The Fold

He's got one of the most prestigious journalism careers in the country, but RNZ’s Guyon Espiner is not slowing down anytime soon. His new series "Mate, Comrade, Brother" on political lobbying in New Zealand has already exposed a number of troubling incidents. He sits down with Duncan Greive to discuss why he supports lobbying regulation, along with a look back over a rich career in forward-thinkin...

The early days of Māori Television were chaotic. After the founding CE was fired and imprisoned for fraud, Dr. Jim Mather was tapped to lead the fledging broadcaster. An account with no previous media experience, he was an unlikely choice for the role, but ended up leading the channel through some of its greatest years. He joins Duncan Greive to talk his outstanding career in consultancy and gover...

Animation studio Mukpuddy are creating cartoons that are loved around the world, and stand on the precipice of a monster global adaptation of Spike Milligan’s 'Badjelly the Witch'. But this moment did not come easy. Mukpuddy co-founders Ryan Cooper and Alex Leighton join Duncan Greive to tell the wild story of their journey from the basement to the big time and how they survived an inhospitable lo...

Meet the mastermind behind the ABC's astounding digital transformation. Gaven Morris oversaw the entire news division of the ABC during a transition from a public radio and TV behemoth, to a market leading digital operation. He talks with Duncan Greive to share what he learned in that process, and give his advice on what the future of RNZ, TVNZ and NZ on Air should look like, now that the public m...

How did Aotearoa's most-awarded magazine survive through some of the biggest obstacles in media history? New Zealand Geographic publisher James Frankham talks with Duncan Greive about the collapse of Bauer Media, taking the government to court, and the brilliant revenue model which helps NZ Geo turn a rare profit in print. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How does a young New Zealander end up amongst televisions big leagues? While production assisting on shows like Workaholics, Georgia Rippin saw the potential that web-series had when scaled for television. Now, Georgia has created Kold Open, a marketplace which aims to connect web-series creators with big studios that produce content for streaming services. She joins Duncan to talk about the power...

How can companies ensure their advertising dollar is being well spent? Ooh!media is using their fleet of digital bus stop billboards to transform the industry into one of the most responsive and creative forms of advertising available. General manager Nick Vile talks with Duncan about Ooh!media's ability to adapt in a quickly changing market, and why he feels optimistic about the financial year ah...

For nine years he steered the ship he built, but last week Duncan Greive announced his surprise resignation as CEO of The Spinoff. He joins guest host, Jane Yee, to discuss how doing things differently took The Spinoff from an irreverent TV blog to a respected online magazine, and why he's decided to hand over the reins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet the kiwi in charge of some of the worlds biggest brands across Japan, Australia and Aotearoa. Glen Kyne went from running the commercial team at Mediaworks to fostering brands like CNN and HBO in the blink of an eye. He chats with Duncan about the future of the streaming wars, what might happen if the RNZ-TVNZ merger goes through, and what should be done if it doesn't. Learn more about your a...

This week, Duncan takes a break from hosting The Fold to guest star on an episode of The Shit Show. Hosted by Shit You Should Care About founder and personal friend, Lucy Blakiston. They talk Greta Thunberg, the Roanoke disappearance, and of course, AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the wake of Thursday’s astonishing announcement, Duncan Greive sits down with Jacinda Ardern biographer Mad Chapman and Gone By Lunchtime host Toby Manhire to discuss Ardern's complicated relationship with both mainstream and social media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What in the Terminator has been going on in the news recently? 2022 saw AI skyrocket in the public discourse, with science-fiction becoming a looming reality. Founder of AI NZ Justin Flitter joins Duncan to discuss the rise of Dall-E 2 and ChatGPT, and discuss the way those in and out of the media should think about these tools going forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

In the second of a pair of high summer solo podcasts, Duncan Greive talks about the stunning advances in consumer AI in 2022, from Dall-E 2 and Midjourney to ChatGPT. He runs through how they might impact the media and society, and explains why he believes it’s such a dazzlingly confronting technology frontier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first of a pair of high summer solo podcasts, Duncan Greive runs through an alternate way of achieving public media outcomes using RNZ and NZ on Air if (as looks increasingly likely), Labour abandons its plans to merge TVNZ and RNZ. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUPERPOD is back! And for 2022, we're bigger than ever! Hosted by Gone By Lunchtime's Toby Manhire and featuring Jane Yee and Alex Casey from The Real Pod, Duncan Greive from The Fold, Leonie Hayden from Nē?, Simon Pound from Business Is Boring, The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman and The Spinoff Podcast Network's Te Aihe Butler, SUPERPOD 2022 is our multiverse of madness. From the Black Ferns' h...

The country is experiencing the largest migration of audiences since the invention of the Television. As New Zealand's longest serving leader of a major media organisation, RNZ CE Paul Thompson has had a front row seat for all of it. He joins Duncan to talk about the function of publicly funded media, why the merger matters and what he has learnt from touring the world's state-owned broadcasters....

Who reports on the reporters? Hayden Donnell, senior producer of RNZ’s Mediawatch and former staff writer for The Spinoff sits down to discuss the countries 10 biggest media stories of the year. Hayden and Duncan discuss everything from the occupation of parliament to the looming public media merger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She’s Tumuaki o ngā Take Pūtea at Irirangi te Motu – the head of funding at NZ on Air – but Amie Mills is also one of the most open and curious minds in our media. She joins The Fold to talk about the challenges manifest in the organisation’s new research into the viewing and listening habits of Gen Z, before talking us through the profound changes NZ on Air has had to make in response to the medi...

The former NZ First MP is leading the establishment board for ANZPM – the new entity which will run RNZ and TVNZ as they re-merge into a brand new, fit-for-the-future media powerhouse. Because they’re also being given nine figures a year by the government, the merger is causing consternation among private sector media – and Martin is tasked with figuring out how to keep everyone from freaking out....

She was arrested during the 1981 Springbok tour, not long after being announced as head girl of her high school – whatever she does, Janine Morrell-Gunn does it with her whole heart. Since those early peaks, she set off into the TVNZ newsroom of the 80s, before traversing into her life’s work in kid’s TV. She co-founded Whitebait Media, the iconic Ōtautahi studio behind What Now?, The Erin Simpson...

He’s no stranger to chasing down oddballs on the internet, but Mister Organ saw David Farrier finally meet his match in his second feature length documentary. It began with a story about clamping that became a huge hit saga on The Spinoff, and ended with legal threats flying and some deeply freaky confrontations. Farrier joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the film, his hit newsletter Webwo...

She started her career at The Spinoff as a 22-year-old intern in 2016, and became its editor five years later. In between time she wrote two books and became one of the most admired writers of her generation for her wit, intellect and originality. Then she got a job she didn’t even want, becoming one of the youngest editors of a “mainstream” publication ever. Madeleine Chapman sits down with Dunca...

Consumer has had a big year – driving the conversation around the grocery duopoly in a way which has fundamentally reframed our view of supermarkets. Yet the challenges facing our consumers are big and complex, and the membership base is shrinking. He joins The Fold to explain why Consumer exists, and how it is evolving in the modern media environment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...

One of the most talented creatives working in Aotearoa today, Chris Parker seems to never have met a medium he can’t master. He joins The Fold to talk about his new book, but we also traverse his comedy, his plays, his Instagram, his felting and his extraordinary reality TV appearances. But the most revelatory part of the conversation concerns why he still can’t get his dreams on screens. Learn mo...

10 years ago, Viva La Dirt League started doing musical parodies of gaming logic. Now, three friends have built out a truly unique YouTube channel with over 3m subscribers and revenue which would dwarf all but a handful of NZ media companies. They join the Fold to explain how they did it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices