Street fighting - media at war over urban transport; the death of Radio Live; Brian Priestley - the forthright Fourth Estate critic.

Fourteen years after launching “the new voice of talk radio” MediaWorks will silence Radio Live and jobs look set to go as a classic hits station takes over. Mediawatch looks at why and what might replace it.

Mediawatch Midweek is our weekly catch-up with Lately. This week Jeremy chats to Karyn about five years of First World War commemoration coverage and asks why some critical stories barely rated a mention.

National’s leaders faced more curly questions after another secret recording featuring MP- gone-rogue Jami-Lee Ross was leaked to media. That raised more questions about the ethics of squeezing stories out of stuff where the public interest is far from clear.

Last Wednesday the Dominion-Post splashed a story across its front page under the headline: "Mayor's family 432km  away." Mediawatch suggests the real story was far closer to home: a poll asking questions about the living arrangement of Porirua mayor Mike Tana that could well be a case of dirty politics.

Thirty years ago, deep divisions in the Labour Party were thrown in sharp relief by the media during its annual conference in Dunedin. But the media were much better managed when the party returned last weekend.

Reporters are being laid off in Auckland and further north, leaving long-standing local papers there with just a handful of journalists. It’s the latest cost-cutting move by the country’s biggest publisher of papers. One former editor tells Mediawatch it’s a cut too far.

Curly questions for media in JLR's secret recordings; rank and file missing from party conference coverage; possible push polling polarises Porirua; Stuff tightens squeeze on community papers.

Mediawatch Midweek is our weekly catch-up with Lately. This week Colin chats to Karyn about a bold project putting youth front-and-centre in their own words; political conference coverage missing out the rank and file; robo-journalism on the rise; some seriously sustained sarcasm - and royal visit feedback 100 years apart.

They came. They waved. And the royal couple conquered our media completely.