The Fold

Tim Burrowes is the author of a book and a Substack called Unmade, which are truly essential guides to media in Australia – and a useful way of understanding the similarities and differences which define our two closely linked markets. He joins Duncan Greive ahead of Unmade's first Auckland live event to talk about a torrid decade in Australian media, the forces which are driving that and whether...

Duncan Greive goes solo to break down a discussion document with profound implications for local media. He explains why he thinks this is the best and most coherent policy outline we've seen in a decade, what's in it, what the challenges are and how it would impact local media if it went through. A reminder: The Fold is live in Wellington next week! Get your tickets here. Learn more about your ad...

Recorded on the sandy shores of the mighty North, guest hosts Liam Ratana 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...

Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a minor diplomatic incident involving Texas senator Ted Cruz, and what it says about the chaotic information space we now operate in. They also discuss former Spinoff writer Madeleine Holden's new Substack, which launched with a tirade for the ages about a recent Apple ad; Sky TV's satellite woes and an Auckland Council campaign which could v...

Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to discuss the first big media news story of the year – NZME's decision to trade some senior text journalists for a sharp increase in video production. Next we discuss the shocking impact of Chinese-AI lab DeepSeek's world-beating LLM performance on a shoestring budget, Acast's big Between Two Beers podcast pickup and finally how a big success for TVNZ reveals a deepe...

The Spinoff’s resident social media philosopher queen, Anna Rawhiti-Connell, joins Duncan Greive to recap an epochal month in the geopolitics of social media. They talk about Meta’s hard pivot into the MAGA worldview, and what that might mean for audiences and advertisers. Then, examine the fraught status of TikTok in the US, and think about how it might play out. Finally they look at Shayne “Medi...

The Fold 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: In an effort to get out of his doom spiral, Duncan Greive takes a tour across the Tasman to see how our close neighbours are dealing with a similar set of challenges. From a social media ban, to local content quotas, to news bargaining, to an activist competition au...

The Fold 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: Glenn McDonald spent more than a decade with a very mysterious and specific job title: data alchemist at Spotify. It's possible – even likely – that no one on Earth knows as much about music streaming. He is in New Zealand for the Going Global music industry confere...

The Fold 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 2024 edition of NZ on Air's Where are the Audiences is a bombshell – largely because so little has changed. The past decade has been characterised by a sharp and consistent rise in UGC, social and SVOD platforms, while local media has slid precipitously. This ye...

The Fold 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: Friday July 4 marked the end of Newshub, an organisation that has been around for 35 years, and has a strong case as the most original and idiosyncratic newsroom this country has ever known. Sam Hayes and Mike McRoberts have more than 40 years’ combined experience a...

The Fold 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: Alec Kieft makes games for "YouTube for gaming" platform Roblox, including Break-In, a smash hit that has been played more than two billion times by 80 million people. The platform is wildly popular with pre-teens, and is widely considered the closest thing to an op...

Glen Kyne returns to join Duncan Greive on The Fold for an epic year in review, going deep on all the big storylines that defined a year which broke New Zealand's media. Including, but by no means limited to: the end of Newshub, Sunday and Fair Go; the downsizing of Shortland Street and challenges to the productions sector; a dive into Australia's approach to big tech; assessments of every major m...

In the second of two episodes looking at New Zealand from Australia, Duncan Greive speaks to Paul McIntyre – founder and publisher at Mi3 – and one of the most credentialed journalists on advertising, tech and media in this part of the world. He wrote a story in late October which detailed the perverse incentives of the move to so-called "principal media", and how Australia's media looked at New Z...

Last week brought confirmation that Whakaata Māori was ending Te Ao Māori News 4.30pm bulletin to focus on a pure digital future for news, while also moving its Te Reo channel to solely online distribution. The Spinoff Ātea editor Liam Rātana joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the move, and also assess the state of Māori news and current affairs more broadly. Learn more about your ad choic...

In an effort to get out of his doom spiral, Duncan Greive takes a tour across the Tasman to see how our close neighbours are dealing with a similar set of challenges. From a social media ban, to local content quotas, to news bargaining to an activist competition authority, Australia is a global leader, while New Zealand is nowhere to be found. In the first of two episodes focused on Australia, for...

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 C...

It's fair to assume a near total correlation between Media Insider readers and The Fold's listeners – so if you've read Shayne Currie's report into job losses at The Spinoff yesterday, you'll know that we're all feeling pretty low here. My heart and thoughts are with my affected colleagues – but I wanted to give some background and context beyond that story, and talk about the most recent NZ on Ai...

It’s a throwback monopod today – Duncan Greive goes solo in a pretty raw episode, reflecting on a wonderful event with a very sobering reflection on the present and likely future of institutional media in Aotearoa. It’s a look at what’s driving the cataclysmic events of this year, and whether they’re likely to be temporary, or are baked in. And finally, why it is that the political response here s...

Kristy McGregor was an Australian with no experience in media before founding Shepherdess, a magazine dedicated to the life and experience of rural women. However she proved a total natural, and has developed it into one of the most fascinating and instructive startups in New Zealand media. What started as a print magazine now encompasses a festival and a TV show, all made by women working part-ti...

Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to dissect the 50 proposed redundancies at TVNZ, and the confirmation that news will now be part of content, rather than its own unit. Next, they analyse the extraordinary drama between podcast star Frances Cook and her former employer, NZME – particularly what it says about legacy media's relationship with digital. Finally, they talk about Trump's election, and what...

Anna Rawhiti-Connell joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the fallout from Jeff Bezos' decision to halt the practise of endorsements at the Washington Post, and what it says about the swing away from institutional to social media. Next they discuss TVNZ's backtrack on its decision to close the 1news.co.nz site, and a trio of worrying signals from smaller publishers Crux. NZ Geographic and Ca...

Duncan Greive is joined by his longtime Real Pod co-host Alex Casey to talk through the Top 100 NZ TV shows project, which ran on site last week and climaxes with a Q Theatre live show tonight. She talks about the way the list was assembled, what it says about us as a country, and why this is a particularly poignant moment to do this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Sky announced it had secured the rights to run Max as a channel within Neon, bringing one of the strongest and deepest TV catalogues to its streaming service, and taking a potential competitor off the map (for now, at least). Glen Kyne joins Duncan Greive to discuss the implications of the deal, why it's great for Sky now, and what risks it contains for the future. They also discuss Amaz...

Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie grew up in small town South Island, but is now one of the most influential figures in US media (according to New York magazine). That’s because the platform, which started out with paid newsletters, is now starting to establish itself in social, audio and video. Hamish joins Duncan to discuss its latest moves, its relationship with legacy media and whether it ca...

The Spinoff’s editor-at-large Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive to discuss SXSW and the launch of Auckland FC, and what each says about the vitality of Sydney and Auckland. Duncan toplines the Campaign Brief and Nine drama in Australia, which shows where that country is (still) at, in some ways. Next, they hit SPADA’s warnings about the future of screen production in New Zealand, and what that indu...