Last week, Critic Lite* hit stands with a reduced page count. For 2026, the magazine is alternating between 36-page and 16-page editions every other week. This change was announced in Issue 25 of Critic Te Ārohi last year, but many people did not know about this until the first Critic Lite* was printed. The reduced page cut gained attention from avid readers, former Critic Editors and OUSA Executive members. We would like to thank all those who have expressed their support for Critic and student media.
From the conversation that has unfolded, there are a few things we would like to clear up.
What is the structure of Critic’s leadership team this year?
Critic has two part time Co-Editors, two part time Co-Designers and a Culture, News and Features Editor. An important change compared to other years is that from 2024, we have had a Student Media Manager that supports us at Critic, as well as supporting Radio One. Our current Media Manager started mid-2025 and basically liaises with OUSA on behalf of and alongside Critic.
Will Critic be 36 pages permanently again?
Sparked by the discourse about Critic Lite*, we have been working with our Student Media Manager and OUSA to talk about Critic returning to 36 pages in the future. We are grateful for this good relationship, as it hasn’t historically always been this easy for Editors to talk freely and frankly about Critic’s financials within OUSA. We are all very keen for Critic to return to 36 pages. Keep an eye out.
Who decided to make the page cut?
OUSA decided that Critic needed to take a budget cut as printing costs have increased in the last few years. Yeah – everyone harps on about the tough economic climate, but it’s true. We know from talking with the people responsible for our budget that if OUSA could have us at 36 pages right now, they would. It just isn’t feasible right now with pressure across the whole organisation. This led to the current situation of alternating 36-page and 16-page magazines. Originally it had been proposed to be a fortnightly 48-page publication, but, as Co-Editors, we and the Student Media Manager believed maintaining a weekly publication was a priority. Critic Lite* is how we thought we could best be kaitiaki toward Critic’s presence across campus.
Was Critic’s budget cut for 2026?
If you Google “OUSA Budget 2026” it’ll rightly say that our budget was reduced by $21,640 from 2025. Critic didn’t actually really get a budget cut, but we didn’t get a budget increase. As printing costs have increased, we needed to work out how to actually stay within our budget as we weren’t going to get it increased. As such, the “cut” to our budget represents the money we saved by printing Critic Lite*.
Therefore, the decrease in budget is out of the ordinary compared to previous years. In previous years, our budget has actually remained relatively stable, with decreases mostly being owed to a couple of projects being scrapped due to lack of student demand. In fact, our staffing budget has increased by around $24k over the past two years. We are hopeful that our budget will increase for 2027.
Did the Editors know the page cut would be happening?
Yes. It was even published in an issue last year that it would be happening. That means we knew when we went to sign our contracts as Editors, and could have stepped away from the role if we didn’t want to have editorship over Critic in that form. Again, we care for Critic as kaitiaki, and figured we would act as Editors this year to make sure Critic can be as strong and secure as possible for future generations of writers.
Wasn’t Critic anywhere from 48 to 60 pages?
We've seen some mentions that Critic was 60 pages. Critic became 36 pages instead of 48 Sem 2 last year. It was also a good change because 48 pages was a lot of content, and pretty tricky to sustain as a team. 36 feels more comfortable and we get everything we want to publish across in that format!
No one at OUSA or here at Critic can remember standard Critic issues ever being 60 pages. If Critic was ever 60 pages, it would have likely been due to a special pull-out within the magazine. Last year we had a pull-out for the local elections, for example.
Is Critic’s print count 4000 or 3000 copies across campus?
It’s currently 3000. 4000 was the old number that was reduced to 3000 following student feedback. 4000 is circulating because some information found on OUSA’s website was out of date.
I’m still confused and want to talk about this more
You can email Gryffin or Hanna (Co-Editors) at critic@critic.co.nz or our Student Media Manager at elizabeth@ousa.org.nz. We’re always keen to chat more.
