Afleveringen
-
This week The Spinoff hosted a galentines party at Q Theatre in Auckland to celebrate the release of Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, a six-part video series following two crack up comedians on their quest for love.
Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester are both single and looking to change that. In Singles Club, they travel the country looking for love and speaking to all sorts of people about what it means to be single as you get older. The show is equal parts hilarious and heart-wrenching. After watching the first episode with a live audience, I spoke to Bryn and Ku for a live Behind the Story about making such a vulnerable show, the chaos of dating on camera, and whether or not the search for love was fruitful.
The first episode of Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is out now on The Spinoff, Instagram and Youtube, with new episodes released every Tuesday.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Recorded on the sandy shores of the mighty North, guest hosts Liam Rātana and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (along with regular producer Te Aihe Butler) take over The Fold for a behind-the-scenes look at how the media covers Waitangi. After three days of politician stand ups, haukāinga-led forum panels and more story leads than we had time to cover, what stood out? What did we learn? And how can The Spinoff get a golf cart for Waitangi 2026?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
-
This week was the first week back for politicians in parliament, which meant a big week for anyone reporting in the gallery. Newly minted Spinoff political reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith spent 12 hours listening to oral submissions to the select committee on the treaty principles bill, and started her new column Echo Chamber, which recaps the lively question times in the House for those too busy to watch parliament TV.
Lyric joined Madeleine Chapman to share how she’s settling in and what her aspirations are for the next six months in the gallery.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Behind the Story is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024:
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’
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Behind the Story is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024:
The Spinoff’s new Ātea editor Liam Rātana started in his role on Monday May 27. On the Thursday of that week, there were nationwide protests against government policies affecting Māori, as well as the release of the coalition government’s first budget. Rātana jumped straight in, writing a number of stories including a feature on the protests that looked more broadly at Māori activism and asked: Is protesting still the most effective way to bring about lasting change?
It’s a compelling read, presenting the views of those who favour different methods of lobbying, and is a strong indication of how Liam approaches his work – with a curious mind and an interest in hearing out all perspectives. Liam joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk te ao Māori reporting and his quest to develop more Māori print journalists.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Senior writer at The Spinoff Anna Rawhiti-Connell rounds out the year with special guests Emma Wehipeihana and Hayden Donnell, live on stage at Q Theatre in Auckland. They jumped backwards into the year’s headlines, political dramas, and some of the best Spinoff yarns.
Listen to the recording of this Spinoff Live event for a smattering of karaoke, a Ray Gun retrospective, a vote on whether Hayden is "brat", predictions for next year, and some spicy takes about the year's big moments.
To find out more about The Spinoff's series of live events visit https://thespinoff.co.nz/events.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
After more than 80 columns, Hera’s advice spanned the spectrum of human troubles. For our second live event, we revisited four 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.
Recorded in September 2024.
Help Me Hera: Men I haven’t seen in years keep crawling out of the woodwork
Help Me Hera: My friend dumped me and I don’t know why
Help Me Hera: I need my partner to eat some goddamn veges
Help Me Hera: How do I stop being the nosiest person alive?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Senior writer Alex Casey has a long history with cinema, both as a reviewer and as a former projectionist. This week she wrote two film-adjacent features.
The first had Alex travel to Akaroa to speak to the people running a bustling local cinema and then go down a rabbit hole of South Island cinemas holding on to the movies as a third space. And the second is just a fun appreciation of our strangely high proportion of successful child actors, and what makes it possible to succeed here at 11 years old.
She appeared on Behind the Story to talk local reporting, the magic of movies and the very best of our child actors.
The small town cinemas holding on at the edge of the world
How does New Zealand produce so many successful child actors?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
Last month, senior writer at The Spinoff Anna Rawhiti-Connell was joined on stage at the Hannah Playhouse by Wellington editor Joel MacManus, along with special guests RNZ's Charlotte Cook and Billy T nominee Maria Williams, to review the year. They jumped backwards into the year’s headlines, political dramas, and some of the best Spinoff yarns.
Listen to the recording of this Spinoff Live event for a smattering of karaoke, a Ray Gun reveal, a vote on whether Wellington was "brat", predictions for next year, and some spicy takes about the year's big moments.
If you’d like to attend The Year in Review live at Auckland’s Q Theatre on Wednesday 11th December, get your tickets here.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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?
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices -
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.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices - Laat meer zien
