Finlay Macdonald (editor)
{{Short description|New Zealand journalist (born 1961)}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
Finlay Macdonald (born 1961){{Cite journal|last=Macdonald|first=Finlay|date=August 2011|title=Here's to the Class of '61|journal=North & South}} is a New Zealand journalist, editor, publisher and broadcaster. He is best known for editing the New Zealand Listener (1998–2003).{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/|title=Macdonald to quit the 'Listener'|date=2003-11-27|access-date=2019-08-04|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/afternoons/audio/201832594/masterpieces-finlay-macdonald-on-the-listener|title=Masterpieces: Finlay MacDonald on The Listener|date=2017-02-09|website=RNZ |language=en-nz|access-date=2019-08-04}}{{Cite book|title=Fool's paradise|last=Braunias|first=Steve|date=2001|publisher=Random House New Zealand|isbn=1-86941-483-7|location=Auckland, N.Z.|oclc=49920372}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0807/S00046.htm|title=Who is the Listener listening to? {{!}} Scoop News|date=4 July 2008|website=www.scoop.co.nz|access-date=2019-08-04|last3=Littlewood|first3=2:17 pm Column: Matthew}} Macdonald was appointed New Zealand Editor: Politics, Business & Arts of the online media site The Conversation in April 2020.{{Cite web|url=http://theconversation.com/finlay-macdonald-joins-the-conversation-in-new-zealand-136611|title=Finlay Macdonald joins The Conversation in New Zealand|last=Minchin|first=Liz|website=The Conversation|date=20 April 2020 |language=en|access-date=2020-04-21}} He lives in Auckland with his partner, media executive Carol Hirschfeld. They have two children.{{Cite web|url=http://newzealandweddings.co.nz/blog/2013/06/carol-hirschfield|title=Romantic Recollections: Carol Hirschfield – New Zealand Weddings Magazine|website=New Zealand Weddings|language=en|access-date=2019-08-04|archive-date=23 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190623015208/http://newzealandweddings.co.nz/blog/2013/06/carol-hirschfield|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://e-tangata.co.nz/korero/carol-hirschfeld-i-love-the-mission-in-front-of-us/|title=Carol Hirschfeld: I love the mission in front of us|last=Husband|first=Dale|date=2016-02-13|website=E-Tangata|language=en-NZ|access-date=2019-08-05}} His father was the late journalist Iain Macdonald.{{Cite news|last=Macdonald|first=Finlay|date=6 April 2008|title=My Dad and Wahine Day|work=Sunday Star Times|url=https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/sunday-star-times/20080406/281771329908384|access-date=1 February 2021}}
Career
Macdonald began his career as a junior reporter for the NZ Listener, later becoming a senior writer, before leaving to pursue a freelance career, during which time he researched and wrote television documentaries and was for two years a regular scriptwriter for TVNZ's long-running drama series Shortland Street.{{fact|date=May 2022}}
From 1996 to 1997 Macdonald was a senior writer for Metro magazine,{{Cite journal|last=Little|first=Paul|date=June 1996|title=Editorial|journal=Metro}} before returning to the Listener as deputy editor under then-editor Paul Little. When Little left, Macdonald was appointed editor, and hired Steve Braunias from Metro as deputy editor.{{Cite web|url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/featured/04-11-2015/books-kind-of-a-dimwit-an-interview-with-steve-braunias/|title=Books: "Kind of a Dimwit" – An Interview with Steve Braunias|date=2015-11-04|website=The Spinoff|access-date=2019-08-04}}
Macdonald has said that highlights of editing the Listener included driving its coverage of the 9/11 terror attacks and New Zealand's response to the subsequent "War on Terror", and launching the magazine's first website.
Notable writers he commissioned to contribute to the Listener included C.K Stead (an obituary of New Zealand writer Janet Frame),{{Cite web|url=https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/history/janet-frame-ck-stead-unmistakable-quality-of-genius/|title=CK Stead on Janet Frame's unmistakable quality of genius|website=Noted|language=en|access-date=2019-08-08}} Michael King, Alexander Cockburn and Christopher Hitchens (on the death of Princess Diana).
Between 2004 and 2006 he was a commissioning editor for Penguin Books New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguin.co.nz/authors/finlay-macdonald|title=Finlay Macdonald|website=www.penguin.co.nz|language=en|access-date=2019-08-04}} During this time, Macdonald encouraged former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange to write his memoir, David Lange: My Life.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/|title=Tom O'Neil: Life's purest rewards can take a little time|last=O'Neil|first=Tom|date=2014-06-27|access-date=2019-08-04|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}} The book's publication coincided with the death of Lange in 2005, and remains a best-seller.
From 2006 to 2010 Macdonald wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Star-Times (which he has compared to writing a Listener editorial); and was also the paper's literary editor.
More recently he has written for North & South magazine, The Spinoff, Radio New Zealand and Newsroom. In 2013 he authored The Life and Art of Lynley Dodd an illustrated retrospective of the New Zealand children's author's work. From 2015 to 2017 he was the New Zealand publisher for HarperCollins{{Cite web|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/9162076/Is-this-the-end-for-NZ-publishing|title=Is this the end for NZ publishing?|website=Stuff|date=15 September 2013 |language=en|access-date=2019-08-04}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.writersfestival.co.nz/programmes/writers/finlay-macdonald/|title=Writer: Finlay MacDonald - Writers • Auckland Writers Festival|website=www.writersfestival.co.nz|access-date=2019-08-05}}{{Cite web|url=http://beattiesbookblog.blogspot.com/2016/02/finlay-macdonald-leaving-publishing.html|title=Beattie's Book Blog - unofficial homepage of the New Zealand book community: Finlay Macdonald leaving publishing|date=2016-02-22|website=Beattie's Book Blog |access-date=2019-08-05}} where he specialised in non-fiction works, including New Zealand musician Dave McArtney's memoir Gutter Black,{{Cite web|url=http://unitybooks.nz/ourhistory/gutter-black-event-24th-may-2014/|website=unitybooks.nz|access-date=2019-08-05|title=Gutter Black Event, 24th May 2014}} Flying Nun Records founder Roger Shepherd's memoir In Love With These Times,{{Cite book|title=In love with these times : my life with Flying Nun Records|last=Shepherd|first=Roger|year=2016 |isbn=9781775540892|location=Auckland, New Zealand|oclc=946520752}} and the celebrated New Zealand writer James McNeish's final book, Breaking Ranks.
Macdonald has worked as a documentary producer/reporter or presenter for television series The Good Word (TVNZ 7);{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/search?commit=Search&search_term=finlay+macdonald&utf8=%E2%9C%93|title=NZ On Screen|website=www.nzonscreen.com|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}} Talk Talk (TVNZ 7); NewsBites (Maori Television Service) and The Book Show (TVNZ).{{Cite web|url=http://tvnz.co.nz/content/1392887.xml|title=Host Finlay Macdonald|website=TVNZ Ondemand|access-date=2019-08-05}} As host and moderator he launched the first seasons of the Auckland Museum LATE series of debates and lectures,{{Cite web|url=https://nzha.org.nz/2017/11/11/james-belich-at-auckland-museum-28-november/|title=James Belich at Auckland Museum, 28 November|date=2017-11-11|website=The New Zealand Historical Association|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-04}} has been a regular chair at the annual Auckland Writers Festival, and has hosted the University of Auckland's Bright Lights event for distinguished alumni since 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/alumni/whats-happening/alumni-video-and-audio/distinguished-alumni-videos--bright-lights-2019.html|title=Distinguished Alumni videos: Bright Lights 2019 - The University of Auckland|website=www.auckland.ac.nz|access-date=2019-08-05}}
Education
- 1984 Bachelor of Arts (majoring in politics) University of Auckland{{Cite web|url=https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2019/05/31/kindness-of-strangers.html|title=Finlay Macdonald: The kindness of strangers – The University of Auckland|website=www.auckland.ac.nz|access-date=2019-08-04}}
- Diploma of Journalism Wellington Polytechnic.{{Cite web|url=http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms/Colleges/College%20of%20Business/Communication%20and%20Journalism/Journalism%20Programme/HonourRoll2.pdf|title=50 of the Best}}
Awards
- 2006 Qantas Media Awards Columnist of the Year
- 1994 Nuffield Press Fellow, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge{{Cite web|url=https://voyagermediaawards.nz/awards/wolfson-fellowship|title=Wolfson Fellowship|website=Voyager Media Awards|language=en-NZ|access-date=2019-08-04}}
References
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Category:New Zealand journalists
Category:New Zealand publishers (people)