Amanda Gillies was on the way to an interview when she got a call confirming Newshub’s closure. Despite the shock, she continued on – and in the telling of a brave Te Kūiti amputee’s story was reminded what had first drawn her to journalism. Watch the video version of the episode here. After a tip-off, Amanda Gillies drove to Te Kūiti to meet Bev McIndoe – a woman who had survived a catastrophic accident that left half her body amputated, and who now faced losing her home after an ACC funding cu...
Aug 19, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 6
A late-night dispute ended in tragedy when a young man killed his abusive father. Tommy Livingston’s sensitive reporting of the ensuing murder trial captured its emotion and complexity – and ultimately led him to leave journalism for good. Content warning: Discusses suicide, domestic violence, abuse and violent themes. Watch the video version of the episode here. While reporting on the trial of a man accused of murdering his violent father, reporter Tommy Livingston became consumed by the case a...
Aug 12, 2025•47 min•Season 5Ep. 5
As politicians lost interest in seeking a resolution for the Pike River families, Lloyd Burr took up their cause. His tireless reporting exposed injustice and turned a waning news story into a pressing election issue. Watch the video version of the episode here. Six years on from the Pike River Mine disaster, hope was fading that the remains of the 29 men who lost their lives would ever be found. Politicians insisted it was too dangerous to re-enter the mine, and media interest in the story was ...
Aug 05, 2025•51 min•Season 5Ep. 4
The death of Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore confirmed warnings journalist Dana Johannsen had long been hearing about the mental health risks for elite athletes. Her reporting would go on to expose the dark underbelly of high-performance sport in NZ. Content warning: This podcast discusses mental health and suicide. Watch the video version of the episode here . When Olympic cyclist Olivia Podmore died in 2021, journalist Dana Johannsen was shocked – but it wasn’t completely out of the blue. For y...
Jul 29, 2025•54 min•Season 5Ep. 3
Sixty years after the Battle of Crete, a Kiwi WWII veteran travelled back to Greece to find the family of the men who sheltered him from Nazi soldiers. Journalist Jonathan Milne chronicled their emotional meeting. Watch the video version of the episode here . On a flight to Greece in 2001, journalist Jonathan Milne met a Kiwi veteran determined to find the Cretan locals who sheltered him from German troops for a year in Nazi-occupied Crete during World War II. With only two names on a scrap piec...
Jul 22, 2025•51 min•Season 5Ep. 2
When Te Aniwa Hurihanganui received a leaked document revealing details about the Government’s ill-fated Treaty Principles Bill, it sparked a political firestorm that would dominate headlines in 2024. Content warning: contains violent and racist language. Watch the video version of the episode here . TVNZ Māori Affairs Correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui was on her way to a hui-a-motu when she received a leaked document revealing key details about the Government’s Treaty Principles Bill. Pivotin...
Jul 15, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 1
When Elesha Gordon opened up publicly about her workplace anxiety, she discovered many other journalists in the same boat. Now she’s leading Media Chaplaincy, tackling burnout, trauma, and stress in the industry. After years of threats, stresses and traumas as a reporter, Elesha Gordon shared her personal story in a blog. She was surprised to see how many fellow journalists had similar struggles, revealing the widespread pressures faced by those who work in news. Now at the helm of Media Chaplai...
Aug 13, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Struck by the disconnect between Wellington bureaucrats and frustrated Aucklanders stuck in Covid lockdown, Heather du-Plessis Allan held the country’s leaders to account in tenacious style. When Heather du-Plessis Allan visited the capital in 2021, she was taken aback by how indifferent Wellington bureaucrats seemed about the frustration building among Aucklanders trapped in a months-long Covid lockdown. Fueled by a frustration with the lack of scrutiny on the lockdown’s effectiveness, and stro...
Aug 06, 2024•42 min•Season 4Ep. 7
When the call came in about a mass shooting, visual journalist Abigail Dougherty jumped on the first plane to Christchurch. The images she captured powerfully communicated the sorrow of New Zealand’s darkest day. As Abigail Dougherty prepared to clock off for the week, a call came in about a mass shooting in Christchurch. Put on the next flight with nothing but her camera, her task was to capture the anguish of what would later be known as New Zealand’s darkest day. Abigail’s heart-wrenching pho...
Jul 30, 2024•51 min•Season 4Ep. 6
As broadcaster Simon Barnett came to terms with his wife Jodi’s fatal illness, Shayne Currie came alongside the family to tell their story. His tender piece allowed the family to process their grief and honour Jodi’s life. When it was clear his wife Jodi had just weeks to live, broadcaster Simon Barnett called NZME Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie to let him know it was the right time for an interview. Shayne’s sensitive and compassionate story – which enabled Simon and their four daughters to tell...
Jul 23, 2024•43 min•Season 4Ep. 5
As politicians argued about solutions to poverty during the election cycle, Indira Stewart took the discourse to street level, giving a voice to teens working full-time on top of schooling to support their whanau. Most aspiring reporters don’t have to juggle university, solo motherhood and a benefit to get their start in journalism. But Indira Stewart knew she was born to be a storyteller, and her determination to make it a reality against the odds would ultimately land her in one of the industr...
Jul 16, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 4
When Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Lisette Reymer risked her own safety to report from the frontline. Her empathetic, award-winning coverage expertly captured the human face of the conflict. When Lisette Reymer landed her dream job as Newshub’s Europe Correspondent, she had to hit the ground running amid massive stories like the Covid-19 pandemic, the Queen’s death, and humanitarian crises in Turkey and the Middle East. [audio_play] Listen to Lisette Reymer about life as Newshub's Eur...
Jul 08, 2024•54 min•Season 4Ep. 3
A surprise phone call from a sister Aaron Smale never knew existed led to an investigation into state abuse. His questions would ultimately result in an award-winning exposé of the heinous goings-on at Lake Alice Hospital. When Aaron Smale received a phone call from a sister he never knew existed one Christmas Day, it left him with more questions than answers. Aaron’s subsequent investigation into state welfare abuse, and the racist underbelly that enabled it to go unchallenged for years, would ...
Jul 01, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 2
With decades of experience as one of New Zealand’s most prominent television journalists, Mark Crysell recounts gaining unprecedented access to follow a set of unlikely New Zealanders into North Korea. Mark Crysell’s love of television and passion for telling a good yarn has led to him becoming one of New Zealand’s most prominent journalists. He has reported for TVNZ’s Sunday programme since 2003, been TVNZ's Europe Correspondent based in London and won multiple awards including Best Current Aff...
Jun 25, 2024•52 min•Season 4Ep. 1
After decades as one of the country's best-known journalists, Cameron Bennett took on a unique new challenge: to educate the nation on the New Zealand Wars and help tell Māori stories. A legendary figure in New Zealand journalism across several decades, Cameron Bennett is revered for his ability to tell a compelling story, his courage to report from some of the world's most dangerous places, and his broadcasting brilliance. But his most recent work has presented a unique challenge. As well as he...
May 16, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 8
As fast-food workers suffered under the indignity of zero-hour contracts, Anna Burns-Francis stepped up to tell their stories. Her tireless reporting forced corporations to put employee welfare over greed. When Anna Burns-Francis began her investigation into zero-hour contracts, she was gobsmacked. Fast-food giants had been hiring Kiwis without guaranteeing them any work, all while preventing them getting another job. Anna's tenacious reporting exposed how greed was being prioritised at the expe...
May 09, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 7
A shock diagnosis forced Simon Wilson to come to terms with his own mortality. Rather than let it derail his work, the veteran journalist made the bold call to bring readers along on each step of his gruelling cancer journey. Just before Christmas 2017, veteran journalist Simon Wilson received a life-changing phone call. He had prostate cancer, and it wasn't looking good. Having just taken a job at the Herald, he bravely decided to let New Zealand have a peek behind the hospital curtain by penni...
May 02, 2023•42 min•Season 3Ep. 6
As stories tumbled out about ACC's handling of sensitive client data, Anusha Bradley was there holding the agency to account. Her award-winning coverage prompted an independent review, policy changes and legal reform. When Anusha Bradley first reported on ACC staff's mishandling of a couple's sensitive case details, she had no idea she was about to be inundated with story after story about the Crown agency's failures. Anusha's dogged and award-winning reporting exposed a lax approach to privacy ...
Apr 25, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Plunged into lawless South Sudan in 2017, Michael Morrah overcame danger and personal trauma to report on the brutal realities of life in the wartorn nation. When Michael Morrah was plunged into lawless South Sudan in 2017, evidence of brutality was everywhere - from filthy protection of civilian camps, to malnourished families, to child soldiers wielding assault rifles. Spurred on by a desire to raise awareness of the scale of desolation and need in the wartorn nation, Morrah overcame danger an...
Apr 18, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 4
A wheelchair user all her life, Olivia Shivas' coverage on people with disabilities suffering horrific abuse in care hit uncomfortably close to home. Her courageous reporting would help expose injustice and give survivors a voice. Having used a wheelchair all her life, Olivia Shivas' coverage on people with disabilities suffering horrific abuse in care hit uncomfortably close to home. But pushing through the personal mental toll of the hearings, the Stuff journalist's courageous reporting would ...
Apr 11, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Long before it made national headlines, Justin Latif faced an uphill battle to convince his bosses the occupation of Ihumātao was worth covering. The ensuing reportage opened up a national conversation about identity, land ownership and Māori rights. Long before it made national headlines, Justin Latif faced an uphill battle to convince his bosses the occupation of Ihumātao wasn't just some "small local thing" - and was actually a story worth covering. But what began as a report about a few diss...
Apr 04, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 2
During the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa Barbara Dreaver reported on an ill-equipped healthcare system, complex tensions between traditional and western medicine, and the tragic and preventable loss of life. When the measles virus travelled from New Zealand to Samoa in September of 2019 Barbara Dreaver followed. On the ground, she found herself telling stories of an ill-equipped healthcare system compounded by complex tensions between traditional and western medicine. This formed the backdrop t...
Mar 28, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Through the telling of one couple's devastating story, Susie Ferguson lifted the lid on the grief suffered by the hundreds of Kiwi families who lose a baby each year. The veteran broadcaster reflects on helping break NZ's final taboo. Horrified at witnessing multiple friends and co-workers grieve the loss of a baby, veteran RNZ broadcaster Susie Ferguson struggled to understand why it seemed to be something no one was talking about. Her bewilderment led to The Unthinkable, an award-winning podca...
Aug 30, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Disheartened by one-dimensional coverage of gangs in Pākehā media, Moana Maniapoto and Hikurangi Jackson set about delving into the issue themselves. The Whakaata Māori mother-son duo's empathetic coverage captured the complexity and humanity of Aotearoa's gang landscape. Frustration over shallow media coverage of Aotearoa's gang landscape led Whakaata Māori colleagues and mother-son duo Moana Maniapoto and Hikurangi Jackson to launch an in-depth investigation into the issue themselves. Their em...
Aug 24, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Having joined the press gallery as its youngest member in 1980, Barry Soper is set to depart this year one of its veterans. Four decades and ten Prime Ministers on, he reflects on his career-shaping encounters with Nelson Mandela and his years holding power to account. A very fortunate case of mistaken identity in 1991 culminated in Barry Soper introducing then-NZ Prime Minister Jim Bolger to Nelson Mandela at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The chance meeting led to breakfast and se...
Aug 16, 2022•41 min•Season 2Ep. 8
As missiles rained down on Gaza in 2014, Mike McRoberts lobbied his 3 News bosses to get him to the frontline. The trauma of witnessing destruction on such an enormous scale stayed with him and shaped how he responds to tragedy. As missiles rained down over Gaza in 2014, Mike McRoberts lobbied his 3 News bosses to get him to the frontline of the war. For weeks, he found himself reporting from the centre of one of the deadliest conflicts between Israel and Palestine in decades. The enormous scale...
Aug 09, 2022•51 min•Season 2Ep. 7
An expose into Te Kohanga Reo Trust by Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather led to their acrimonious exit from Māori Television. The duo bounced back to form an award-winning media company bringing indigenous storytelling to mainstream audiences. Having admired each other's work for years, Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather then formed a powerful journalistic partnership at Māori Television. Together, the duo have broken countless major stories and brought high-quality Māori jo...
Aug 02, 2022•54 min•Season 2Ep. 6
A surprise phone call handed Garth Bray a huge scoop as media scrambled to find a runaway Hone Harawira in Australia. His journey to Alice Springs and the fallout back home turned the spotlight on indigenous discrimination. In 2007, then-MP Hone Harawira absconded from a parliamentary trip to Australia. With journalists asking 'where's Hone?' a phone call out of the blue from the politician handed Garth Bray a surprise scoop. Hone's journey to Alice Springs - and the racist cartoon that followed...
Jul 26, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Dismayed by how Māori were being portrayed in the media, Carmen Parahi nearly gave up on journalism for good. Instead, she channelled her frustration into a game-changing re-examination of indigenous news coverage. Carmen Parahi was at a career crossroads in 2020. While she still loved journalism, two decades of seeing Māori misrepresented and unfairly targeted in the media - not to mention the racism she'd experienced on the job - had taken its toll. She'd grown tired, angry and bitter, and was...
Jul 19, 2022•47 min•Season 2Ep. 4
When covering the Syrian refugee crisis, Rachel Smalley translated overwhelming statistics of tragedy into stories of living, breathing people. Years later, Rachel still carries the grief of what she witnessed. Flying into Lebanon to report on the plight of Syrian refugees, Rachel Smalley felt the weight of the assignment. The stories she heard and retold struck a chord with New Zealanders who encountered World Vision's 'Forgotten Millions' campaign. The memories of those people and their storie...
Jul 12, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 3
