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Yours Aye

By RA Tony Parr RNZN [Chief of Navy]

Navy Today has become something of an institution since 1996 when it was first published. Admiral Jack Welch introduced it ‘to fill both the external and internal PR void’. Accordingly its first distribution points were public libraries, schools, universities and polytechs, as well as going to Members of Parliament and government departments.

Since then though there has been huge growth in readership, especially to the families of those serving, formerly serving and veterans. Significantly, and unexpectedly, the international readership has grown as well—our Defence Attaches around the world are able to get their Kiwi Navy stories across, that much easier. Other navies have been inspired by the RNZN’s Navy Today and produced their own magazines similarly styled. From an initial print run of 5000 copies, Navy Today grew within six months to 7,000 and by 2005 to 11,000. It is now steady at 10,000 copies per issue.

The magazine has always had, and will continue to have, a focus on our ships’ and our peoples’ activities, operations and achievements. This is usually from an individual’s perspective and not in the manner of journalism or reporting. Consequently, the stories and their accompanying photographs have an ‘ownership’ feel to them. Authenticity guaranteed!

From time to time Navy Today’s editorial staff have also been able to include supplements written to cover special events, for example, the return of the Unknown Warrior in 2005. There have been a couple of successful ‘spin offs’ including the quarterly Sea Cadet News and The White Ensign—an historical record, which grew into a journal in its own right. Navy Today is a great vehicle for getting the wider Navy message out there.

Moving with the times, we have identified a number of other methods and media for getting Navy stories out to a wider group, particularly younger people. Your Navy now has a Facebook site as well as You Tube, which are proving very popular and a great way to communicate with those who are happier in cyberspace than in magazine media.

From this month we also begin publication of an electronic edition of Navy Today (distinct from the pdf-format version Navy Today that is on the Navy’s public website).The e-version will be available through our website and Facebook page, and will feature additional photo-galleries and video content of Navy’s activities. Introducing these new tools takes some time and management. As a consequence Navy Today will become a bi-monthly publication from this edition onwards.

Your Navy has always exploited technology for strategic and tactical advantage. Our decision to use new communication tools to deliver our stories more effectively is similar to the way we innovate elsewhere across the Fleet. While embracing new media we will continue to maintain the high-standard of the print edition of Navy Today, and distribution will not change hugely. What will change is that publication will now be every second month rather than once a month.

Enjoy your reading— whether on a computer screen or as a magazine!

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