Sunday Morning

Two years ago this week the country's media chiefs told MPs Covid had crushed their cashflow and the viability of the news media was in doubt. Two years later, Mediawatch asks one boss: is the crisis all over now? Also - Tracey Martin, newly appointed as the chair of the transitional board forming the new public media entity - and Mike Noon, the main voice for motorists in the media for a decade and half.

The current issue of North and South magazine tells the fascinating story - under the headline "Enemies of the State?" - of Dorian Saker and some of his classmates falling under suspicion as suspected subversives in the 1940s.

Last month the Government confirmed it will create a new public media entity through the merger of RNZ and TVNZ. Former MP Tracey Martin will chair the nine-member Establishment Board to lead the work on creating the new entity.

It was widely reported a while back that a third of New Zealanders were/are reducing their meat consumption, becoming more flexitarian. Correct statistics about the number of actual vegetarians and vegans among us are hard to come by, but one recent estimate was 10% vegetarian, 3% vegan. Sophie Steevens from Mahia writes about raw food, Raw & Free was a previous book of hers, and her new one is SIMPLE WHOLEFOODS.

Formerly known as the singer and keyboard player for indie band The Leers, rising New Zealand singer-songwriter (and now producer and engineer) Kiki Rockwell's debut solo single, 'Left For Dead' has been described as a "folk-pop fantasy with the mystique of a folklore fable". Having been born in San Francisco and raised in Germany, before arriving in New Zealand as a seven-year-old, Rockwell touches on the mythical and the magical in her music, taking inspiration from the German fairy tales her mother read to her as a child before bed. Rockwell, who is a costume stylist by day, joins the show to discuss 'Left for Dead' - which is taken from her debut EP 'Bleeding Out In A Forest' - her fascination with the macabre, and working with a horse who shares the same name.

Victoria and Emilie Bruce have certainly entered nature, and let nature enter them. They've just completed an epic hike down New Zealand, through wind, rain, hail and snow, but also, thankfully, sunshine, because it has been such a summer for so many even if the weather's turning now. Emilie is seven years old, Victoria is her mother, they've walked the best part of 3000km down the Te Araroa track from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Trail organisers say as far as we know Victoria and Emilie are the first mother/daughter combination to have walked the track by themselves, it's taken them 138 days. They began in October last year. Victoria was hoping for mental healing on the journey, and they have certainly raised a decent amount of money for good causes along the way.

Auckland-born businessman Gordon McMaster lives in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby with his wife Vagi (who is a PNG citizen) and four children, Ernest, Maureen, Ludwina and Jack. Gordon works as the Group GM for a family-owned business in Port Moresby, having started in January this year after spending his entire time prior to that working for a large company called Steamships Trading Company (where he had five roles over 14 years). His current role involves him overseeing three companies in the security, property development and management and civil works industries. When they're not busy with school and work, the family loves to hit the water and explore all that PNG has to offer. Gordon's Calling Home this morning.

Two-time Golden Globe Winner and iconic Hollywood starlet Jane Seymour is known throughout the world for playing a Bond girl, Maria Callas and Dr Quinn Medicine Woman. But her latest role as Ruby in 'Ruby's Choice' could be her most poignant yet. Having been around a lot of people who have had Alzheimer's throughout her life, not to mention producing the movie about musician Glen Campbell's struggle with the disease, the 71-year-old actress felt instantly drawn to the role. Seymour, who is a global ambassador for the Dementia Foundation for Spark of Life, joins the show to discuss 'Ruby's Choice,' how she got inside the head of the character, and why she continues to keep looking forward and living her life in the present moment.

Stuff. Most people have far too much of it. But what draws us to having things we don't need? Professor Melissa Norberg is the deputy director for the Centre for Emotional Health and associate professor at Macquarie University. She researches, develops and provides treatment for compulsive buying-shopping disorder. And she has the answer to the question of why our possessions have so much control over us, and how we can regain control of our lust for material things. Professor Norberg is with us to look at how material possessions can be so alluring - whether it's buying new stuff or holding onto old stuff for too long - and how breaking those bad old habits can not only be good for us personally, but the planet as well.

Print and paper problems for publishers; missing voices as media mark the orange traffic light switch; MP's exit excites media.