Covid-19 was the final nail in the coffin for Bauer Publishing in New Zealand.

The German company has closed operations here, shutting down longstanding magazines such as North and South, the Listener, and Woman's Day.

Magazine Publishers Association board member James Frankham told Heather du Plessis-Allan the Government decision to keep magazines off supermarket shelves and instead being posted to consumers hit an already struggling industry.

"That's a difficult situation that Bauer was facing. They simply could not get their products to market. It's as if ZB was allowed to continue operations but wasn't allowed to broadcast." 

He says they've asked the government for an explanation.

"It's hard to know why magazines have been singled out as being dangerous within supermarkets, when of course they're not." 

• Bauer Media , publisher of the Listener and Woman's Day, closing