothers of the building,’’ Scott says, joking. ‘‘As the saying goes, life is like a box of chocolates – we never know what each day entails.’’
One day, the fire alarm went off.
‘‘We evacuated the building, [then] found out the fire alarms were set off by a staff member burning their toast. They wandered out with their burnt toast and cup of tea to meet the fire brigade. This happened twice.’’
Adrian Broad recalls his time as general manager of the Standard from 1987 to 1996.
It was a period of rapid change.
‘‘The building upgrade over several years was highlighted with the installation of the new printing press, with colour capabilities unseen ... in the past.
‘‘The introduction of new technology for the editorial and advertising staff caused an unsettled period for management, with redundancies and early retirements ...
‘‘The rebuilding and new technology investment of $5millionwould not have been possible if it were not for the INL [Independent Newspapers Ltd] ownership from the early 1980s,’’ he says.
‘‘During my time, the Standard was deeply involved in the establishment of Arohanui Hospice and the refurbishment of the Regent Theatre. Without the editorial support, the fundraising efforts for both community assets would have been a struggle.’’
Amajor highlightwas the Standard’s award for best daily newspaper innew Zealand in its circulation category in 1996.
‘‘It was a very proud moment for [editor] John Harvey and our editorial team.’’
In mentioning Harvey, former sub-editor Mike Griffin says it should be taken into account that during the 1980s-1990s Harvey ‘‘made a strong effort to increase coverage of Ma¯ori affairs, and also hired Ma¯ori journalists when he could get them’’.
The Standard’s first Ma¯ori editor was Jonathon Howe, who departed in 2018.
After 28 years in the newspaper industry, Broad left the Standard to become the Palmerston North city council and Vision Manawatu¯ economic development officer. A city councillor also for 12 years, Broad is now retired in Lower Hutt, his home town.
He says: ‘‘Newspaper people are very special.’’
Griffin shares other memories.
‘‘Ray Hardman was a linotype operator, a very good one who set a lot of the more important advertising. He was also the guywho showed schoolchildren how the machine worked when school parties came through.
‘‘When we changed to cold type, he was made head reader and was in the reading room until the powers that be did away with proofreaders. He joined the Standard as a boy somewhere around WWII, or before. He resumed at the Standard after war service and stayed there all his working life. Hemanaged to stay on the good side of both management and workers ... Boy, he could tell some stories.’’
The stories go on and on.
But senior journalist Alister Browne gets the last word:
‘‘While the occasional ageing journalist of the 1970s is still to be found haunting the empty spaces of today’s newsrooms, the job nowadays is complicated by the interfering noise from the multitude of opinions flooding today’s information highways, and by the platoons of media manipulators ...
‘‘But the task still matters, and there’s a rumour that print is making something of a comeback – so the end might not be quite as nigh.’’