Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Duncan Greive: With $38m on the table, TVNZ suddenly remembers how to do public broadcasting The state-owned broadcaster has long resisted public service. Yet with $38m on the table, and the government’s relationship with RNZ rocky, moving Q+A to primetime could be be seen as a deftly … Read more
David Farrier has slowly been going crazy trying to get an answer about who’s actually behind the odd film festival that might not even play your stupid film anyway. Sometimes when you write something saying something is possibly a little bit bad, people get in touch saying you are bad. “Well, y’know, once it’s published … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Emily Writes: An open letter to Mike Hosking “Now, any parent who actually parents will know that early childhood education is no walk in the park and the question is absurd. And “painting pictures with a three-year-old” is not only not easy, but also it’s nowhere near all that … Read more
As expected, every single award last night was won by the Spinoff, to universal acclaim. In a glittering ceremony at the Auckland hotel which used to be glamorously known as the Langham but was recently renamed Cordis so that it sounds more like a provincial motor inn, the cream of New Zealand media gathered last … Read more
Social media can be an effective tool for police in finding missing persons and suspects. But where is the line and was it crossed this week? Revenge is so many things. It’s a dish best served cold. It’s sweet but not fattening. It’s an acid that burns its holder. Justice is nothing. Justice is just. … Read more
A note from the editor regarding the WORLD founder’s response to Spinoff revelations about its ‘Made in New Zealand’ garment labelling Give Dame Denise L’Estrange-Corbet this: she didn’t attempt to hide from the story published on the Spinoff yesterday. The WORLD founder and ethical fashion proselytiser spoke widely to media, scattering arguments in her own … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Toby Manhire: What the shit is going on with those Clarke Gayford rumours? “Everyone in media and political circles, Steve Braunias notwithstanding, has been gasbagging like mad over the last month about rumours related to Clarke Gayford, the partner of the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern. Most … Read more
The biggest global player in broadcast production has bought up a New Zealand company specialising in exactly that. What does that mean for those already here? The company that does the filming and broadcast production of the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup and plenty more besides has quietly made a move to … Read more
The “Auckland International Film Festival” is Definitely Not the “New Zealand International Film Festival”, mmmkay? David Farrier attempts to work out what’s going on. Another year, another film festival or film awards. But it all gets a bit confusing when you live in Auckland, New Zealand. Last year, it was the “New Zealand Film Awards” that … Read more
Should you delete your Facebook page? In many important ways it doesn’t matter what you decide, writes Sophie Bateman for Newshub. In 2004, when college student Mark Zuckerberg launched thefacebook.com, he could hardly have known the global juggernaut his website would become. Fast-forward to 2018 and Facebook is in the middle of its biggest ever … Read more
Alex Casey sits down for a yarn with Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek, as their film The Breaker Upperers opens in New Zealand cinemas. Madeleine Sami is hooning a beer and Jackie van Beek is sipping a kombucha, or “bin juice” as Sami prefers to call it. We are a few hours out from … Read more
Yesterday’s bombshell story about a story that wasn’t a story has sent shockwaves through the reckons machine. At least four news organisations have over recent months been following up on the malevolent bullshit being peddled about Jacinda Ardern’s boyfriend Clarke Gayford by anonymous cretins on the internet – but no one was publishing them because … Read more
Whether to report on the false rumours about the prime minister’s partner created a quandary for the media. Could they report on slurs designed to do damage without amplifying the effect of them and playing into the hands of the rumour-mongers? Colin Peacock of RNZ’s Mediawatch programme looks at how they responded. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern responding to … Read more
Madeleine Chapman has written a column about Kate Hawkesby’s column about Deborah Hill Cone’s column about Deborah Hill Cone’s column about Clarke Gayford, and this is that column. There’s something about Deborah Hill Cone and Kate Hawkesby that keeps nagging me every time I see their columns. At first I thought it was outrage, then … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Danyl Mclauchlan: Breaking news: Clarke Gayford reputation rocked by Herald allegations “This is not to deny that the Herald’s investigation raises some valid issues which Ardern and her government must urgently move to address. Why were we not told that Gayford came second in the … Read more
The NZ International Comedy Festival is here, and last night it kicked off with its traditional opener, the NZ Comedy Gala. But this year, among the local and international comedians, there was a whole lot of racism. Julie Zhu writes. As a Chinese woman, I’m used to surface racism. My brain has almost developed an … Read more
In an email to the Spinoff, Barney McDonald says In Plain Sight investigation misrepresents the magazine, the men at its helm, and amounts to ‘sensationalist click-bait’. Barney McDonald, the former editor of Auckland culture magazine Pavement, has written to the Spinoff renewing and expanding upon his earlier response to In plain sight: behind the pages … Read more
Breakfast carnage continues on Newshub as Mark Richardson and Duncan Garner tear chunks out of Mark Richardson and Duncan Garner Last week New Zealand had barely begun recovering from the sight of broadcaster Duncan Garner’s blistering attack on broadcaster Duncan Garner over free speech when broadcaster Mark Richardson stole his fellow broadcaster’s thunder with a … Read more
Claims in Deborah Hill Cone column cast doubt on the prime minister and her squeeze, who stands accused of being cringey and having a name ending with the letter ‘e’. Danyl Mclauchlan digs deeper. Early this morning the New Zealand Herald published a hard-hitting piece on Clarke Gayford, a fishing show reality TV star and … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Alex Casey: ‘Would you like me to also be a different skin colour and male?’ – Anika Moa claps back at tattoo criticism on Seven Sharp “I’ll just cover up a little bit” Moa whispered, frantically pulling her sleeves over her hands and attempting … Read more
Yet another blistering AM Show attack as cricketer-turned-broadcaster condemns cricketer-turned-broadcaster Earlier this week high-profile broadcaster and host of the AM Show Duncan Garner launched a blistering attack on high-profile broadcaster and host of the AM Show Duncan Garner over his role as Chief Constable in the Speech Police. Not to be outdone, his co-host, Mark … Read more
The AM Show host has unleashed a merciless broadside in response to remarks by the AM Show host. High profile broadcaster and columnist Duncan Garner has this morning spoken truth to power, or more specifically, truth to high profile broadcaster and columnist Duncan Garner. In a blistering attack on Newshub’s simulcast AM Show, Duncan Garner … Read more
Ads hawking bogus Ray-Ban sunglasses are springing up all over Instagram feeds. But where do they come from and who is to blame? Don Rowe, who found despite a spotless online record he’d been spamming the bloody things himself, launches an investigation. Like scoffing at some sucker with a cracked phone screen, there’s a certain … Read more
The telco and TVNZ have outbid the satellite giant for the right to broadcast the 2019 men’s Rugby World Cup – and it marks a watershed moment for our media and audiences What’s all this then? “Spark New Zealand announced today it has secured the rights to bring to New Zealanders the Rugby World Cup … Read more
Bringing you the best weekly reading from your friendly local website. Emily Writes: Hey Mojo, if you can’t pay your staff properly maybe you shouldn’t be in business “I’m thoroughly confused by employers who insist that no business model can ever support paying living wages – especially since many, many, many businesses do pay their employees living … Read more
It’s remembered as one of New Zealand’s best comic thrillers, but how did it happen? Joel McManus talks to director Robert Sarkies about his 1999 film Scarfies. An empty flat. A quarter of a million dollars worth of weed. A drug dealer that wants to kill you. And you’ve taken him hostage in your basement. What … Read more
In which Steve Braunias announces the resumption of New Zealand’s most famous free media lunch extravaganza on the banks of the Waikato River in Hamilton. And on the fourth day Press Club rose again. A kind of resurrection story was played out just before Easter. On the Monday, some guy from Wintec phoned me and … Read more
Hal Crawford is the head of news at Mediaworks, owners of Three and RadioLive. He has been here for two years and still has no idea why our TV is such an absolute mess. TV in New Zealand is odd. It’s odd in a whole lot of great ways – Hunt for the Wilderpeople-style – … Read more
Hayden Donnell might be living far from New Zealand these days, but there’s no escape from the relentless idiocy of our transport policy debate. He runs down the latest media salvos in the battle between road warriors and public transport champions. I’ve been in London for a while now. It can be tough being so … Read more