New journal

To get away from literary name-dropping. Last week a new fortnightly entitled The New Zealander appeared, and like Frontiers, hails from Christchurch. Eaited by a working journalist recently returned to New Zealand, it is, of course, independent. It will be refreshing to read some journalism that is neither the output of the commercial press, nor the mumblings of academics in learned and not so learned magazines.

Comment, wit and intelligence has generally been restricted to student-based magazines—it's high time journalists broke the fetters of their vocation and published stuff they have always wanted to, but couldn't. The New Zealander, if not exactly attractive in form—which could mean financial failure—does promise to have topicality.

Let's hope that it can combine the qualities of professional journalism—such as they are in New Zealand— with independent (read radical) thinking. The first issue is not over-promising. Not enough short items and too many articles whose appeal is too serious for a journal which must have popular appeal. Biting and scintillating prose about the New Zealand of today and tomorrow is a scarce commodity—but at least it is not under import restriction. C'mon you budding journalists—let the stops out.