New Zealander's magazine consumption habits

99% of New Zealanders don't read Ian Wisharts 'Investigate', a publication pertaining to obscure right-wing and conservative Christian viewpoints. No "Womans' lifestyle" magazine has been able to convince more than 3% of the population its worth buying, and financial newspaper The National Business Review is less popular than the Air New Zealand in flight magazine. These are some of the statistics that can be taken from the latest Roy Morgan readership estimates which looked at New Zealanders consumption of magazines and newspapers. This paints an interesting picture of society that should relieve a number of people who have concerns about the mass media.

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For example, Wishart's most recent book 'Air Con' in which he attempted to disprove anthropogenic climate change, was a best selling (reaching number one as soon as it was published) but is factually inaccurate. Gareth Renewden, author of 'Hot Topic: Global Warming and the Future of New Zealand' described the book as having “a view of the world so far removed from the reality that most of us operate in that it’s difficult to know whether the author is misguided, malicious, or malignant.” and dispelled the books arguments. Thankfully, despite this best selling book the vast majority of New Zealanders don't regularly engage themselves with Wisharts world view.

With regard to the “Womans' lifestyle” magazines, research by Ilona P. Pawlowski has found that “On opening [a] women’s magazine the reader is bombarded with page after page of advertisements featuring highly sexualised images of women...sex is a tool used by advertisers in almost every advertisement that appears in women’s magazines, particularly those targeted at the youngest age demographics.” Magazines classified as “Mass Womans' Magazines” had a much larger readership than those classified as “lifestyle” magazines, but the statistics show that more than four out of every five New Zealanders won't open a womans' magazine.