How to watch the Rugby World Cup? How to make spaghetti bolognese? Who is James Charles? Google just released what New Zealanders looked for the most in 2019, and it says a lot about us. Another year on the internet, another year of Google searches you hope nobody excavates. Until now! Our Google overlords have, as … Read more
In the first instalment of our new pop-up podcast, The Spinoff Book Out Loud, Madeleine Chapman reads her poignant, hilarious response to the response to her scandalous ranking of New Zealand chips. In March 2019, Madeleine Chapman spied her Everest, and she climbed it. “All 123 chip flavours in New Zealand ranked from best to … Read more
Looking back on 10 years which saw New Zealand’s media transform from a position of near-limitless power and influence to the deeply humbled reality of today. At the end of 2009 I had resigned from my first good job, convinced that print media was finished. The good job was as editor of Real Groove, a … Read more
Commercial media, a business that requires public trust and goodwill, is in a tough financial position right now. Gaurav Sharma says that’s in part because of its poor job of reaching immigrant communities, in the first of a new monthly column for The Spinoff. Let’s start with a test, about references to Indian people in … Read more
The Spinoff editor explains the thinking behind The Spinoff Members. As anyone who has been following the story of the New Zealand media in 2019 will know, it’s stormy out there. Across the board, outlets, us included, are feeling the digital pinch. Advertising spends are down, and the lion’s share of what is being spent … Read more
Emily Writes reviews Frozen 2, the new movie that your kids will be watching until the end of time. The wind was howling like a swirling storm inside as I stood outside the Embassy with my two children. The line to see Frozen 2 stretched out onto the street. Hundreds of Elsas and Annas and parents … Read more
Social media users are hammering a newspaper cartoon making a joke about the Samoan measles epidemic. The infuriated include some of the cartoonist’s own colleagues. An Otago Daily Times cartoonist who saw humour in the deadly Samoan measles epidemic has found himself at odds with both colleagues and his editors. The Garrick Tremain cartoon ran … Read more
The Spinoff’s cartoonist Toby Morris chats and draws with New Zealand’s doodlers in the webseries Two Sketches. This episode, Toby hosts comedian Angella Dravid. In the seventh episode of The Spinoff’s webseries Two Sketches, Angella Dravid makes herself at home in the dining room of Toby Morris’ house. Angella is an award winning comedian appearing … Read more
At the start of the month, a makeup launch broke the internet and sold out of over a million products in under an hour. Alex Casey and Jihee Junn dissect the YouTube documentary series that led to its success. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZywVlyogLYM&t First off, who is Jeffree Star? Who is Shane Dawson? Jeffree Star is an internet … Read more
Louise Mensch is set to hit New Zealand airwaves this evening. Who is this conspiracy theorist and what could she possibly be saying to Lisa Owen? Who is Louise Mensch? She’s a former Tory MP, founder of the Rupert Murdoch-funded “no safe spaces” website Heat Street, a romance novelist, and a conspiracy theorist. She’s considered … Read more
13 moments that prove the music awards are so much > than all other award shows BENEE cleaned up, every performance was somewhere between an eight and a ten, there was an unfeasible quantity of award presenter awkwardness and many nights ended very late. The music awards are over 50 and still absolutely rule. Here’s … Read more
This is a rare public edition of The Bulletin World Weekly, an exclusive newsletter for The Spinoff Members that gets delivered every Thursday afternoon. Today’s edition focuses on the aftermath of Bolivian president Evo Morales being forced from office. Earlier in the week, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, was forced out after a wave of … Read more
An untimely leak to RNZ brought some clarity to the government’s plans for its media assets – yet left many questions unanswered. Duncan Greive analyses the latest revelations. RNZ’s flagship Morning Report programme today led its prime 7.10am slot with a bombshell about Radio New Zealand itself. Political editor Jane Patterson had the scoop on … Read more
The catastrophic bushfires in Australia are framed very differently depending on which media you consume, writes Duncan Greive from Sydney. The horizon started the day crisp and clear, the bushfires out there but not palpable. A group of 60 or so media from across Australia and New Zealand, all holed up in an expansive function … Read more
The trial of the man accused of Grace Millane’s murder is unlike any other in New Zealand history, recounted in micro-beats, each one tweeted and push-notified. Anna Connell asks what it’s doing to justice. It was a story that horrified New Zealand. In December last year, the news of the death of Grace Millane, a … Read more
Where do we watch content, what do we want from it, and how do we view New Zealand news? Here’s what we learned from NZ On Air’s latest survey on identity, culture and the media. We still like to watch free-to-view TV Despite the lingering doom and gloom around linear television, almost three-quarters of respondents … Read more
Online commenters have had an absolute field day with Chlöe Swarbrick’s parliamentary riposte. Here’s our high-level analysis. A lot of people had a lot to say about Chlöe Swarbrick’s “OK boomer” retort in parliament last week. While to some she’s a “hero politician” who “clapped back” at her colleague by employing a “devastating” putdown, others … Read more
The Gen Z-targeted mobile application TikTok is finally being noticed by adults. But what is it? Here’s a quick explainer. What is TikTok? TikTok was the most-downloaded app in the Apple store last year. It’s a mish-mash of the deceased Musical.ly and Vine, with over 500 million active users. The app allows you to film … Read more
Its first full-time reporter will lead the project, which includes a dedicated section of its homepage for New Zealand. The Guardian Australia is leading a significant move into New Zealand, confirming that it has hired its first full-time reporter in New Zealand and is introducing a new variation on the homepage specifically served to New … 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. This episode, Toby sits down with children’s book author Bob Kerr, co-creator of Terry Teo. In the sixth episode of The Spinoff’s webseries Two Sketches, Toby Morris visits … Read more
The latest film by New Zealand’s celebrity director Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit, is out in cinemas now. Spinoff writers offer their thoughts on the ‘anti-hate satire’, and whether it lives up to Waititi’s catalogue of hits. Sam Brooks, culture editor I had a lovely time watching Jojo Rabbit – it’s an enjoyable, tense coming-of-age film that … Read more
A scathing account of the state of television and the wider media, from the departing Newshub boss. Less than a week after Mediaworks put its television operations up for sale, the head of its news arm, Hal Crawford, has announced he is leaving. Crawford’s departure – he is returning to Australia with his family – … Read more
Alex Casey talks to Wellington-born Thomasin McKenzie, Sylvanian Family enthusiast and star of Jojo Rabbit. At just 19, Thomasin McKenzie has already played a sexual assault survivor, a cancer patient and a Jewish teenager hiding in the walls during WW2. I was pleased to see her enjoying a day off on her mum’s Instagram the … Read more
Criminologist Antje Deckert has just completed a two-year study of how women offenders are portrayed in New Zealand newspapers. The results show that journalists are telling very different stories abut Māori and Pākehā. That our criminal justice system is in desperate need of reform and that we need to reduce the number of Māori individuals … Read more
The online magazine that boasted a bigger Instagram following than most New Zealand media has abruptly come to an end. So what was Auckland Mag? Why did it exist? And who was its mysterious founder Dan Rolph? David Farrier investigates. The reply from Dan Rolph at Auckland Magazine came quickly. It came quickly because it … Read more
News broke this morning that MediaWorks is seeking to sell off, and even contemplating closing, its TV division. What might that mean for journalism? For journalism in New Zealand, the loss of Three’s TV division is a devastating blow. It is not yet known whether any of the news properties will be continuing. People often … Read more
When Hannah Yang complained about a racist clue in the daily paper, she was reminded of the prevalence of casual racism in New Zealand. I’d never seen a racist clue before. It appeared one morning when I sat down in our break room to look at the day’s cryptic crossword (yes, this is a thing … Read more
A unique deal saw Sky buy the rugby rights and sell some of itself to NZ Rugby. Trevor McKewen breaks down what it all means. The news came thick and fast over a remarkable five-day corporate slugfest, starting last Thursday. First, Spark Sport struck, gobbling up New Zealand Cricket’s domestic broadcasting rights for the next … Read more
Jennifer Lopez gives the performance of her career in Hustlers, and mark Sam Brooks’ words, she’s going to get an Oscar for it. And it’s long overdue, he writes. My worst trait, at least according to me, is my tendency to side-eye people who are lumbering on up to bandwagons that I’ve been on for years. … Read more