Grey Star Trip

Year 10 are going to be writing their own feature articles to display their understanding of The Māori Wars, whilst Media students are Designing and Planning their own media products. Several of the students are creating newspaper / magazine feature articles.

We met with Paul Madgwick, Grey Star Editor. He began showing us the process of the newspaper from finish to start! The newspaper prints its daily paper at about 1pm, therefore, to capture a true understanding of this process, we needed to start at the end. The printing room, where we saw the day’s newspaper getting printed. The noise of the machines was almost deafening, the smell of ink intoxicating and really set the scene, putting students in the mood for the afternoon learning experience. In this room we learnt that the Grey Star prints 4,000 copies of its paper a day and is the most read newspaper per capita in New Zealand. We also learnt that the front and back pages are first printed on an aluminium sheet before being printed in full colour. We watched as the newspapers were being bundled together and the quality controllers at work.

We moved through various areas and rooms. Seeing each newspaper being prepared for delivery to Dairies and individual homes. The plastic wrapping is put on individually by people to ensure that the West Coast weather does not ruin people’s enjoyment. We saw the huge half a ton rolls of printing paper and were amazed by the facts, figures, and historical knowledge of the newspaper that Paul was able to share with us. This was backed up as we observed the modern technology for creating the plates compared to the original machines. We also saw old, framed newspapers and photographs that catalogued the history of the publishing plant.

The last room was the Newsroom. Journalists, photographers (usually the same person), subeditors and the Editor create the days news electronically before passing it onto the plate makers and it finally being printed. This was the place where we asked our questions such as. How many people work at the Star? How long have you been a journalist? What is the proof-reading process? How do you decide which stories to use, and which should be the feature article?

Thank you Paul Madgwick, and all the staff, at the Grey Star for taking the time to share your knowledge, skill, and stories with us. We learnt a great deal and had a great time.