The Fold

He had a long career at the Sunday Star-Times, running the sports pages when they dominated the national conversation. Then the internet happened, and Michael Donaldson felt the light go out. He turned a taste for craft beer into the Pursuit of Hoppiness, a print publication and Substack which exemplifies the power of niche media. He joins Duncan Greive on The Spinoff to talk about his long, circuitous career. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duncan Greive hits the studio to analyse what’s driving the shock decision to end Three’s popular and successful 7pm news-entertainment hybrid The Project. He digs into recent ratings and explains the history and function of 7pm shows in New Zealand, then imagines what might come next from the digital-first direction hinted at in an email from Newshub’s Sarah Bristow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She became a spokesperson for gaming almost by accident, but as chairperson of the New Zealand Game Developers Association, Chelsea Rapp went on to score the industry’s biggest ever win in this year’s budget. She joins Duncan Greive to discuss how she secured a tax rebate scheme for the gaming sector that is similar to Australia's and the growth she believes the extra investment will bring in the future of the industry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paula Browning is the chair of WeCreate, an umbrella organisation which represents the interests of design, screen, fashion, music and more – a combined $15bn sector. Yet it still struggles to get attention and funding from government. Browning speaks to Duncan Greive to make the case for that to change in the next government, no matter which party is leading it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the aftermath on an underwhelming Better Public Media NZ debate, in which half the parties didn’t show, Duncan Greive goes solo to vent his frustrations on the current state of political engagement with media in New Zealand, and why the underlying issues matter in what (he self-interestedly thinks) are quite profound ways. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pandemic saw a huge surge in share prices, as investors processed the step-changed reality of an extremely online, locked down population. Stake distinguishes itself from other trading platforms not just in focusing on a more strategic investor, but also in using content as a core part of its way of gathering and connecting to audiences. Its CMO Bryan Wilmot joins Duncan Greive to talk about the pandemic, meme stocks, Barbenheimer and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yesterday NZME announced the formation of ZB+, a new subscription platform associated with its much-loved, much-loathed Newstalk ZB brand. It will be edited by Philip Crump, a lawyer-turned-Substacker who found big audiences wading into uncomfortable areas. Reaction to the idea was mostly negative, but Duncan Greive thinks it’s the right play, and explains why in this monopod. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She has spent her career in television, but when the position of CEO for the NZFC came up, Annie Murray found the opportunity irresistible. She joins Duncan Greive to talk about what makes a New Zealand film, how the sector is handling the prolonged actors and writers strikes, and what recent changes to government incentives are likely to do for the embattled sector. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The challenge of climate change is discussed every day, but another issue that's almost as knotty: how do we talk about it in a way which induces the desired response? Nikki Wright runs Wright Communications and has worked with clients like Toyota and Urgent Couriers for almost 20 years in the sustainability space. David Robertson runs Hardwired, a consultancy which deploys behavioural psychology to nudge consumers toward the desired behaviour. Together they tell Duncan Greive how to bring your audience with you when you’re talking about the big, gnarly issues. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She arrived off the boat from Ireland, and within a couple of years was interviewing the prime minister weekly. That led to one of the biggest political scoops of the decade, a long career at RNZ and the extraordinary life she lays bare in her acclaimed memoir Grand. Now McCarthy runs the exceptional podcast company Bird of Paradise, and has collaborated with The Spinoff on Dear Jane, a brand new narrative podcast out now, which reflects on one woman's experience as a 14 year old girl in an inappropriate relationship with the youth group leader at her church. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices