A frame-by-frame analysis of Tova O’Brien’s hall-of-fame National shambles story

Summer reissue: Last night New Zealand witnessed one of the most exhilarating, confronting political stories to air on national television. Hayden Donnell has watched it several hundred times.  First published May 27, 2020 Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here … Read more

The Aotearoa Spinoff Time Capsule 2020: Culture on a USB stick

As part of the Spinoff Aotearoa Time Capsule of 2020 project, Sam Brooks fills up a USB with everything our descendants will need to understand the crapshoot that is life in 2020. Earlier this week, as I was in the midst of reviewing the biggest game of the year, Spinoff editor Toby Manhire assigned me … Read more

The Bulletin: System springs into action on Port Covid case

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: System springs into action on Port Covid case, Labour opens up initial talks with Greens, and New Zealand travellers creating headaches for Aussie states. A clarification on the new case of Covid-19 announced on Sunday – it was not in fact a case of community … Read more

Tova O’Brien v Jami-Lee Ross: the ex-MP just got Tova’d and the world is loving it

Misinformation superspreader Jami-Lee Ross strolled in to the Newshub Nation studio on Sunday where he was eviscerated by a political editor at the top of her game. Here are the highlights from an exchange that has gone globally viral overnight.  Newshub’s political editor Tova O’Brien has gone global overnight, following a fiery face off with … Read more

Winners, losers, big losers, and gigantic losers from Election 2020

All around the country, New Zealanders are screaming: ‘Election 2020: Who are the winners, losers, big losers, and gigantic losers?’ Hayden Donnell is here to respond to their cries. The election is over. We probably know the makeup of the next government. We know we won’t see a capital gains tax for the rest of … Read more

A frame-by-frame analysis of Tova O’Brien’s hall-of-fame National shambles story

Last night New Zealand witnessed one of the most exhilarating, confronting political stories to air on national television. Hayden Donnell has watched it several hundred times.  Newshub at 6 opened last night with a back-and-forth between presenters Samantha Hayes and Mike McRoberts. After an intro from Hayes, McRoberts set the scene for a drama inside … Read more

‘We’ll be kinder? I absolutely reject that’: The Spinoff grills NZ’s top political editors

The appointment of Jessica Mutch and Tova O’Brien to TV’s top parliamentary positions means the leading editors in the press gallery are all women. Madeleine Chapman asks four of them whether that matters, and about the broader state of play in 2018. With the announcement that Tova O’Brien and Jessica Mutch will assume the role of … Read more