In March of 2024 the freelance writer Madeleine Holden published an article for the Spinoff estimating the number of journalists remaining in New Zealand. She noted that there had been 4,071 people in the 2006 census who recorded their profession as newspaper or periodical editor, print journalist, radio journalist or television journalist. This declined to 3,381 by 2018, even as the population grew substantially. Holden surveyed newsrooms and estimated that by 2024 there were around 1,400 journalists left – most of them working for five large media companies: Stuff, Radio New Zealand, NZME, TVNZ and Allied Press.
