Media Mogul Sinead Boucher Challenges Online Giants

Tucked away in Sinead Boucher’s sock drawer is the one-dollar coin that transformed the former journalist into New Zealand’s biggest media mogul, giving her a platform to challenge Facebook and other social media giants, AFP reports in a story published by Channel News Asia.

Boucher, 50, bought media giant Stuff Ltd for the nominal sum of $1 in May, taking control of New Zealand’s most popular news website, stuff.co.nz, and mastheads such as The Dominion Post and The Press.

Boucher was well aware of the challenges facing news media world-wide – describing a business model “shredded” by the online giants, with revenues further slashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I couldn’t bear the thought of all these titles, not just the website but some of our newspapers that are 160 years old, just being extinguished without a really good fight,” she told AFP.

“The COVID crisis, something like this really spells out why you need journalism.”

Boucher was born in Belfast. She studied law at the University of Canterbury and journalism at Aoraki Polytechnic.

Original article by Channel News Asia, August 11, 2020.