Behind the Story The Spinoff

Spinoff staff writer Shanti Mathias sat down to record a test pilot episode of Behind the Story two months ago, about her recent feature “Staring down the ‘silent epidemic’ of myopia in children”.
Just last week, Shanti was awarded Best Emerging Journalist at the inaugural science journalism awards, for this particular story. The judges were impressed with how ‘on-the-scene’ the reporting was, including the voices of school students and the team running the vision-checking bus. A hugely deserving win and the perfect excuse to release the tapes.
Shanti joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk about what she learned, the surprising lack of data available in New Zealand around our eyes, and some practical tips to keep your eyes stronger for longer.

Stories discussed:
Staring down the ‘silent epidemic’ of myopia in children

Spinoff staff writer Tara Ward has loved and examined local TV for longer than any other Spinoff writer. As the longest consistent contributor to The Spinoff outside of its founder, Tara has long been the go-to voice for local matters on screen.
A master of the power ranking format, Tara’s ability to both genuinely love and critique New Zealand’s most iconic (and obscure) shows is unique among journalists. More recently, she’s become the editor of pop culture newsletter Rec Room (subscribe here) and interviewer for The Spinoff’s weekend format My Life in TV. Tara joins Madeleine Chapman to talk a year of My Life in TV, getting to know her favourite screen talent, and what our local shows tell us about ourselves as a nation.

Click here to read about the best things Tara and Alex have learnt after a year of My Life in TV

We thought you might like a wee taster of our brand new #1 series, Juggernaut: The Story of the Fourth Labour Government, hosted by Toby Manhire. Click here to follow Juggernaut so you get every episode as soon as it's released!

1. I love you, Mr Lange
Fuelled by brandy and fury, Sir Rob Muldoon calls a snap election, sparking a 1984 campaign of contrasts – the menacing, protectionist National PM against the fresh, upbeat Labour leader, David Lange. The pretext for the election is the decision by Marilyn Waring, a young, gay MP, to back an anti-nuclear bill and quit the National caucus, prompting an earful from Muldoon. Lange, meanwhile, is joined at the hip by a hungry would-be finance minister, Roger Douglas. They are about to confront a profound crisis, and launch a revolution.
Includes previously unheard interviews with David Lange from the 84 campaign trail, and new and exclusive interviews with Marilyn Waring, Roger Douglas, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Prebble, Peter Harris, Margaret Wilson, Bob Harvey and Gary McCormick.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air.

Spinoff editor-at-large Toby Manhire spent “nearly every waking hour” of the past six months living in 1984. Researching, hosting and executive-producing Juggernaut meant learning everything about the 1984 snap election, David Lange, Roger Douglas and the huge reforms they oversaw.
Interviewing more than 20 key people from that era, Toby pulled together hours and hours of transcripts and archive material to create a six-part record of arguably the most impactful government (for better or worse) in New Zealand political history. Toby joins Madeleine Chapman live from the Juggernaut launch to talk switching mediums, working with unreliable memories and resisting the urge to interrogate former politicians.
Listen to Juggernaut here.

Spinoff staff writer Gabi Lardies recently had a big win at the Voyager Media Awards, for best junior feature writer. Gabi first worked at the Spinoff in 2022 so is categorically a junior writer, but as she confesses, she’s secretly 33 years old and has had a colourful work history prior to becoming a journalist.
Her recognised work focuses on observational feature writing, stepping into a very specific scene and painting a picture of it for the reader. And this week, Gabi painted a picture of a hunger strike, particularly Will Alexander’s, who announced a strike for Palestine on May 18 and called it off after 19 days at the request of Palestinians. Gabi joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk switching careers, the importance of mentoring and what happens when your story is overtaken by events.Stories discussed:
An interview with Will Alexander, who was willing to die for the people of Palestine
A morning at the death cafe
Where did the age of consent come from, and how does it work today?

The Spinoff’s new Ātea editor Liam Rātana started in his role on Monday. On Thursday there were nationwide protests against government policies affecting Māori, as well as the release of the coalition government’s first budget. Rātana jumped straight in, writing a number of stories including a feature on the protests that looked more broadly at Māori activism and asked: Is protesting still the most effective way to bring about lasting change?
It’s a compelling read, presenting the views of those who favour different methods of lobbying, and is a strong indication of how Liam approaches his work – with a curious mind and an interest in hearing out all perspectives. Liam joins Madeleine Chapman on Behind the Story to talk te ao Māori reporting and his quest to develop more Māori print journalists.