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Traditional media: Is
it dead as a dodo?
WELLINGTON - Traditional media is dying but that’s
an opportunity for the tourism industry according to
Jane Dent, Tourism New Zealand general manager
International PR..
Speaking at the NZ Inbound Tour Operators Council
(ITOC) annual conference in Gisborne last week, Dent
said that with the demise of traditional media,
international media outlets were desperate for
content and Tourism New Zealand had moved in to meet
that demand.
She said in the last year in the United States about
120 newspapers had closed or gone entirely online.
More than 24,000 journlists and media professionals
had lost their jobs.
In the United Kingdom more than half the newspapers
could be shut by 2014, she said. "But that’s an
opportunity for all of us to push our own content
into the media," she added, As a result Tourism New
Zealand has set up its own global news room (www.newzealand.com/travel/media/)
to try to generate more stories about New Zealand.
It is using its staff and PR agencies to share ideas
and monitor international news for events that could
help profile New Zealand positively.
Successes to date include stories that have been
generated through bungy jumping’s 20th birthday,
getting the British Twitchhiker to New Zealand and
hosting a Bollywood actress and the Indian
international cricket team in New Zealand.
"Quirky, unique, newsy, funny, celebrity stories,
luxury, wildlife, New Zealand as home of the next
Rugby World Cup: these are all stories we are
looking to build on and get into the international
media," Dent said.
“And with the Hobbit films being shot over the next
couple of years, there is also a chance to raise New
Zealand's profile once again as 'Home of Middle
Earth'."
And the message for the New Zealand tourism
industry? Keep us in the loop, tell us what you’re
doing and we can try and make your story go further.
"You’ve heard of the stadium of four million people.
We want New Zealand to be a newsroom of four million
people," Dent added.
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