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New Zealand is unique in its legislative restrictions on news media reporting of suicide, with criminal penalties for breaches. Recently, in response to ongoing controversy about the effectiveness of the law in preventing imitative suicides, the government announced a review of the relevant legislation, the Coroners Act 2006. This article discusses the history of suicide reporting restrictions in New Zealand, suggests they amount to censorship, and furthermore argues that the suicide media discourse here has not taken account of nuances in suicide research which do not support such restrictions, but do justify voluntary moderation of reporting, in line with comparable OECD countries. Also, it argues that current suicide research is based on an outdated conception of media effects, which does not consider adequately the opportunity for public good messages.

This survey of New Zealand journalists, completed in late 2015, shows the impact of the rapid move to a digital news environment. Journalists are more educated, but working longer hours and feeling more pressure, both ethically and resource-wise, than they were only two years ago. Technological changes are felt acutely, particularly the use of social media and user-generated content. Journalists are concerned that advertising and commercial pressures are stronger, while overall standards are weakening. This study also shows, for the first time, that women are seriously disadvantaged in pay and promotion despite making up most of the workforce. Despite these challenges, overall job satisfaction remains at similar levels to previous surveys and journalists' own commitment to ethical standards and journalism's fourth-estate role remains strong.

Investigative journalism is often said to be based on two pillars of information gathering—documents and sources. Yet while document retrieval and analysis has received much attention in recent years, particularly with the advent of computer-assisted reporting and Freedom of Information legislation, remarkably little attention has been given in the journalistic literature to best practice for developing and maintaining sources, especially vulnerable sources with high-risk information. This study analyses four high-profile examples of New Zealand investigative journalism based on revelation by vulnerable and reluctant sources. Using interviews with both the sources and the journalists who persuaded them to speak out, it draws on persuasion and social psychology theory to explain the decision-making process of the sources and establish a model of best practice for journalists wishing to persuade reluctant, vulnerable people to speak out safely and effectively.