Media and newspapers of Oceania online

The Oceania press online combines major Australian dailies such as the Sydney Morning Herald, New Zealand sites like Stuff, and French-language Pacific outlets such as Tahiti Infos and Polynésie la 1ère, in English, French and Oceanic languages.

From the Sydney Gazette to digital newsrooms

Australia's first newspaper, the Sydney Gazette, appeared in 1803 in the penal colony. The Sydney Morning Herald followed in 1831. In New Zealand, The Press in Christchurch dates from 1861, and The Fiji Times was founded in 1869 in Levuka.

Murdoch, Nine and the major Australian dailies

The Australian, launched in 1964, belongs to News Corp and takes a broadly conservative line. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Melbourne, owned by the Nine group, are seen as centre-left. The market remains highly concentrated between these two groups.

English, French, Polynesian and Melanesian languages

English dominates in Australia, New Zealand and most island states. French is the language of the media in Tahiti, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna. Programmes also exist in Māori, Tahitian, Samoan and Bislama, serving local audiences across the region.

What to read in the Pacific island states?

The Fiji Times and the Fiji Sun in Suva, the Post-Courier in Port Moresby, the Samoa Observer in Apia and the Vanuatu Daily Post in Port Vila cover local news. RNZ Pacific, the service of New Zealand's public radio, relays regional news.

Stuff, NZ Herald and new online media

In New Zealand, Stuff and the New Zealand Herald lead online news, alongside The Spinoff, born on the web. In Australia, Crikey, The Conversation and the local edition of the Guardian, launched in 2013, attract a loyal digital readership.

AAP and agency news

Australian Associated Press, founded in 1935, supplies wire stories to most Australian newsrooms and was restructured in 2020. New Zealand has had no national agency since NZPA closed in 2011. AFP also covers the Pacific from its regional bureaus.

ABC, SBS, RNZ and the 1ère network

The ABC, funded by the Australian state, runs radio, television and a heavily used website. SBS serves multicultural communities. RNZ and TVNZ are public broadcasters in New Zealand. On the French side, Polynésie la 1ère and NC la 1ère belong to France Télévisions.

Pacific communities in Australia and New Zealand

Auckland has a large population with roots in Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands, served by community radio stations. SBS broadcasts in several dozen languages. New Zealand readers will find more titles on the page about the New Zealand press online.

Mining, markets and rugby in the specialist press

The Australian Financial Review, based in Sydney, follows the ASX, mining and banking. Rugby, cricket and Australian rules football fill the sports sites, from Fox Sports Australia to the NZ Herald sections devoted to the All Blacks.

Press freedom and media laws

Australia and New Zealand guarantee genuine pluralism, despite debates over concentration and the 2019 police raids targeting the ABC. In Fiji, a media law widely seen as restrictive was repealed in 2023 after a change of government.

Paywalls and the French-language Pacific press

The Australian and the AFR are largely paywalled, while Guardian Australia stays free. For French Polynesia, the page on Tahiti newspapers online presents Tahiti Infos and Radio 1, while the New Caledonia press page covers Nouméa and the provinces.

Cross-checking Canberra, Wellington and Papeete

On climate, fishing or China's presence in the Pacific, compare an Australian outlet, a New Zealand outlet and an island source. The ABC has a fact-checking team, and RMIT FactLab in Melbourne examines rumours circulating online.

Following Oceania from Europe or Africa

1. Choose an Australian daily, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, and a New Zealand site, such as Stuff, for the essentials.
2. Add RNZ Pacific or ABC Pacific for island news, which major international media rarely cover.
3. For French Polynesia and New Caledonia, follow Polynésie la 1ère, NC la 1ère and Tahiti Infos in French.
4. Plan your reading around the time difference: the Australian day ends before Europe wakes up.
5. Compare The Australian and Guardian Australia on political stories to balance two opposing editorial lines.
6. Check the date and place of images of cyclones or bushfires before sharing them.

Reading the Oceania press: free or by subscription

What to know about Oceanic media

• Languages: English, French, Māori, Polynesian and Melanesian languages
• Australian agency: AAP; international agency present: AFP
• Public broadcasters: ABC, SBS, RNZ, TVNZ, the 1ère network
• Business title: Australian Financial Review
• Time zones: UTC+10 in Sydney, UTC+11 in Nouméa, UTC+12 in Auckland, UTC-10 in Papeete
• Currencies: Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, CFP franc

Reading traps for Oceania

• Confusing The Press in Christchurch with other papers of the same name elsewhere in the English-speaking world during an online search.
• Taking an article from The Betoota Advocate, an Australian satirical site, for serious news shared on social media.
• Forgetting the time difference: an article dated the next day in Sydney or Auckland is not a publishing error.
• Using paywall-bypass sites to read The Australian, at the risk of malware and truncated articles.
• Assuming the Australian press covers the Pacific islands well, when news from Tonga or Kiribati remains rare there.

Frequent questions about the Oceania press