Founder’s son keeps Beacon independent

When Leicester Spring arrived in Whakatane in 1938 to take over an accountancy practice, he discovered that one of his clients was the town’s only newspaper. The Whakatane Press was bankrupt, and he had no choice except to shut it down. Within months, however, townsfolk were clamoring for Spring to start another newspaper.

In response, Spring lined up investors, recruited an editor and found office space. On April 6, 1939, the Whakatane Beacon was born. More than 70 years later, it survives under the capable leadership of Leicester’s son, John Spring. It’s one of a handful of independent community newspapers in New Zealand.

Whakatane (pronounced Fahk-uh-tahn-ee) is one of the sunniest places in New Zealand, with warm summers and mild winters. With a population of 15,000, it is the largest town in the eastern Bay of Plenty on the North Island. The economy is based on agriculture (kiwifruit is a major crop), logging and tourism. Whakatane is the trading center for a region of about 45,000 people.

Published three times a week, the Beacon stands out as a broadsheet in a sea of tabloids. And unlike most NZ community papers, its 8,000 circulation is paid. “We have adhered to the principle that a paid circulation is, among other things, the soundest basis upon which to develop a successful newspaper,” Leicester Spring, who died in 1997, wrote in his autobiography. The formula has proven successful for the family-owned company.

Like his father, John Spring studied accounting. He started at the paper cleaning the presses on school holidays, he worked as a press helper and in the paste-up room in the Compugraphic era. After five years at an accounting firm in Hamilton, he returned to Whakatane to take over the paper. The company has 23 shareholders, mostly family members. A brother is a corporate director but not involved in daily operations. APN News & Media, which owns community newspapers throughout the North Island, holds a 20 percent stake.

John gave me a tour of the Beacon’s modern office building before walking a block to the printing plant, which houses a Goss Community press, resembling those used in the 1980s at the Sandpoint Daily Bee and Kellogg Evening News. The press was new in 1995, purchased for more than $1 million – a substantial investment for a small paper. In addition to the Beacon, the company publishes the twice-weekly Opotiki News for a small town farther east along the coast, and the Bay Weekend, distributed free to 20,000 homes in the district. It also owns the Waitomo News, south of Hamilton, and prints other papers on contract. The day I visited, the press was running the weekly Raglan Chronicle.

John acknowledged that the past two years had been tough. The Beacon’s circulation was flat, and real-estate advertising had dropped from 40 pages a week to 24 pages a week in the previous 18 months. One of the largest real-estate offices had recently closed. A printer and a photographer were laid off after a 2008 restructuring. But advertising for cars, furniture and whiteware (appliances) was holding up, and national chains anchored a mall on the south edge of Whakatane.

The Beacon and its sister papers are solidly rooted in their communities. Editor Mark Dawson oversees a staff of 11, producing six editions each week. Novice reporter Samantha Motion was recently named the best young journalist in an annual competition sponsored by the New Zealand Community Newspaper Association. “She knows what news is,” Mark told me.

The lead story in the issue that John holds in the photo is typical of local coverage: “A judge has ruled all four bulldogs present during the savage mauling of a woman in her neighbor’s garden in March 2008 should be destroyed – as soon as they are found.” (Someone kidnapped the dogs from the pound after they were seized after the mauling. The victim is recovering from her injuries.)

The Beacon’s first editor, Clive Kingsley-Smith, wrote: “A Beacon’s beams penetrate the darkness, revealing the furtherest corners and shedding light on every movement and activity that takes place within its arc.” After seven decades, the paper holds true to that mission.