How should media handle the mixed messages on the economy as politicians and pressure groups push policy and public opinion? Also: The fall of The House of Du Val, TVNZ’s courtroom dramas, unsettling summer weather forecasts, a clickbait debate about summer breaks & a vibecheck for Wellywood.
Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website
1:11 Summer weather rage-bait
6:02 Wellywood premiere rekindles good times - before director warns it could be end times for blockbusters
10:18 Media drive debate about anti-productive summer break - all based on social media opinion.
13:31 Pre-Christmas economic stats gave a mixed picture of our economy this week, as pundits and pressure groups push policy and public opinion. And that Willis- Richardson right-wing rumble is off.
20:55 Maria Slade on her BusinessDesk investigation ‘Fall of the House of Du Val’
24:45 Financial state of the media in 2025
26:40 Judge dismisses Talleys case against TVNZ, which faced another defamation case this week backed by NZME’s billionaire director James Grenon.
Guests: Maria Slade, property editor at BusinessDesk
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Colin Peacock and Emile Donovan hand out Mediawatch’s not-very-prestigious and not-at-all coveted annual awards - such as best leading of the media by the nose; worst live media event, and the Billy Connolly Trophy for breaking news about a single animal.
Colin Peacock and Emile Donovan hand out Mediawatch’s not-very-prestigious and not-at-all coveted annual awards - best leading of the media by the nose; worst live media event - and the Billy Connolly Trophy for breaking news about a single animal.
The finance minister's pushed back at PR campaign that made news even before it began. The impact of online advocacy on our politics and news was also aired at two conferences this week. A visiting veteran from the US talks about ‘left v right’ and polarisation of trust in the news.
Presidents and Prime Ministers happily hogged the screen in TV specials this week - but not our PM. Ex-top cop Andrew Coster broke his silence at length - and big deals are being done in overseas media.
Australia’s banning social media for teens, and there’s a slick media campaign for the same here. The PM’s onside, but will the government follow? And why is a social media pioneer resisting this? Also: the media’s fever for foreign flatpack furnishings.
Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website
0:50 How Ikea’s Auckland opening monopolised the media this week
11:00 Midweek Mediwatch - in case you misused it
12:37 A costly campaign to copy Australia’s imminent ban on social media for under-16 has picked up public support - and political backing from the PM and his party to change the law next year. A major media company and telco are also getting the message out.
20:23 Social media pioneer Rabble aka Evan-Henshaw Plath on why he’s campaigning against a law change to take teens of social media.
Guests: Evan Henshaw-Plath / Rabble
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PM pushes back the rumours of a rolling, but Dallow leaves TVNZ. Also: the ethics of intimate image exposure, RNZ's numbers boost - and when is it too soon to wrap up 2025?
The government pledged to ‘build the future’ with its first election policy this week - and TVNZ aired a special about our economic problems. Do our media give us the big picture on our economy? Also: fact-free stories about rolling the PM - and Covid-19 hindsight flip-flops.
In this episode:
1:12: Even as he launched his first election policy this week, pitched to ‘build our future,’ Christopher Luxon faced a flurry of reports his own future as PM and party leader was in doubt. But they were high on rumour, chatter and opinion - and almost fact-free.
15:30: TVNZ aired a special show - ‘You, Me and the Economy’ - this week, zeroing in on the problems and possibilities in our economy.
17:48: Bernard Hickey, founder of independent outlet The Kākā on media coverage of our economy. and if the ‘burps and farts’ of party politics obscure important issues. Also: how subscriber-based public interest journalism can flip the script.
35:46: The report from UK’s Covid 19 inquiry has slammed the former government there for indecision and confusion, and delaying lockdowns that cost lives. One broadcaster seized on it to slam the government here, even though he changed his own position several times.
Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website
Guests: Bernard Hickey
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Find more RNZ Podcasts at the new section of the RNZ website at rnz.co.nz/podcasts
The Field family's funeral livestreamed, newspaper readership rebound, Press shines a light on who owns Christchurch, but Stuff slips up on the story of a jobless man. Also: why did the chickens cross the road in Tāmaki?
EVs were booming, but incentives have been stripped back and recent reports of fires have fueled safety fears. Has media coverage amped up the danger? Also: a year ago a NZ Geographic revealed its own flaky finances to persuade supporters to step up. How did that work out?
Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website
In this episode:
1:06 For a while the EV market boomed with incentives in place, though they came at a cost. Now the incentives have been dialled down - and so has demand. And a steady stream of stories about the fire hazards have spread like wildfire.
13:18: Dr Troy Bailsden on how to ‘pre-bunk’ alarmism about EV safety - and where to find facts on the real but remote risks of batteries.
19:51: Magazines devoted to longform journalism are struggling to stay in print. A year ago award-winning NZ Geographic urged subscribers to up their backing to keep it going. One year on publisher James Frankham on how that worked out - and what’s next.
Learn more: Mediawatch: Angst about EVs blows up in the headlines | RNZ News
Guests: Troy Baisden, James Frankham
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Trump vs BBC escalates, Irish and Scottish footballers - and Ronaldo - make epic media moments, Emile's Irish podcast slapdown. Also - Tararua tavern tension, Mercep rocks out at Metallica for 1News.
One edit in one episode ended up at the epicentre of major crisis for the world’s biggest public broadcaster. Trump might take the BBC to the cleaners over it while media rivals crank up the damage to its reputation. But is the BBC’s real impartiality problem internal?
Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website
In this episode:
0:45: How the media responded to the shock news that the BBC’s boss and head of news quit after revelations of editorial failures - and President Trump threatening to sue for $1bn.
17:20: Ex-BBC Panorama editor-turned-mediawatcher Roger Bolton on the BBC’s response to its problems, the media hostility BBC faces from rivals and claims of political influences at play within the BBC.
32:02: Other big news this week: the shocking IPCA report that kept newsrooms and their lawyers busy; and Te Pāti Māori’s meltdown in the media.
Learn more: Mediawatch: BBC under pressure from outside - and within amid edit scandal | RNZ News
Guests: Roger Bolton
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Two top BBC bosses quit in wake of Trump editing scandal, Police top brass blasted by damning IPCA report, Te Pāti Māori meltdown prompts more media criticism.
Surveys say our trust in the news is slipping seriously, but the latest one asks Kiwis why and what might get it back, and an RNZ editor’s new book zeroes in on how to repair the relationship. Also: the downfall of the ‘Duke of Yuck’ yields unexpected local angle.
Police back away from taking Stuff to court - but issue a warning. Also: Dame Noeline Taurua blows the Silver Ferns saga open again with a media blitz on Monday, and NBR goes legal on its own subscribers.
Labour bit the bullet on capital gains tax this week, but the political point-scoring was a zero-sum game. Also: a big rejig of Māori news & current affairs funding - and while our leaders have been on the world stage, we’ve been accused of punching below our weight on global media freedom.
Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website
In this episode:
00:45 The media have been telling us for years any political party offering a CGT is DOA at the polls. How did they react this week to Labour saying they’ll do that next year?
8:00: New Zealand’s leaders have been talking up our country in Asia and in northern Europe this week, but this week we were cellar dwellers in a new ranking of develeped nations supporting media freedom around the world. New Zealander Melanie Bunce, director of the Centre for Journalism and Democracy in London, explains why.
21:03 A big rejig of funding for Māori news and current affairs means less spent on the established TV news programmes and more on news from the regions and digital-first content, available via a new national news hub. Te Māngai Pāho’s The long-serving kaihautu Larry Parr explains the plan.
Severe storms bring the best out of media - but climate change mentions raise hackles. Also: netball's top-brass keep exasperated media out of their internal business - while the Silver Ferns do the business on the court, and RNZ's new podcast 'Nark' uses AI to give voice to the dead.
Lawyers went toe-to-toe in court for weeks over a series of TVNZ news scoops about health and safety - and the broadcaster’s own newsgathering. What can we learn from this high-stakes defamation case? Also - the government fired up a confrontational PR campaign to tell the public this week’s ‘mega-strike’ was about politics, not pay. Did the media get the memo?
One complaint to the BSA has the PM claiming 'overreach' and his minister pledging reform - while politicians and lobby groups call for the watchdog to be put down. Paula Penfold ponders personal impact of reputation-ruining scoops.
The broadcasting watchdog has told alternative online outlet The Platform it can consider complaints about it - just like TV and radio. Part of the problem is out-of-date media laws. Mediawatch asks the media minister and his opposition counterpart: what counts as broadcasting these days? And how should it be accountable? Also: how Te Pāti Māori’s tensions played out very differently in different media.
Media coverage of the Gaza ceasefire, Platform's Plunket pushes back on broadcast watchdog, Metro magazine 'restructures' its full-time staff - and should self-selected polls be allowed in news?