Australia
Australia has a vibrant newspaper industry with 48 dailies, 10 Sundays, 96 regional non-dailies and 243 free newspapers, reaching 49 per cent of all adults daily and 80.7 per cent weekly. Pagination in all newspapers is steadily increasing as is the use of colour in editorial and advertising, using leading-edge pre-press and printing technology.

Newspaper publishers are also investing in Internet access as another vehicle for publishing.

The industry organisation in the region is the Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers' Association www.panpa.org.au which bring together newspaper publishers in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and South-east Asia.

New Zealand
New Zealand has been ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, and that is due in no small part to its vibrant newspaper industry. The population of 3.8 million is served by 23 daily newspapers, six others which publish on three or more days, three weeklies and two Sundays. There are also around 120 community newspapers, publishing more than two million copies per issue.

Newspaper ownership is spread between Independent Newspapers Ltd, owning both Sundays, three of the five metropolitans and eight provincials; Wilson and Horton, which owns the country's largest daily the New Zealand Herald (circulation 213,000) and eight provincials; and independent owners with eight provincials and one metropolitan, the Otago Daily Times.

The INL papers contribute to a website which is updated daily www.stuff.co.nz. The New Zealand Herald website is www.nzherald.co.nz.

Key newspaper groups are the Newspaper Publishers Association - npa@npa.co.nz,

the New Zealand Press Association - editor@nzpa.co.nz,

the Newspaper Advertising Bureau - nab@nabs.co.nz,

the Advertising Standards Authority - asa@asa.co.nz,

the New Zealand Press Council - presscouncil@asa.ca.nz,

New Zealand Journalists Training Organisation - nzjto@actrix.gen.nz.

There is also a New Zealand section of the Commonwealth Press Union - lincoln@npa.co.nz.

South Pacific
In the Commonwealth Pacific Islands the independent press grows as the nations develop. Examples: The first daily newspaper in Solomon Islands; competing twice-weekly independent papers for the first time in Vanuatu; the launch of Kiribati's first independent weekly. The newspapers are as diverse as the islands. They range from sophisticated Suva, with its three fiercely competitive English-language dailies, to the small newsletters of atoll nations like Tuvalu.

For further information on the area, contact Pacific Islands Newspaper Association at pina@ibi.com.fj