Episodit
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Normally on The Fold, we discuss events in the wider media, but today, the subject is us and the future of The Spinoff. Published on site today is an open letter from Duncan, The Spinoff’s editor Madeleine Chapman, and its CEO Amber Easby. It toplines where The Spinoff is right now as a platform – this paradoxical place where our audience is the strongest it has ever been, outside of events like Covid or elections – but that the stagnant ad market, and a hard drop in public funding for our work, has left us in a really tricky situation needing to make a very real call for help.
First, Duncan speaks to our editor, Madeleine Chapman, and our head of audience, Anna Rawhiti-Connell about what we’re asking for and why we’re asking for it. Duncan is then joined by Spinoff CEO Amber Easby to dig into some numbers that show just how radically our revenue picture has changed and explain why our audience is now our last, best shot at retaining the ability to carry on doing what we do.
Please take the time to read the open letter at https://thespinoff.co.nz/sos.
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Zeni Gibson has been stalked and gruesomely harassed for nearly nine years by a man she rejected when she was 17. This is her story.
Content warning: this story contains graphic descriptions of threatened violence, including sexual violence. Please take care.
As told to Madeleine Holden.
Read by Anna Rawhiti-Connell.
Made with support from The Spinoff Members.
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Puuttuva jakso?
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Last week, staff writer Lyric Waiwiri-Smith attended the Auckland event of the national apology to survivors of abuse in care. That historic event was quickly followed by another, with the nine-day hīkoi arriving in parliament to protest a number of government decisions, particularly the Treaty Principles bill.
Lyric and Ātea editor Liam Rātana reported on the hīkoi as it passed through Auckland. As journalists these were big stories, but as Māori journalists, they held an even greater weight and sense of responsibility to tell them in the right way. It’s a responsibility not shared by most other journalists in New Zealand, and one that can be hard to leave at work at the end of the day.
Lyric and Liam join editor Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to discuss the apology, the hīkoi, and the challenge of separating work and life when your work involves reporting on your own lived experiences.
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As homelessness hits an all-time high, New Zealand’s frontline organisations are embracing unconventional and innovative strategies. Joel MacManus takes a closer look at the crisis and meets the people who claim to have the cure.
Story by Joel MacManus.
Read by Te Aihe Butler.
Made with support from The Spinoff Members.
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Every other week we read reports of the rising rates of homelessness in our major cities. These stories are sometimes about homelessness itself and other times about the siblings of homelessness, like crime and welfare. Wellington editor Joel MacManus spent months speaking to those on the frontline in the fight to solve homelessness once and for all. It’s a long read, so for the first time ever we’ve made Cover Stories available in audio form. If you’d rather hear the story than read it, Te Aihe Butler has voiced Joel’s story and you can find it right here in the Behind The Story feed. Joel’s reporting covers the causes, the implications and the potential solution for homelessness in New Zealand. A comprehensive assessment of where we are at as a country in caring for our most vulnerable, and far we still have to go.
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After receiving a tip-off from an Elemeno P fan about a suspicious sounding new song from Elemeno P, staff writer Gabi Lardies followed the trail to a Ukrainian music producer, a distribution platform being sued for half a billion dollars, and the unresolved question: If it’s not Elemeno P, why is it on their official music pages? Gabi sat down with editor Madeleine Chapman for Behind the Story to discuss the new world of stories about AI, and the frustration when you can’t quite crack the case.
Elemeno P released a new song for the first time in 13 years, but is it real?
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Last week, The Spinoff unveiled its top 100 New Zealand TV shows of the 21st century, sparking plenty of debate about what truly deserved the top spot. This week, The Spinoff senior writer and Top 100 listmaster Alex Casey is joined by a panel of TV fanatics – Kura Forrester, Rhiannon McCall, Stewart Sowman-Lund and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith – for a special Behind The Story recorded live event at Q Theatre in Auckland. Together, they'll unearth some beloved TV gems and make their cases for their all-time favourite local TV show, with the live audience helping choose a new winner.
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Senior writer Alex Casey spent the past couple of months deep in local television, leading one of our most ambitious projects to date: The Spinoff top 100 NZ TV shows of the 21st century. Every day this week we have counted down 20 shows, each given its time in the sun as a crucial piece in our cultural puzzle. On Friday, we released the final 20, crowning a winner and drawing to a close more than 30,000 words published on New Zealand Television in one week. Alex joins Madeleine Chapman to discuss the complex process of judging local television, the surprise hits and the value in looking back at what we’ve produced as a country.
The Spinoff top 100 NZ TV shows
100-81
80-61
60-41
40-21
20-1
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Senior writer Anna Rawhiti-Connell steps into the hosting chair to talk to editor Madeleine Chapman about her exclusive reporting on the hiring process for three human rights commissioner roles.
The process was overseen by justice minister Paul Goldsmith, with an independent assessment panel conducting interviews and making recommendations to him. After raising an eyebrow at two of the appointed commissioners (Stephen Rainbow and Melissa Derby), Madeleine requested information through an OIA.
This week, that OIA returned with some interesting redactions, showing neither Rainbow nor Derby were on the hiring panel’s shortlists of recommended candidates. Madeleine and Anna sat down for Behind the Story to discuss the art of painting a picture around redacted information, what these roles might mean and if there’s more to uncover in this story.
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Chris Pryor and Miriam Smith are arguably New Zealand’s best observational documentary makers. After two award-winning feature-length documentaries (The Ground We Won and How Far is Heaven), Chris and Miriam turned their attention to the shorter form, and dived deep on home education – parents who teach their kids at home. The six-part series follows six different families approaching education in six unique ways. From a dahlia farm to a bus, to a simple living room, Home Education explores the many reasons parents choose not to send their kids to school. Chris and Miriam joined Madeleine, live from the series launch at The Spinoff offices, to discuss observational filming, the allure of conviction in beliefs and how making the show changed their own views as new parents.
Episode one: Jen and the dahlia kids
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Deputy editor Alice Neville joins Madeleine Chapman to discuss OIAs, wading through document dumps and making government speak accessible. Alice spends most of her time editing other writers’ work but when she does find time to write, she dives deep. Three weeks ago, we published a longform feature from Alice headlined “Inside the government’s beleaguered bid to reduce violent crime”. It detailed the many complicated layers in the government’s violent crime target, and walked us through why a simple target isn’t so straightforward. This week, she followed up by reporting on the details that weren’t included in the government’s recent updates. Including that the vast majority of additional violent crime victims in the latest survey were women, and the connection between financial stress and violent crime.
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This week, staff writer Gabi Lardies steps in as guest host, joined by Books editor Claire Mabey to discuss her in-depth investigative cover story. Claire is deeply embedded in the publishing industry in Aotearoa, so she clearly remembers the shock when Narrative Muse was awarded $500,000 to boost sales of New Zealand books. In a closely connected sector, no-one had heard of Narrative Muse, or any of the people behind it, before. Three years later, Claire has canvassed the industry to see what impact that half a million dollars had, if any.
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Bulletin editor Stewart Sowman-Lund has had a few roles in his time at the Spinoff, first as live updates editor, then reporter, and now as bulletin editor. Writing a bulletin every morning takes up plenty of his time, but he also specialises in following those random, one-off tips that every journalist gets.This week’s tip was from a man who had strangely been called by the police while driving, to tell him to stop using his phone while driving.
‘It was quite baffling’: Police call driver on motorway to say ‘stop using your phone’
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This week 10 years ago, a website was launched. It was a TV blog, dedicated to the most prestige and the most comforting of shows, and it had two writers on staff, founder Duncan Greive and film critic Alex Casey. The first article ever published by thespinoff.co.nz was about the return of Full House. Today, that website has an editorial team of 20, with writers and editors in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. We have podcasts, like this one, video series and live events. The Spinoff 10 years on looks very different to the little TV blog that launched in September 2014. But some names persist.
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After more than 80 columns, Hera’s advice spans the spectrum of human troubles. For our live event, we revisited three problems from the archives, talked about Hera’s response, and heard updates from the callers themselves. Note: the callers emailed in their updates so the voices you hear won’t be their actual voices. Instead you’ll hear some of the greatest voice talent that works in the Spinoff offices.
To find out more about The Spinoff's series of live events visit https://thespinoff.co.nz/events
Help Me Hera: An acquaintance is in love with me and it’s making me uncomfortable
Help Me Hera: I’m trans and my mum is a Posie Parker superfan
Help Me Hera: I’m desperate to have kids but my partner is stalling
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Staff writer Gabi Lardies has been to plenty of radical left gatherings in her time. But despite her enthusiasm for the causes, she’s found herself increasingly disillusioned with the results, or lack thereof. Last week, Gabi headed along to yet another meeting of Auckland’s radical leftists to report from the inside and see if this time would be any different.
The result is a gentle yet illuminating portrait of radical groups, regardless of the lean.
‘Where angels fear to tread’: A night at Auckland Irish Club with radical leftists
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Documentary maker Julie Zhu is the director of Takeout Kids, an observational series following five children as they work and grow up in their parents’ shops.
The series is beautiful, both in the stories it tells but also literally, with a focus on scene-setting and stunning cinematography. Julie joins Madeleine Chapman this week to talk about how she finds the short stories within hours and hours of footage, and the special considerations required when filming with young people.
Takeout Kids season two trailer
The Ground We Won trailer
Takeout Kids season one
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Anna Rawhiti-Connell knows more about the internet and how it functions than probably any other journalist in New Zealand. And this week she had the perfect subject: Raygun, the Olympic breakdancing competitor from Australia.
Raygun has been many different things since she first revealed herself in the final weekend of the Paris Games. She’s been an icon, an embarrassment, a hero, and now apparently the subject of an investigation. Anna tracked her rise and fall and rise and fall in a deep dive for The Spinoff. She joins Madeleine Chapman this week to talk about the latest developments, as well as share in some lukewarm takes about New Zealand’s success in Olympic sports.
Anatomy of an Olympic internet sensation: Raygun’s fall and rise and fall and rise and…
‘That’s hip hop’
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Senior writer Alex Casey has this week written an incredible longform feature about the rising trend of young children coveting skincare. Note: this is not about makeup or wearing your mum’s lipstick. It’s about 10 year olds using serums and anti-wrinkle creams.
Alex has been thinking, writing about and living the beauty industry for years, and this is likely just the first in a series of big features about a billion-dollar industry with controversial aims. She joins Madeleine Chapman this week to talk about the unique challenges of interviewing kids and her own spotty history with skincare and beauty.
‘It’s insidious and dangerous’: The kids fighting wrinkles before their 10th birthday
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Hera Lindsay Bird has been writing the extremely popular Help Me Hera advice column for over a year now, offering incisive, funny and wise guidance to New Zealand’s biggest and smallest problems. And soon, you’ll be able to hear her talk about that advice at some Spinoff live events. Hera joins Madeleine Chapman this week as she’s also an Olympics obsessive and has written about the games, specifically which events should be culled and which should be added. It’s surprisingly reasoned and justified for such a hot take.
Help Me Hera
Ten sports we should cut from the Olympic programme (and what could replace them)
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