We’re 50 years old! Of knights and explorers — how the Guardian began
| Author | Judith Lacy |
| Published date | 23 June 2022 |
| Publication title | Guardian, The |
Fifty years and two days ago, a group of brave newspaper fans and business people breathed a sigh of relief their first edition had been published.
Only a few moments to pause, though, as the next edition was due out in a week, such is the cycle of community newspapers.
Among those determined to provide Manawatū with a choice of news and views was Grant Blanchard, the Guardian’s first manager. He was just 23.
Blanchard left Freyberg High School in 1965 and joined the Royal New Zealand Navy. Four years later a major car accident ended his naval career and he returned to Palmerston North to start a career in newspaper advertising.
While advertising manager at the Tribune, he decided there was a gap in the market for a midweek paper. Funds were raised from investors and the Guardian was started.
“We liked the name Guardian as we felt that it truly portrayed the principles of fair and unbiased journalism. Our first logo was a knight on a horse.”
Blanchard remembers the midnight trips to Whanganui to deliver the pages to the printer, then home for a couple of hours rest before starting the cycle again.
“One of the comments I received from family and friends was ‘you come out on Wednesday, what do you do on the other days’?”
Supermarkets became a mainstay of Guardian advertising in its formative years.
“To promote our launch we produced a giant Guardian newspaper and put this on a trailer and travelled around the streets of the business area,” Blanchard says. “Journalists from the Evening Standard tried to stop this, but as we had a permit that failed. I suppose no one likes competition.”
Blanchard remained the manager for a couple of years before he was approached by newspaper cooperative NZ Provincial Press to be its executive officer.
“Would I do it again? Even though it was long, long hours and a lot of hard work the answer is yes. To have an independent voice in Manawatū meant a lot at the time.”
He has lived in Australia for the past 36 years.
Palmerston North Newspapers was incorporated on June 16, 1972, but online companies register documents go back only as far as 1995. Its final directors were Keith Palmer and Donald Jones with 50 per cent each of the company’s shares.
Jones says there was some internal unhappiness among the Tribune’s staff and management that resulted in the staff walking out and starting their own rival publication.
“The city then had a second free weekly newspaper...
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