Pavement (magazine)

The magazine's second to last issue, published in October of 2006, caused some controversy. The issue (entitled the "special teen issue" and subtitled "Lost Youth") marked Pavement's 13th year of publication. It was criticised by ECPAT, a child advocacy group, who lodged a complaint with the censorship compliance unit, claiming that images of teenage girls and one 10-year-old were legally objectionable".[3] The Chief censor at the time, Bill Hastings, felt there was a prima facie case to be answered, though no action was taken, clearing the publisher of any wrongdoing.[4]

At the time, editor Bernard McDonald said there was "only one shoot I would consider mildly provocative" and stated that the model in question was a 19 year old woman. Alongside her pictures, shot by a woman photographer, was a short autobiographical essay the model wrote that made her age very clear. McDonald argued that the purportedly offending pictures of her were a celebration "of the idea and ideals" of being a teenager, with the so-called "provocative" images of Megan printed under the title 'Metamorphosis', with the pictures and essay simply celebrating "a teenager who has developed into a sexual being, on her own terms, as we all do". He also pointed out that the 10-year-old girl featured elsewhere in the issue was a profile story that had nothing to do with nudity or sexuality, the only connection being its inclusion in an issue that contained a small amount of topless nudity. "Jessica is not sexualised, just as Anna Paquin was not sexualised when she appeared in the very adult film The Piano," McDonald explained.[3]

Although the issue was not banned in stores, the nationwide New Zealand bookstore chain Whitcoulls did not display it and only sold copies over the counter when requested by customers.[5] The Office of Film and Literature Classification eventually restricted the "special teen issue" to persons 13 years of age and over, but at the time of classification the issue had sold out.

As a result of declining advertising revenue throughout 2006, the magazine was closed following the December 2006 issue (number 74) and the issue remained on newsstands until the end of March 2007.[6]

In 2018, three women came forward with unsubstantiated claims of sexual approaches involving Pavement personnel, with the claims detailed in a report by fringe website The Spinoff.[7] After reading the article, Bernard McDonald wrote a detailed letter to the publisher of the story, stating that he took "umbrage with the overarching nature of the story" and "particular issue with the way in which the story's narrative is pursued and the glaring lack of balance in the piece". In the extensive letter of complaint, which is no longer available for view on the site, he stated that no one at the magazine had ever used Pavement to be predatory towards young women and that "We used Pavement to promote exciting culture, discover and develop new talent, add excitement and energy to the times we were publishing in, and generally inspire everyone who worked on the magazine, advertised in its pages, or read it. And we did bloody well at it. Nothing you've run on your site will take that away from any of the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who helped make Pavement this country's "coolest" magazine."[8]