The Fold The Spinoff

Chris Henry founded 818 publicity a couple of months before The Spinoff, in June of 2014. He joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to reflect on a radically changed environment for entertainment PR – and the sometimes tense role of pitching stories to editorial outlets when all the ad spend goes to social media.
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SYSCA founder Lucy Blakiston returns to the Fold for the first time in a while to talk through a truly singular year. Her business pivoted to being what it was perhaps always meant to be – her, as a solo news-explaining creator, working for her audience primarily. That meant saying goodbye to her two co-founders and taking on the whole load herself. But it also saw her sign a huge global book deal, move to Portugal, hit a deep depression, confront the realities of covering the war in Gaza online, move back to Blenheim. She also watched Instagram become Twitter in the process, while Substack became her true home. She joins Duncan Greive for an incredibly candid conversation about the reality of UGC life in 2024.

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Lewis Tennant is an energetic guy – an ex-radio presenter who got curious about podcasting about the same time we all did. But instead of stopping at listening or even creating, he turned it into an area of academic teaching and research. He joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss what his research has unearthed, which New Zealand podcasts are driving the form forward, and the takeaways from his recent Podcast Summit.

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There's a brand new media minister confronting a longstanding problem: how to handle the relationship between big tech and local media. Former NZ Herald editor Gavin Ellis and SPADA president Irene Gardiner join Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss a bold new idea: a joint levy to fund journalism and culture.

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Sam Koslowski has news in his blood – his father was a senior journalist and he's been in the business for 12 years despite not yet hitting 30. He co-founded The Daily Aus with a bold goal – to create a news brand for young Australians which met them where they lived: on Instagram. Now Meta is threatening to turn off news across all its platforms, threatening the viability of his business – a situation which could also happen in Aotearoa. Koslowski joins Duncan Greive on The Fold to talk through the model and mission of The Daily Aus, and how it's responding to a near-existential threat.
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The Spinoff has just launched a brand new series called Behind the Story, where site editor Madeleine Chapman sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the week. We thought you might like to check out the first episode, and if you enjoy it please follow it wherever you get your podcasts!

On Friday, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell sent her final newsletter, and took the opportunity to share what she’s learned about the news over two years of curating it for thousands of New Zealanders. Earlier in the week, she’d seen reports of Auckland dog owners discarding their pets’ turds on the ground after Auckland Council removed bins across the city.

And so, the column “If you love a dog, you must also love disposing of its shit” was born. Anna joins Madeleine Chapman to talk about the power journalists have when framing a story and how to find the middle ground between boring and sensational.

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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