Tim Murphy

Do you ever just rewatch the final lineout of the Rugby World Cup 2021, played in 2022? No?

You really should. It’s one of the best moments of my life.

Latest TPU/Curia political poll calls a hung Parliament, with Labour overtaking a falling National and the coalition support parties slipping
Labour - 33.6 (up 2)
National - 31.8 (-2.1)
Greens - 9.8 (+0.4)
Act - 8.6 (-0.5)
NZF - 7.8 (-2.0)
TPM - 3.2 (-0.3)
Left/rt 61 seats each

AI robots curating Herald site strike back in June Nielsen audience stats:
Stuff 2,260,000 uniques (- 70k)
Herald 1,890,000 uniques (+ 140k)
RNZ 1,260,000
1News 620,000
Stuff's lead at 370k still big, but gap to Herald drops 210k. RNZ off 1.5m high earlier in '26

Interestingly Stuff appears to be stretching its lead over the Herald site which has stories and content now curated and highlighted by AI …
The humans seem to be leading the machines/algorithms in these earlyish months…

Stuff says it is number one in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington and Canterbury - the first two of those in the old Herald newspaper’s footprint

Latest Nielsen news site audience numbers for May, (per Stuff release)

- Stuff is No 1 at 2.33 million readers with a 574k gap to NZ Herald on 1.75m.

- that means the NZH fell more than 100k - and puts it in sights of third-placed RNZ, which has been in the 1.5m range of late.

Few on the partisan left acknowledge TPU/Curia, but they might steal a glance at its latest poll results:
Labour 34.8 (up 1.6)
National 33.5 (down 1.1)
Act 9.1 (-0.4)
Greens 8.3 (-0.9)
NZF 6.1 (-1.3)
TPM 3.3 (-0.6)
Almost 35 is giddy heights for Labour.

Give that subeditor a Tesla!

Parliament's auto-captioning finally recognised Winston Peters in the manner he aspires to:

Stuff names a new MD for its soon-to-be-co-owned, No 1 news website firm Stuff Digital:
Nigel Tutt, who ran its digital business a decade ago under Fairfax ownership before leading a digital experience company and Bay of Plenty economic development body.

TVNZ poll had National and Labour down 2 & 3. But centre-right ahead 63-58 in House.

RNZ poll now has Nats down by 2.2 to 30, but Labour up 1 to 33 in post-Budget survey. Greens up 1.6 to 11.6.

RNZ echoes TVNZ with NZF up a couple, to 9, but Act down 2.8 to 6.6.

RNZ says centre-left 63-57.

2/ Way to steal a headline:
The Stuff Digital 50% sale to TradeMe comes on the day NZME finally meets to settle its board war and hear progress on its real estate brand OneRoof and a possible listing or part/sale

Just in: Stuff sells 50% of its digital business to TradeMe - giving TradeMe Property a chance to really dominate the real estate online space.
Stuff owner Sinead Boucher finally gets an equity partner - and undisclosed $ - after five years on her own. She'll chair combined board.

Bit awkward this Financial Times front page headline and story today “:

‘Scientists accuse New Zealand and Ireland of hiding livestock emissions’

Yes, The Breeze, up 31k, ZM up 20, Mai up 16 and Newstalk ZB stable.

2/ Other RNZ shows’ latest audience numbers:

Lisa Owen’s Checkpoint the relative standout performer -

Nine to Noon - 239k - down 20k
Checkpoint - 204k - down just 3k
Saturday morning - 180k - down 20k

1/ RNZ releases latest audience figures:

RNZ National - 467,000 av week (down 22k)

former clear market No 1 now 8th behind

- NewstalkZB on 647,300 (180k margin over RNZ National)
- Breeze, More, ZM, Edge, Rock and Mai.

Morning Report down 20k to 332k (Hosking ZB is on 440k)

Infographic titled “Judges reject Trump at an accelerating pace” with subtitle “Federal district court rulings against the administration.” The first bar chart, labeled “By month, %”, shows the percentage of federal district court rulings against the Trump administration: • February: 53.8% (7 out of 13) • March: 74.3% (26 out of 35) • April: 76.1% (51 out of 67) • May: 96.3% (26 out of 27) The second bar chart, labeled “By appointing party, %”, shows rulings against the Trump administration by the party of the judge’s appointing president: • Republican-appointed judges: 72.2% (26 out of 36) • Democratic-appointed judges: 80.4% (74 out of 92) Source: Bonica, Adam; Sen, Maya, 2025, “Common-space Measures of Judicial Ideology for Federal Judges (2024 update),” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CK3EEL Note: Coding scheme details available at data4democracy.substack.com/p/when-judges-become-targets-judicial

Stunning. May was brutal for Trump in federal court: 96% loss rate ⚖️. Even GOP-appointed judges have ruled against the admin 72% of the time. District courts are doing their job defending the Constitution. Soon the Supreme Court may be the only court unwilling to defend the rule of law.

Asked the Deepseek AI to sum up
each NZ rugby team in one word:

Steve Braunias’ Secret Diary ob @newsroom.co.nz gets to the nub of things:

NZX update today on NZME:
- right-ward raider Jim Grenon has come up significantly short in final board washout
- Grenon won’t get his demanded chairmanship
- gets 1 sole director, him, not 5
- 3/5 of old board stay
- that board’s choice to be chair

www.nzx.com/announcement...

The Australian says "a ruling is set to be released on Tuesday by the New Zealand Takeovers Panel over claims that activist investors in the [NZME] stock were co-operating to overthrow the company’s board."

2/ "Some directors including Guy Horrocks would remain as a compromise, but there would be other departures.

"Another candidate with strong credentials for the job and political connections in New Zealand has been picked for chairman of the Australia and NZ listed media firm"

Barbara Chapman to go as chair of embattled NZME with a mystery 'politically connected' figure to replace her, according to The Australian's Bridget Carter, who is exceptionally well informed.
"It is now understood that Mr (Jim) Grenon will not become chairman under agreed changes"

Daily Telegraph UK economics columnist doesn't sound positive for the likes of the Mowbrays' Zuru:

Whangama-Tam

The judicial branch pushes back - Thread⬇️

2/ Stuff owner Sinead Boucher on audience surge: "This is not the result of short term gimmicks to drive traffic or tactical changes - this is New Zealanders consistently turning to Stuff to understand 2025’s fast-moving news agenda."

Huge audience month for Stuff - up 200k readers to hit 2.34m uniques in March - comparable with an election or Rugby World Cup month - but more significantly opening a 522,000 gap over arch rival the nz herald, which dropped sharply. It's been forever since gap was so big.

TVNZ poaches Stuff’s digital chief Nadia Tolich to be its new head of news and content, joining TVNZ’s top table.
Tolich is ex Newstalk ZB and leaves Stuff as its site is a stonking 520k ahead in monthly audience over rival NZ Herald.