Coast FM (New Zealand)
| Type | Monday–Friday daily newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Founded | 1871 |
| Headquarters | Westport, New Zealand |
| Circulation | 2200 |
| Website | westportnews.co.nz |
The Westport News is an independently owned newspaper published in Westport, New Zealand. It is published on weekdays, and features a combination of national and international wire articles, local news stories and weather forecasts, and specialist coverage of farming, education, the arts and lifestyle issues. In 2008 it had a print run of 2200 copies and a circulation of 1884 people. The newspaper operates a small printing, reporting and weather operation in Westport,
Westport News coverage of local events has been quoted by national media outlets like Radio New Zealand and Stuff.co.nz, and by other regional media like the Greymouth Star. Some of its stories are also distributed on the NZME wire service, and published by the New Zealand Herald and Otago Daily Times. Former reporters have gone on to work for the Financial Times, Reuters, New Zealand Press Association, NZ Newswire and Fairfax New Zealand.
The newspaper began in the earliest days of European settlement in 1871, just ten years after the arrival of the first gold miners in 1861. The first European vessel known to have entered the river was the sealing schooner Three Brothers more than a decade later in 1884. Gold mining is no longer part of the region's economy; coal mining, farming, fishing, cement making and tourism have taken its place. More than 12 local newspapers were published in the West Coast in the 20th century, but only the Westport News and Greymouth Star were the only ones operating in 2010.
The newspaper reported on the opening of the West Coast railway during Premier Richard Seddon's first official visit to the region in May 1883. It also described how Seddon allowed a mining town to be named Seddonville after him. Almost a century later, it reported on the paving of the new Buller Bridge in November 1976. Following inquiries from the Westport News, the New Zealand Army Museum identified the gun at the front of the museum was the 40 pounder artillery gun that once stood at Victoria Park in Westport.Otago University holds an archive of the newspaper from 1982 to 1991.
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