It’s normal to feature two different perspectives discussing a major US political set piece. Yet this morning RNZ’s flagship Morning Report hosted two unabashed Trump acolytes ahead of the final debate. At 2pm New Zealand time, the final debate between president Donald Trump and his challenger, Joe Biden, takes place in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s Trump’s … Read more
Across the prime minister’s Monday morning broadcast interviews, there was one overwhelming theme: the behaviour of NZ First and Winston Peters, who happens also to be the deputy prime minister. With turmoil engulfing government coalition partner NZ First and deputy PM Winston Peters, the logical next person to ask for a view was Jacinda Ardern. … Read more
In a world of racist tweeting presidents, climate crisis and cricketing travesty, what you need in your life is this palliative conversation about Dunedin’s Baldwin Street losing its crown as world’s steepest street to Ffordd Pen Llech in Wales The slope of Baldwin Street, Dunedin, curled into a melancholy frown this week with the announcement … 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
When a political career is about to go up in flames, there’s almost always a moment when the politician just becomes utterly ridiculous. Has Simon Bridges just had that moment? In almost anyone’s books, blathering on about slushies on Morning Report would be considered a low point. For Simon Bridges, it might just be the … Read more
Acting PM Winston Peters did the rounds this morning and nobody was safe. We present a list of Winnie’s sassiest zingers. AM SHOW Winston joined Duncan Garner by video link to cover China and guns. Things got off to a cracking start, and went downhill from there. Duncan Garner: I tend to disagree with you … Read more
An exclusive glimpse into the steel trap psyche of the former health minister and political colossus as he makes for the exit. Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, SpinoffAnalytica Labs has accessed the internal monologue direct from Jonathan Coleman’s brain. After sending the neuro-data to a Super Computer AI in Christchurch via email, we … Read more
The best interview of the election happened today on Morning Report, when Guyon Espiner made Winston Peters look like his race was already run. Duncan Greive recounts the 10 greatest hits. Winston Peters is the most reliably unflappable interview in New Zealand politics. He should get royalties every time someone brazenly answers a completely different … Read more
This Te Wiki o Te Reo we’re sharing the stories of New Zealanders who have challenged themselves to learn te reo Māori. Today: RNZ Morning Report host Guyon Espiner writes about fighting the ‘whitelash’. When I started learning te reo Māori in earnest this year I had one main fear: humiliation. I expected that Pākeha … Read more
Yesterday on RNZ’s Morning Report journalist Guyon Espiner brought finance minister Steven Joyce together with Labour’s finance spokesperson Grant Robertson, and asked them both about Joyce’s accusation that Labour has a $11.7 billion hole in its spending plans. Here’s the transcript. In the interview, Guyon Espiner is sitting between the two politicians, with a laptop … Read more
Just over three years ago, Susie Ferguson began as co-host of NZ’s most important news programme, Morning Report. She joins Toby Manhire to discuss the show, her rapport with Guyon Espiner, sexist abuse from listeners, how she ended up in NZ, and a dramatic head knock at the hands of her toddler Even before an … Read more
Watch the first in RNZ’s big new series of interviews, The 9th Floor, and read our slightly shorter interview with their interviewer – on the contrast with Morning Report, Jim Bolger’s surprise attack on neoliberalism, and why John Key isn’t involved. RNZ this morning launched an ambitious new series of filmed interviews with former New Zealand prime … Read more
Kim Hill fans have been in heaven across the last fortnight. Pete Douglas spends a week waking up to the doyenne of RNZ as she supplements her regular Saturday gig with a super-sub role on Morning Report. My corner of the internet exploded with excitement when it was announced that Kim Hill would join Susie … Read more
RNZ needs to do some serious soul-searching about its decision to give a platform to non-scientific nonsense, writes Dr Siouxsie Wiles As I write my blood is boiling. I’m in a rage. There is a measles outbreak going on in the Waikato region, with over 20 confirmed cases. It looks as though the virus has … Read more
As cannabis decriminalisation finally looms as a political possibility, Don Rowe tracks down an ex-dealer to get a look into the black economy – and asks whether they’d consider going legit. A wheezy sigh of relief was heard yesterday as Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne indicated the possibility of finally loosening his bow-tie stranglehold on the … Read more