Join The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman as she sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the wee...
This week we published a deeply researched and reported story by Liam Rātana. It takes an inside look at what many people face when they are considering starting a family – tricky ethical choices and less than ideal medical and legal systems. When Liam pitched the story in our weekly editorial meeting a few weeks ago, it was a personal experience, but he chose to focus the final article on others’ experiences and interviews with experts in the field. I wanted to know the thinking behind his approach, and what the process of reporting had been like for him.
The genetic gamble: Having children when you carry a hereditary condition
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27:32
If you sleuth hard enough, there are new answers to old questions
While many journalists are trawling Reddit, X and TikTok for stories, Joel MacManus is browsing Papers Past, an online archive of digitised historical media. This week he may have solved the murder case of an emu that died at the Wellington Zoo in 1907 and last year he made a near definitive ruling on whether or not Te Rauparaha really did drink at the Thistle Inn. The resulting investigations make for gripping reading.
Gabi Lardies takes over the mic on this week’s Behind the Story and is joined by Joel MacManus to discuss why he is so intrigued by these questions and how he sets about solving them.
Windbag: The unsolved case of the Wellington emu murder
Windbag: Did Te Rauparaha really drink at the Thistle Inn?
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24:13
Everyone’s got an opinion, here’s mine
This week, everyone and their dog was talking Destiny Church and Man Up punching their way into a an Auckland Pride children’s event, terrifying staff and families alike. Head of audience and senior writer Anna Rawhiti-Connell wrote a column about the prime minister’s, in her view, weak response to the event and what it said about him politically.Anna joined me on Behind the Story to share how she lands on column ideas, the purpose and value of opinion alongside reporting, and what it is that turns a passing thought into a thousand written words.
When protest isn’t peaceful, you don’t have to be a church mouse about condemning it
Christopher Luxon’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week
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29:53
Live! Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club
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.
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21:37
The Fold: How the media covers Waitangi
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?
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Join The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman as she sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the week.
Alongside getting the inside info, Behind the Story goes beyond the byline – enabling listeners to learn more about the amazing writers that make The Spinoff such a unique and important platform in the digital media landscape.
For The Spinoff editor’s thoughts on the week that was, as well as a handpicked collection of the week’s best reads, subscribe to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman newsletter at thespinoff.co.nz/newsletters
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