The Fold: Are print magazines really making a comeback?

Five years after Bauer closed in New Zealand, Metro editor Henry Oliver joins Anna Rawhiti-Connell to discuss whether print magazines are really ‘back’, the impact of social media on criticism and social satire and how the magazine stays relevant.

It’s been five years since Bauer exited New Zealand, devastating the magazine industry and heralding an era of enormous disruption for media in this country. Iconic Auckland title Metro was a casualty of that closure, but the publication has found its feet again and is flourishing under independent ownership. As Auckland evolves, so too does Metro.

Henry Oliver has been the editor of Metro for over six years now. He joins Anna Rawhiti-Connell to discuss magazine life five years after the Bauer exit, the growing buzz about the revival of print magazines, the impact of social media on criticism, reviews, social satire, and gossip, and how Metro stays relevant as a tastemaker in a constantly changing city.

They discuss what Oliver is most proud of, his editorial approach, and why magazines should deliver the expected and the unexpected. Oliver describes where the fun and reward lie for him as a magazine editor in a vastly changed industry and mulls whether a Felicity Ferret-esque figure (RIP to the queen of social satire and local snark), could ever make a comeback.

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