The front pages of 2021

Tim McCready looks back at the stories, people and headlines that shaped the Herald this year

We had every reason to think that 2021 would be better than 2020. The front page of the New Zealand Herald on January 1 shared that optimism: “With a vaccine rollout and travel bubbles looming, there are signs 2021 is looking up.”

And yet here we are, wrapping up another tumultuous year.

So much has happened that it is hard to believe it was early in the year that the storming of the Capitol building by Trump supporters took place. The Herald led with “Democracy under attack” as its cover story on the insurrection as leaders met to ratify the election victory of Joe Biden.

Despite his Oval Office exit, Trump’s face featured on Herald front pages five times over the year (many will be thankful this is significantly down from 15 in 2020). President Biden had a relatively quiet year, appearing just three times on the covers (compared with 10 the previous year).

Other events that shaped the year and the front pages were the death of Prince Philip in April, the prolonged Samoan democracy crisis in May, the freak tornado in Auckland in June, and the New Lynn supermarket terror attack in September.

Topping the count of cover appearances again in 2021 was Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who featured 42 times — down from 62 in 2020.

Other politicians to rank were Grant Robertson, Chris Hipkins and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (each appearing seven times), Judith Collins (six times, down from 27 the previous year) and Christopher Luxon (nine times) with a late surge in front page appearances after becoming National’s new leader in November.

Sporting successes

The Prada Cup started early in the year, followed by the America’s Cup in March when Team NZ’s battle against Italy’s Luna Rossa played out on the front pages. The dramatic races were summarised by headlines leading up to the win: “Luna Eclipsed”, “One race from glory”, then finally “Signed, sailed, delivered” when Team NZ (along with all of us) could breathe again.

The excitement surrounding the Auld Mug defence saw Team NZ’s skipper and helmsman Peter Burling become the most featured sportsperson on the Herald’s front pages last year. With 12 appearances, he was ahead of 2020’s leader, Beauden Barrett, who featured 10 times (compared with 26 the previous year).

The other major sporting event to feature on the front pages was the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, held during July and August after a year-long pause.

New Zealand’s greatest medals tally gave the Herald opportunity to showcase sporting (and headline) success, with some of the best including:

“Golden hour”: marking one of the most extraordinary hours in Kiwi sporting history. Emma Twigg took gold in the women’s single sculls, the women’s eight claimed second, and the men’s eight won gold. “Seventh Heaven”: when the Black Ferns Sevens won gold after beating France in the final. “Mana” Lisa’: when Lisa Carrington’s two gold medals within 90 minutes catapulted her into Olympic folklore.

Carrington featured on the front pages of the Herald seven times in 2021. She won three Games golds, becoming our most decorated Olympian with six medals.

Other sporting faces on the front pages included Joseph Parker (11 times), Kane Williamson (10), Sam Cane (seven), Kyle Jamieson (six) and Lydia Ko (four times).

The dawn of Delta

Of course, the most regular feature on front pages was the unwanted visitor — Covid-19.

Our first brush with its return was in late January, three people returning positive cases in the community after a managed isolation stay in the Pullman Hotel. Frontpage headlines “The waiting game”, “Stress test” and “High anxiety” in the days following captured the mood of the nation.

In early April, 395 days after we closed our borders with Australia, quarantine-free travel with Australia resumed, celebrated with the front page declaring “Bubble time” — though that was short-lived. “Frozen bubble” was the headline in early May after flights from NSW were paused following two community cases there.

New Zealand remained Covid-free in late April, when the Herald led with “Knocking it out of the park” to celebrate one of the world’s highest-attended concerts since the pandemic began with about 50,000 Six60 fans at Eden Park.

“Two close for comfort” the Herald declared

in June, after an infected Sydney tourist’s whirlwind weekend visit to Wellington forced the capital into alert level 2. Three days later came “Bubble over”, as the door on quarantine-free transtasman flights was slammed shut after Sydney was plunged into a two-week lockdown.

Then in August, the front page we had hoped not to see. “The dawn of Delta” marked the beginning of Auckland’s longest lockdown, with headlines to follow including: “Delta on your doorstep”, “Lockdown Xmas real risk for city” and “On a Delta tightrope”.

90% project

In September, one month after Delta arrived here, NZME and the Herald launched its 90% Project — a campaign to get at least 90 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated by Christmas, the front page declaring a “Call to arms”.

The 90 per cent target was later endorsed by the Government, with Ardern and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield stating 90 per cent would give strong national protection against the virus (Bloomfield featured on the front page six times, down from nine in 2020).

The vaccine rollout was tracked on front pages in following months. Super Saturday had a cover packed with faces of politicians, sports stars, media personalities and ordinary Kiwis — all encouraging vaccine uptake on what became the biggest mass vaccination event in New Zealand history.

By mid-December New Zealand hit the jabs milestone before the Christmas target.

I am at risk of repeating the prediction on the first front page of 2021: a new year brings with it cause for cautious optimism. Events that will undoubtedly dominate the covers in 2022 include the Commonwealth Games, the Women’s Cricket and Rugby World Cups, the booster rollout and vaccination in children.

Covid-19 isn’t done with our front pages yet, but hopefully by this time next year the worst of it will be a distant memory.