$2m Fund To Foster New Zealand Business Journalism – The Brian Gaynor Business Journalism Initiative

Strengthening and promoting the quality and appeal of New Zealand business and economic journalism is the target of a $2 million endowment to support the development of business and economic journalists.

The Brian Gaynor Business Journalism Initiative both honours and gives expression to the late Brian Gaynor’s passion for his adopted home, Aotearoa New Zealand, and his contribution to business, financial and economic commentary and writing over more than four decades.

Gaynor died a little over a year ago, on 16 May 2022, after a short illness.

“Brian and I often discussed what lasting contribution we might make to the cause of quality business journalism in New Zealand,” said Anna Gibbons, Brian Gaynor’s wife of 30 years.

“This initiative is the best practical expression I can think of to honour Brian’s life, his devotion to high quality disclosure and analysis of all aspects of the New Zealand economy and its capital markets.

“Brian believed deeply in how important it is for investors to have trust in their financial markets, in the importance of public disclosure to help achieve that, and the power of high-quality analysis and news coverage of business and financial affairs in keeping the markets honest.”

Gaynor’s weekly columns, first in the National Business Review, then in the New Zealand Herald, and since 2019 on BusinessDesk, were required reading for not only investors, but also for financial market participants, regulators, politicians and policymakers.

“Brian has left a gap in the New Zealand financial landscape that is perhaps impossible to fill,” said BusinessDesk editor, Pattrick Smellie, who has worked with the Brian’s family and the Milford Foundation on the Initiative.

“The creation of this incredibly generous fund represents an unparalleled opportunity for business journalists to invest in their professional development and to pursue the most difficult investigations.

“The Initiative seeks to demonstrate to smart, young journalists that business journalism offers opportunities to do some of the most interesting and demanding work that our profession can provide.”

The Initiative’s endowment fund will be established in two tranches of $1 million each in 2023 and 2024.

The Milford Foundation, the charitable arm of Milford Asset Management, of which Brian Gaynor was a founder, has kindly agreed to manage the administration of the Initiative, which means that all the earnings of the fund will be available for distribution.

A selection committee of senior business journalists, media, and financial services sector representatives, chaired by Anna Gibbons, will be appointed to oversee allocation of funds, with first applications to the Initiative to be called for in August, with announcement of first distributions in November this year.

Brian Gaynor Business Journalism Initiative – The Details

Aim: To foster high quality and informed business writing and journalism in New Zealand.

Eligibility: Journalists, writers and editors, both staff and freelance, as well as news organisations. Applicants in all forms of media would be considered – text, audio, video, online, electronic and print media. Applicants need not be working in business reporting, but the proposal must be related to economic, financial or business issues.

Applications: Applications considered annually, but not exclusively.

This will be a contestable fund, to which applicants can apply with bespoke news projects, educational initiatives or with investigative and research proposals.

Possible examples:

• Funding for an investigation requiring deep research, travel, or sufficient time or additional resource to bring to a landing.
• To undertake short course study, either overseas or within NZ.
• Attendance at a business investigative journalism conference or other domestic or international in-work upskilling.
• Partial or full funding for a bespoke business journalism project such as a book, documentary, or other major journalistic output.
• Creation of a reusable, business journalism training resource that would focus on young, working journalists starting out in business journalism (possibly, but not necessarily, involving a journalism school in NZ).

In addition, we anticipate establishing annual awards for tertiary level journalism students, diploma, undergraduate or post-graduate, who produce outstanding work demonstrating significant business journalism skills.

Funding: A $2 million endowment to be administered by the Milford Foundation. Funding decisions by a committee chaired by Anna Gibbons and involving relevant industry participants.

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