RNZ: Mediawatch

Making a drama of Labour leadership crisis; the 'Jacinda effect' in the media; omnipresent pundits; reporting the unreportable Mooch.

A new podcast about the Bain family murders has been a big hit, following in the footsteps of popular ones about unsolved crimes overseas. Is it journalism - or entertainment? And why are we so keen on podcasts about old cold cases and true crimes?

Expat business expert Andre Spicer served up a summer story of bureaucracy-gone-mad in the UK which went down a treat for the media there this week - and then all around the world, including here.

New podcast proves public appetite for old, cold cases of murder; more investigative initiatives; business journalists bail out of journalism awards; expat quenches media thirst for commonsense.

The National Business Review has pulled out of the national awards for business journalism because it says the sponsor vetoed one of its reporter's entries. Others have followed suit and put the awards future in doubt. 

A recording allegedly made in secret was the downfall of scandal-struck MP Todd Barclay, who has vanished from public view. Now another recording has rescued the reputation of a reporter accused of throwing her weight around trying to track him down.

The New Zealand Herald's current campaign on youth suicide is one of the most sustained and substantial media initiatives of recent times. Mediawatch asks the prime movers of 'Break the Silence' about reporting sensitive stuff in a high-profile way -  and how the Herald deploys the country’s biggest investigative reporting team.

Is it okay for journalist to join a political party just to report on what it’s up to behind the scenes?

Shooting the messenger hunting for the MP gone MIA; the Herald's big push to 'break the silence' surrounding suicide; an unconventional account from a convention

Mediawatch looks back on a century and a half of investigative journalism with veteran journalists Jim Tucker and Rebecca Macfie and James Hollings the editor of the soon to be released A Moral Truth: 150 years of investigative journalism in New Zealand.

Heard the one about the Aussie comedian, the Tongan teenager and the New Zealand TV channel?  No-one’s laughing now after Maori TV's top brass stepped in to dump a controversial comedy after one episode. 

The feats of Kiwi sportswomen around the world recently have been hard to spot in sports sections bulging with blokes. Mediawatch asks two front-rank female sports journalists: is that down to bias in the media, or what people actually want? And why are the media getting behind women’s sport across the ditch more than they seem to be here?

Controversial comedy sparks clash of cultures; putting women's sport in the frame.

Viewers were startled when Sky Sports slipped in an ad after the haka in the All Blacks-Lions test last weekend. It’s not the first time broadcasters have cashed in, but what does the outcry reveal about what people expect from broadcasters these days?

There’s been heaps of coverage of Team New Zealand’s triumph in Bermuda lately, but lots of it came courtesy of the organisers, the teams and their sponsors. RNZ’s man at the Cup tells Mediawatch it calls into question the future of real news coverage from big sports events.