[k9mom]

Several of my pet biz clients are photogs with the San Jose Mercury News- the major paper which services the San Francisco south bay (2nd only to the S.F. Chronicle). San Jose proper is a little over a million in population. In spite of the size of the demographics and the many awards received by the Merc's creative department, there has been a steady decline in subscriptions in past years, primarily due to the fact most folks either get their news from the Internet now-a-days or from the boob tube (read: televison). I've seen a lot of lay-offs in the past two years, so the photo-journalists who are still employed are the lucky ones. The Merc's photojournalists are strictly photographers, not reporters/writers -- I don't know if that is true in New Zealand or not; it's likely different for smaller newspapers. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, here in the states, times are tough for newspapers and most are paring down their staff as opposed to hiring. So if you don't get hired, don't take it too personally. It may well be there are simply more seasoned photographers in the New Zealand job pool who can offer more experience than can you. If, on the other hand, you do get hired, then count your lucky stars! So go for it: It never hurts to try and the worse they can do is say "no"...