North & South is a New Zealand monthly national current affairs magazine, specialising in long-form investigative stories and photojournalism. In an eight-page article in 2015, for example, "Long Walk to Justice", staff writer Mike White asked if New Zealand’s justice system should establish an independent commission to investigate wrongful convictions. Issues involving justice in New Zealand provide a theme for many of his stories for North & South. The editorial content also includes profiles of New Zealanders, brief stories, essays, opinion, music, film and book reviews, food, and travel. History and profile North & South was launched in April 1986 by Metro Publications – Mick Mason and Bruce Palmer, under editor Robyn Langwell. ACP Magazines then sold to ACP. It is now published by Bauer Media NZ, based in Auckland. Bauer Media NZ acquired the title in September 2012. Virginia Larson succeeded Robyn Langwell as editor in 2008 until 2020. The magazine has won more than 300 journalism, photography and design awards, including multiple MPA Magazine of the Year awards, Citi Journalism Awards for Excellence and Wolfson Fellowships to the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. In early April 2020, the Bauer Media Group closed down several of its New Zealand brands including North & South in response to the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. On 17 June 2020, Sydney investment firm Mercury Capital purchased North and South as part of its acquisition of Bauer Media's New Zealand and Australian media assets. On 17 July, Mercury Capital confirmed that it would be selling North and South to independent publishers Konstantin Richter and Verena Friederike Hasel. Contribution to press freedom In 1995, North & South published an article by Joe Atkinson in which he called ex-Prime Minister David Lange lazy. Lange objected to this and other criticisms in the article, and sued Atkinson and the publishers for defamation. The subsequent case ran for five years, and resulted in the media being able to use a defence of qualified privilege when reporting on politicians. This was a ground-breaking extension of press freedom, which was subsequently subsumed in a more general defence of public interest communication. Controversy In November 2006, Deborah Coddington wrote a cover article, "Asian Angst", questioning immigration and referencing the high profile of "Asian" crime, talking of a "gathering crime tide" and an "Asian menace". Coddington's article attempted to justify this language by pointing to a