TVNZ owns a collection of more than 700,000 physical newspaper clippings dating back as far as the 1960s, offering a wealth of information unable to be found online. This is time-consuming and arduous to search manually, and while articles are filed under subject headings, institutional knowledge is required to locate specific items. We knew that if these articles were digital and searchable, it would both improve the depth and accuracy of our reporting, and create possibilities for new stories based on information uncovered by our journalists.

With funding support from Google, TVNZ was able to employ an external company to scan and digitise all 700,000 articles into PDFs, which were then uploaded to Google Pinpoint. They are now searchable and accessible to all staff, including those outside of Auckland where the physical collection is kept.

Today we are able to make full use of what was previously an untapped resource. The breadth of content made it impossible to know exactly what we held in the nearly 22,000 folders we were storing, but now every item is discoverable in seconds. We have the ability to fact check and give historical background more readily.

We have unlocked a time capsule of more than half a century of New Zealand history, which will continue to enhance our reporting in diverse ways over time. This digitisation project has become a springboard for creative journalism, enabling our newsroom to reimagine how archival content can shape news stories.