Julie Hill fondly recalls one of the Australian media’s great, accidentally truth-packed print cock-ups. Every now and then, an epic headline blunder (or spelling booboo or layout flub or grammar snafu), the work of some doomed subeditor, is so bad it becomes famous. “Girls’ Schools Still Offering Something Special – Head”, it will say, or … Read more
Two Sketches is a webseries featuring Spinoff cartoonist Toby Morris chatting and drawing with a selection of New Zealand illustrators, artists, comic artists, cartoonists, sketchers and doodlers. In episode 2, Toby visits with the political cartoonist of the Sunday Star Times, Dominion Post, The Press and Waikato Times, and New Zealand’s first woman editorial political … Read more
The decisions made by NZ’s media organisations over how to cover the trial of the alleged Christchurch mosque shooter have come in for international criticism. But do they really understand what they’re talking about? It’s a strange thing when every major media organisation in a country decides to sing from the same song sheet. When … Read more
Based on the podcast of the same name, Alex Casey, Michele A’Court and Leonie Hayden set out to jelly wrestle with every issue under the sun. This month, they’re waxing lyrical about body hair. For the second episode of our feminist series On the Rag, Alex Casey, Leonie Hayden and Michéle A’Court sharpen their secateurs … Read more
Five years after he joined Morning Report, Guyon Espiner explains why he’s leaving the show, and responds to criticisms of his use of te reo, and those interruptions. Originally published on RNZ After five years and 1000 shows I’m switching off the 4am alarm. This is my final week on Morning Report and I’d like to tell you … Read more
In the wake of Avengers: Endgame and that huge Game of Thrones episode, everyone is up in arms about spoilers. But are they really such a big deal? There are no spoilers in this piece. Come on, guys. Don Rowe, staff writer Let me start by saying I’m glad Endgame was spoiled for people. The Avengers … Read more
There are more characters in Avengers: Endgame than there are minutes in an hour, but how much is your favourite actually in it? Tom Augustine has the answers. Avengers: Endgame spoilers follow. If you clicked on this article expecting no spoilers, turn back now. Click out of the tab and go see the movie. I love … Read more
It’s breaking box office records and has been met with universal acclaim, but one character in Avengers: Endgame that weaponises hate for laughs. Please note the following story contains a minor spoiler. Like most, I was excited to see Avengers: Endgame. I bought my tickets months ago and took great satisfaction knowing I’d get to … Read more
This is a big deal for NZ journalism, writes Toby Manhire. What will be paywalled and what won’t? And have they got the price right? New Zealand media push notifications cannot often be accused of downplaying news, but the Herald’s announcement this afternoon of “one of the biggest New Zealand media moves of 2019” was … Read more
Alex Casey takes a look back at the period ads of the late 90s and early 2000s, with the help of advertising guru Jill Brinsdon. These days I can time my targeted ads for menstrual products like clockwork. Period trackers, bleedable underwear and menstrual cups all flood in on Facebook and Instagram several days before … Read more
Long-serving Newstalk ZB Drive host Larry Williams has hung up the headphones at Newstalk ZB, where has been at since the Palaeolithic era. Alex Braae tunes in for the farewell broadcasts. Jack Tame and David Farrar were on The Huddle with Larry Williams for the last time on Wednesday. They’d been a relatively regular pairing, … Read more
This weekend, lend your eyeballs to our three new shows: Two Sketches with Toby Morris, Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends and On the Rag. Look, it’s the weekend and you’ve already watched all the things. You’ve watched Game of Thrones. You’ve watched Dancing With the Stars NZ. You’ve watched the video of the goat in … Read more
Massey University’s Sean Phelan and Leon Salter look at the role media played in of one the biggest controversies of the last election. Two months before New Zealand’s 2017 elections, which eventually installed the Ardern coalition government, then Green party co-leader Metiria Turei gave a speech on welfare reform. Many political commentators had predicted an easy victory … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Don Rowe: Swastikas and semi-automatics: Auckland gun club neighbours speak out “In January this year, the neighbour, who we have agreed not to name, woke to find a large swastika and the words, ‘If your reading this ur in range’ spray-painted on their shed … Read more
My YouTube Party of Five is a new series in which we invite people to share their five favourite YouTube videos – the ones hold closest in their heart, the ones they’ll play at 2am while drunk at a party. This week: Spinoff senior writer Alex Casey. Animals are good. Humans are bad. Here’s my … Read more
Now that the Herald has dropped its syndicated Alex cartoon, there’s a glimmer of hope that New Zealand’s moribund newspaper cartooning scene might finally let in some new blood. Toby Morris has 10 suggestions for cartoonists to consider. If you get your news from social media, you might be feeling like the state of cartooning … Read more
New Sky CEO Martin Stewart has had a huge first month in the job, burning down the house of his famed predecessor John Fellet, writes Trevor McKewen. Less than a month into his new job as the CEO of one of New Zealand’s most disliked brands (and that really is a feat when you’re in … Read more
Burger King’s ad for its Vietnamese-inspired burger shows customers trying to eat with a pair of giant novelty chopsticks, to which Asian-New Zealanders ask ‘why’? It’s a crime against food Food crimes come in many forms: putting pineapple on pizza, pouring milk before cereal, and cutting bagels into slices like a loaf of bread. But … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Madeleine Chapman: I told New Zealand what chips to eat and New Zealand told me to fuck off “I flew to Wellington on Thursday night and met up with the same colleague who, to my genuine surprise, was still passionate about the Burger Rings issue. … Read more
Obscure Tony awards performances, Twin Peaks and choreography videos – Laura Vincent’s YouTube Party of Five runs the full weird YouTube gamut. From ANTM to ASMR, YouTube has been crucial to my wellbeing, something I tell you with neither hesitation nor exaggeration for comic effect. In 2007 my flatmates and I would bond over slow-buffering … Read more
In cinemas now, Vai tells the story of one woman’s life through eight ten-minute shorts, directed by nine Pacific women. At the Auckland premiere of Vai at Sylvia Park, dozens of attendees line up at the candy bar to buy a drink for the film. After paying, they then continued into the theatre where they discovered … Read more
CEO Mark Zuckerberg was silent for weeks following the attacks, yet the world has refused to let this story go. Here is a summary of three extraordinary weeks for Facebook. It’s now three weeks since Christchurch, and those directly impacted are preparing to face the accused in court this morning, still incredibly raw. Haji Daoud … Read more
Since writing about adults with fetishes exploiting children on YouTube, David Farrier has become familiar with the reality for kids on the wild west of YouTube. He explores the troubling subculture of videos targeting children created by adult hypnotists. “Um… goodbye YouTube. I’m serious. I have to delete my channel because of perverts,” says James … Read more
With Vice NZ sadly closing its doors last week, here’s a round-up of some of the excellent work produced by the editorial staff over the last few years. The New Zealand editorial arm of global youth media outlet Vice closed on Friday, with five people losing their jobs. Vice New Zealand opened under the management … Read more
Is it time April Fools was abandoned as a public holiday? The efforts so far for 2019 have been dismal. Alex Braae casts his eyes over the worst efforts. In this morning’s edition of The Bulletin, I put out a call for good April Fools jokes. “If you see any that are actually funny, please … Read more
If Facebook’s announcement that it’ll ban praise and support for white nationalism and separatism sounds familiar, that’s because it is, writes Paul Brislen for RNZ. Nearly two weeks after the terrorist attack in Christchurch was aired live on Facebook, the company has finally responded in public. From next week it will implement a ban on “praise, support … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Don Rowe: Grass Roots: the wāhine of Hikurangi Enterprises “Inside the common room at the Tikitiki school, Melanee Paenga is crying. A director at Hikurangi Enterprises and tutor of the EIT hemp cultivation course, she is one of the few young adults employed in the … Read more
Decisions about what speech gets regulated should made by the people affected by these rules. That’s the whole point of democracy, write two Canadian professors. When it comes to dealing with online hate speech, we’ve ended up in the worst of all possible worlds. On the one hand, you have social media platforms like Facebook … Read more
For many reporters covering the Christchurch terror attacks, detachment and objectivity gave way to human emotion, and journalist turned academic Dr Rukhsana Aslam argues that’s perfectly fine. To be objective, neutral and dispassionate while doing a story is the long-practised norm of journalism. It is the principle we journalists live by. We are trained to … Read more