\u201cOrdinary cops work incredibly hard, and these guys did … you couldn\u2019t have worked on that case without being emotionally involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
NHNZ Worldwide chief executive Dame Julie Christie.<\/p>\n
Christie\u2019s documentary has the working title The Marokopa Project, according to the production contract released by police to the NZ Herald under the Official Information Act last year. <\/a><\/p>\n The 90-minute to two-hour documentary is being produced for Netflix by Christie\u2019s NHNZ Worldwide and UK-based Grain Media.<\/p>\n A camera operator followed the inquiry\u2019s lead detective and several other officers as they worked to find the fugitive father.<\/p>\n But police were later criticised by other media for allowing Christie and a camera operator behind cordons on the day Phillips was shot last September. <\/p>\n Police Commissioner Richard Chambers \u2013 while acknowledging that police often work with documentary crews \u2013 has said police should not have let them behind the cordon. <\/p>\n The contract reveals that police have powers to preview and demand edits to the documentary. Police also have the ultimate sign-off on the content involving themselves, and are currently reviewing their involvement.<\/p>\n Christie told Media Insider this week that she was in regular touch with police. She and her production company have followed all the rules and requirements – she said police had said many times that the production company had done nothing wrong. <\/p>\n \u201cI talk to the police frequently, including yesterday. No decision has been made as to future police cooperation in the documentary, but we are working towards a resolution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe footage we filmed with police related primarily to the work of the lead detective and three other detectives, so it was very focused.\u201d<\/p>\n Christie – whose extensive CV includes The Chair, Celebrity Treasure Island, and more recently, Forever Auckland FC \u2013 has not been happy with how other media, including the NZ Herald, have portrayed the documentary. <\/p>\n She has described a \u201cvindictive campaign\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile every other media organisation, including your own, was criticising police for doing nothing, I was filming them working extremely hard. <\/p>\n \u201cThose detectives put so much work in. The four or five that I dealt with were amazing people working incredibly hard, and that\u2019s what we had access to. Nobody else asked.\u201d<\/p>\n Christie says headlines and stories about the documentary have missed a key point – anybody could make a documentary.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to remember that a documentary about this case could be, and likely is, already being made overseas. There are four years of news archive footage available to buy. <\/p>\n \u201cAnd when you think about what else you could put in it \u2013 there\u2019s no doubt that several people tried to insert themselves into the case during the police search. How many more ex-police, ex-PIs and ex-SIS could the media have dragged up to criticise the police? I\u2019m sure they\u2019d be happy to be interviewed even without any firsthand knowledge. <\/p>\n \u201cIf this story isn\u2019t made here in New Zealand, it will be made overseas with little regard to the facts or the legal restrictions which apply to New Zealand only. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is very naive to think that New Zealanders won\u2019t want to, or be able to, view such a version.\u201d<\/p>\n Some members of the Phillips family have said they don\u2019t want the documentary to proceed.<\/p>\n Christie said: \u201cPrior to September 8, we had \u2013 I think I added up \u2013 more than 30 interactions with the family. I was regularly in touch with the family. I don\u2019t want to speak post that time regarding the family because that\u2019s up to them \u2013 they\u2019ve been through enough.\u201d<\/p>\n She said when she began this project, many others were also pitching documentaries \u201cincluding those who are now the loudest critics\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cThis has been pretty much a media jealousy campaign against this documentary. If any news organisation had asked, they might have got the same access. Because they didn\u2019t think to ask, they seem to have become vindictive.<\/p>\n \u201cI think a lot of media have disgraced themselves through this campaign regarding the documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the rules around her project were well known. <\/p>\n The contract states that the documentary must abide by any court orders, including suppression orders. It cannot be released until all court proceedings (such as a coroner\u2019s hearing) are resolved.<\/p>\n These are not clauses that any international-based production would need to heed.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s read the agreement,\u201d said Christie.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody knows what\u2019s required for it to move forward. But in the end, anybody could be making this. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just my one happened to have a particular angle with the police, but you could turn around and do this tomorrow. There\u2019s nothing stopping you doing it. Nothing stopping anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n Inquiry touches on doco<\/p>\n This week, an independent inquiry into the Phillips children\u2019s disappearance – and how multiple government agencies handled the case \u2013 was released. <\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t thought about this,\u201d said Christie, when asked whether it would be included in her documentary. She pointed out it had only just been released.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. Obviously I\u2019ve read the report. I never got to a point where we looked at anything other than following the process that they [police officers] went through, putting their lives on the line because the closer they got, the bigger the danger. [That] seems to have also been forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n The head of the independent inquiry, Simon Moore, wrote in his report that he was surprised police had allowed a documentary crew to be involved in the case. <\/p>\n But he also accepted officers\u2019 views that it did not and would not have changed the outcome.<\/p>\n Moore wrote that police entered an agreement for the Netflix documentary \u201csometime around late 2024\u2033. (That is when the initial ok was given, with the final contract dated March 2025.)<\/p>\n \u201cThe decision to involve the documentary is outside the scope of this inquiry, except to the extent it may have had some impact on the steps police took to find and recover the children,\u201d wrote Moore.<\/p>\n He also pointed out that it was not unusual for police to participate in documentaries.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the inquiry was surprised that police invited a documentary crew to document an investigation that not only heavily relied on sensitive operational technologies and specialist personnel from police and NZDF, but also involved children whose privacy and welfare [were] at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore said the officers he spoke to acknowledged the presence of cameras \u201clikely did have an effect on the way the investigation was conducted: both a chilling or limiting effect on the openness of police internal communications, and a logistical impact with covert or sensitive police resources having to be deployed away from documentary cameras. <\/p>\n \u201cWhile registering its concern, the inquiry accepts the evidence of all officers it spoke to on the topic that the documentary did not have an impact on the outcome of the investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cOf more concern is the potential impact on the children. There is an inherent risk of publication of sensitive information relating to this investigation interfering with the privacy and welfare of the Phillips children.\u201d<\/p>\n The contract released to the NZ Herald is sensitive to these matters and is clear that the documentary makers must comply with all suppression orders. <\/p>\n And ultimately, police have the final say when it comes to their own involvement and footage.<\/p>\n The Hosk with HDPA: \u2018I could still be here in 20 years\u2019<\/p>\n Newstalk ZB\u2019s two headline hosts, Mike Hosking and Heather Du Plessis-Allan, have spoken candidly in a new podcast about their career paths, the success of ZB, and where they might end up.<\/p>\n \u201cIn 20 years, I could well still be here, Heather,\u201d breakfast host Hosking, 61, says on the podcast, to be released this weekend as part of ZB\u2019s 100-year birthday celebrations. <\/p>\n \u201cI operate on the basis I\u2019m only here because I enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n Du Plessis-Allan \u2013 widely considered an heir apparent for the breakfast show \u2013 says she too would like to still be at the station in 20 years.<\/p>\n \u201cI am slightly more risque. I do have a personality that tends to the childish, which you don\u2019t \u2013 so I do have to check myself all the time. But if I can behave myself properly, I would like to be here as long as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n She was continually trying to build. \u201cI reflect on things that I said five years ago and think \u2018jeez you\u2019re an idiot\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair discuss the rise and success of ZB, with Du Plessis-Allan questioning Hosking about his ratings surge, especially since 2020 and the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cIt happened because I believe I was the only one questioning the government at the time, and that said something about the media,\u201d Hosking says. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t think there was any doubt that I read the mood of the country and that there was anger, frustration, and fury and a few more questions needed to be asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so embarrassed by that time. I still think back at that time, and there\u2019s that 1 o\u2019clock thing and \u2018Jessica and then Tova\u2019. <\/p>\n \u201cI honestly believe in 30 years\u2019 time if they study it, they\u2019ll look back on that, and they\u2019ll see that as a defining moment\/turning point in the relationship between the New Zealand public and the media that got blown to pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen on Sunday to the full podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n Stuff director steps down<\/p>\n Longtime Stuff executive and one of Stuff owner Sinead Boucher\u2019s key right-hand people, Dale Bridle, has stepped down as one of two directors of the media firm.<\/p>\n Bridle is still listed on Stuff\u2019s website as the company\u2019s chief financial officer and operations director, although it is understood he may be about to depart. Neither Stuff nor Bridle has returned multiple requests for comment over the past week.<\/p>\n Bridle ceased being a director of Stuff Ltd on July 21, according to Companies Office records filed last month. <\/p>\n That leaves Boucher, who is also chief executive of the firm, as the sole director of Stuff Ltd.<\/p>\n Stuff Ltd owns 50% of Stuff Digital, publisher of the Stuff website. The other 50% of Stuff Digital is owned by TradeMe.<\/p>\n Stuff Ltd owns 100% of Stuff\u2019s paywalled digital sites and print mastheads, such as The Post, The Press and Sunday Star-Times. <\/p>\n News of Bridle\u2019s directorship move comes just a week after Stuff Masthead Publishing managing director Joanna Norris was announced as TVNZ\u2019s new news boss.<\/a> She joins TVNZ next year.<\/p>\n Stuff Masthead Publishing is likely to remain of interest to potential new investors including NZ Herald owner NZME, South Island-based Allied Press and even several high net-worth individuals.<\/p>\n Oopsie<\/p>\n Another from the stones-glasshouses, there-but-for-the-grace-of-God file … Three News didn\u2019t quite get the date, or year, right on last night\u2019s 6pm bulletin.<\/p>\n CRL advertising goldmine<\/p>\n Deep under the ground, Auckland\u2019s new City Rail Link is already proving an advertising goldmine for Auckland Transport.<\/p>\n Six foundational advertisers have agreed to hefty sums \u2013 up to $650,000 each for the next six months, Media Insider understands \u2013 to appear on digital billboards in the new CRL train stations.<\/p>\n Those advertisers are ANZ, BNZ, Spark, 2degrees, The Warehouse and Tower. <\/p>\n Auckland Transport and its outdoor advertising partner QMS will collect almost $4 million from those advertisers over the next six months, with much of that revenue going into AT\u2019s coffers.<\/p>\n On a visit to the Karanga-a-Hape and Te Waihorotiu stations this week, Media Insider discovered the billboards on high rotation, playing ads for all six advertisers. <\/p>\n It will be interesting to see what impact the new deals have on the advertisers\u2019 spend in other media, such as television, digital, print and audio.<\/p>\n While neither AT nor QMS would confirm prices in July, they did say the packages had been \u201cfully subscribed\u201d<\/a>, ie sold out, for the first six months.<\/a><\/p>\n As Media Insider reported at the time, the ratecard has certainly raised eyebrows in the advertising industry.<\/p>\n One industry source said that the pricing was \u201cobscene money\u201d and that it had not gone down well with some agencies. In a similar vein, another source said clients would be demanding to know that those prices are supported by audience delivery.<\/p>\n The other, broader view was that this is great news for city ratepayers who are already on the hook for the CRL. This was another way that the project can drive money back into the public coffers.<\/p>\n \u201cRevenue generated through the CRL advertising network helps fund the ongoing operation and maintenance of Auckland\u2019s public transport infrastructure, reducing pressure on other funding sources while helping ensure stations and public spaces remain safe, attractive and well-maintained,\u201d said AT and QMS in a joint statement in July.<\/p>\n Publisher, author apologise to political leader<\/p>\n Book publisher HarperCollins and author Byron Clark have this week formally apologised to Conservative Party leader Helen Houghton for the way they referred to her in Clark\u2019s 2023 book Fear: New Zealand\u2019s hostile underworld of extremists.<\/p>\n \u201cThe book is a wide-ranging work of social and political commentary and contains analysis of various political parties, including the Conservative Party of New Zealand (then known as the New Conservative Party) and its representatives and members,\u201d HarperCollins said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cMs Houghton is a champion of free speech, strong proponent of Christian and conservative values, recently qualified lawyer, and leader of the Conservative Party of New Zealand. <\/p>\n \u201cMs Houghton has objected to the book on the basis that inclusion of her name in the book, and in a chapter entitled \u2018Women and the Alt Right\u2019 (which chapter was also published online as an edited extract by The Spinoff in February 2023) implies that she associates with, and holds the views of, far right extremists.<\/p>\n \u201cHarperCollins and Byron Clark never intended to defame Ms Houghton and apologise to her for hurt and distress caused.\u201d<\/p>\n The Spinoff appears to have removed the extract from its website.<\/p>\n Houghton said in a statement that the settlement was \u201cmuch bigger\u201d than being about herself.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a win for freedom of speech and for every New Zealander who believes that holding conservative, Christian or traditional values should not automatically result in being labelled an extremist,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Details of the settlement have not been disclosed.<\/p>\n The Kiwi journo, the lost passport and a feel-good story<\/p>\n When New Zealand rugby journalist Jamie Wall lost his passport on a Washington DC train, he feared he was stranded in the US. <\/p>\n Then a call came from Air New Zealand. A retired Virginia man had found it – and not just any man.<\/p>\nTom Phillips disappeared with his three young children for nearly four years in December 2021. he was found and shot dead last September.<\/p>\n
Dame Julie Christie and a camera operator at the scene of the Tom Phillips shooting and recovery of his children last September. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Richard Chambers. Photo \/ Cameron Pitney<\/p>\n
Heather Du Plessis-Allan and Mike Hosking sit down for their podcast. Photos \/ Alyse Wright<\/p>\n
Stuff chief financial officer Dale Bridle.<\/p>\n
Wrong date, wrong year…<\/p>\n
2degrees is one of six ‘foundational’ advertisers on the CRL.<\/p>\n
Conservative Party leader Helen Houghton. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n