Owner(s) Star Media Headquarters New Zealand | Founded 14 May 1868 Circulation 92,000 | |
Type Weekly morning newspaper | ||
The Star was a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand from 1868 to 1991. It became the Christchurch Star-Sun in June 1935 after merging with a rival newspaper, The Sun, and at the time it ceased publication as a daily newspaper in 1991 it was known as The Christchurch Star. It became a free newspaper published twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, until 2016, when The Star began delivering free newspapers once a week on Thursdays.
History
The Star was first published on 14 May 1868 as the evening edition of the Lyttelton Times. In 1991 the Star featured in the film JFK, with the claim that the 23 November 1963 edition of the Star, shown in the film, had published details of Lee Harvey Oswald's which the Star could only have had access to if they were pre-packaged before the assassination. The paper's chief reporter later said that this was simply wrong, as Oswald had been arrested at around 10 am New Zealand time, and the Star was not published until early to mid-afternoon New Zealand time. With access to US wire services that had photographs and biographical details from Oswald's prior defection to and return from the Soviet Union, a front page was drawn up in the time available.
In April 2013 the Star was sold by APN New Zealand Media (owners of The New Zealand Herald) to Mainland Media.