Toby Manhire joins Duncan Greive for an emergency episode to discuss the genuine shock appointment of columnist and political operator Matthew Hooton to editor-in-chief of The Post. We discuss his history, what his columns tell us about him, the potential fallout with staff and audiences, and whether his lack of newsroom experience is surmountable.

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Jason Monteiro is head of streaming for WBD across APAC, and joins Glen Kyne and Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss the late arrival of one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world to a small and seemingly saturated market. Monteiro makes the case that this is not just some of Sky’s Neon in new clothes, but in fact a powerful and singular platform in its own right.

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Hamish McNicol and Calida Stuart-Menteath co-edit the National Business Review, New Zealand's business publication of record. For a publication which could appear very conservative, it has been anything but across both its editorial output and its business strategy. McNicol and Stuart-Menteath join Duncan Greive on The Fold to discuss their flagship editorial project, the Rich List, and the impact of various brilliant (and occasionally bizarre) decisions the NBR’s owners, Todd and Jackie Scott, have made over the years.

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Duncan Greive is joined by James Davidson, Chief Strategy & Planning Officer, PHD Aotearoa; Lisa Leicester – Head of Social & Innovation, Omnicom Media; and Mike Delaney  –  Group Product Director, Omnicom Media, all in partnership with PHD Aotearoa.
In the age of influencer marketing, the strict planning and measurement tools long honed by the media industry and expected by brands were effectively thrown to the wind in favour of likes, shares, and attractive people spruiking brands. Omnicom's development and recent launch of CREO to the NZ market aims to correct that by offering a single solution for planning, deploying and measuring creators as a media channel – not an add-on tactic.

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Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to analyse the resignation of Paul Thompson after 13 years running RNZ, look back on the Re: News era and touch on last week’s (not Voyager) Media Awards. We also provide quick reactions to Budget 2026 and what it presents for the media sector.

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Sharp-eyed and longtime Spinoff readers might have noticed that The Fold host Duncan Greive has been staggeringly unproductive as a writer lately. For once, there is a good explanation for that: a new and quite ambitious new music app and platform named Lume. To manage the colossal conflict of interest that entails, The Spinoff’s editor-at-large Toby Manhire guest hosts The Fold to ask Duncan all about Lume.

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Media is a fraught place at the moment, less due to persistent economic challenges than external forces acting upon it. Glen Kyne returns to The Fold to discuss the end of Maiki Sherman’s time as political editor at TVNZ, the shutdown of the BSA and David Seymour’s pointed provocations of RNZ. Finally, they talk about the travails of rugby in Auckland, after a weekend that showed the strength of the Auckland FC and Warriors brands, and the comparative flakiness of the Blues (producer Te Aihe joins as Hurricanes correspondent to ensure we acknowledge their part in rugby’s issues in the big smoke).

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Philippa Rennie has had a near unique view of real life TV storytelling in New Zealand. She worked as the in-house lawyer for Warner Brother Productions for a decade, before moving across to make television as head of scripted there. She joins the Fold to speak with admirable candour about what went wrong on shows like Married at First Sight, why Julie Christie probably isn’t the right person to make a show about the Marokopa-Phillips case, and how you satisfy ethical considerations while still making compelling television.

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Duncan Greive flies solo to break down and respond to the shock decision to shut down the BSA. He gives reaction from the key players, talks about where it might head next and pays tribute to the courage of the BSA in opening a door when this was always a likely outcome. Then he gives a view of the Maiki Sherman affair, before closing on a quick take on the first month of John Campbell's Morning Report.

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Rob Harvey is CEO of Dentsu across Australia and New Zealand – it’s one of the biggest ad agencies in the world, and Rob is notable for the length of time he’s spent leading it locally. In an industry notable for executives burning bright then shifting up, down and sideways, Harvey has been a deeply committed constant. He’s led the Aotearoa business since 2013 – before Netflix landed here – and last year took over the Australian operation too, meaning he now oversees more than 1000 staff across its various brands. 

Dentsu is notable for a number of reasons. It’s one of what used to be known as the “big six” ad agencies, now the “big five” after the merger of Omnicom and IPG. They’re known as the “holdcos” within advertising, and the term can be used derisively by some, as a synonym for mercilessly squeezing and flattening in a way which doesn’t necessarily deliver the best for its people or clients. However Rob offers a persuasive defence of the model, saying the name no longer well-describes his business at least. Dentsu is also the only one of the “big five” from Japan, which has a legendarily specific and singular business culture, so we talk about how that flows through its offices. 

Dentsu has endured a tough few years in this part of the world, with Australia recording a massive $500m paper loss in 2023, in part due to a bet on competing with the consultancies on broader business strategy work. None of that happened on Harvey’s watch however, and the business is considered to be well into a turnaround. 

Finally, because this episode is recorded in partnership with the Communications Council – of which Harvey is president – we discuss their excellent event Media Spotlight, happening in late May.

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