Matt Nippert
@mattnippert.bsky.social
Digger for Herald Business and ICIJ. Disclaimer: Views my own yadda yadda. Signal 64211931011
The most wholesome story of the true New Zealand is immigrant bakers - mostly refugees - dominating pie awards and becoming beloved regional icons.
November 25, 2025 at 7:43 AM
The most wholesome story of the true New Zealand is immigrant bakers - mostly refugees - dominating pie awards and becoming beloved regional icons.
Reposted by Matt Nippert
Fossil fuel companies were given confidential drafts of legislation during their (successful) two-year campaign to weaken oil and gas regulation and overturn the offshore exploration ban - new reporting from me via the OIA
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
How the oil and gas industry helped rewrite New Zealand’s drilling rules
A paper trail shows just how far ministers went to accommodate the oil and gas industry's wishlist.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 24, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Fossil fuel companies were given confidential drafts of legislation during their (successful) two-year campaign to weaken oil and gas regulation and overturn the offshore exploration ban - new reporting from me via the OIA
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
The Cook Islands allowed over a hundred shadow fleet tankers trafficking sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil. A Big Read from me looking at the curious case of Maritime Cook Islands with an investigation employing big data analysis and fieldwork in Raro. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
The dark fleet hiding in our own backyard: How the Cook Islands sold its flag to Moscow and Tehran
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: How shadow fleets made the Cook Islands flag inconvienent.
www.nzherald.co.nz
November 24, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The Cook Islands allowed over a hundred shadow fleet tankers trafficking sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil. A Big Read from me looking at the curious case of Maritime Cook Islands with an investigation employing big data analysis and fieldwork in Raro. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
What do you mean I can't idly search the Companies Office for filing updates on a Monday evening? What does MBIE expect me to do instead? Enjoy a drink and presitge television? This is an outrage.
November 24, 2025 at 7:28 AM
What do you mean I can't idly search the Companies Office for filing updates on a Monday evening? What does MBIE expect me to do instead? Enjoy a drink and presitge television? This is an outrage.
Extremely fun story tomorrow.
November 23, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Extremely fun story tomorrow.
Never picked the Fugees as the hardest-core hip hop group of the 90s. Lauryn Hill did years for tax evasion, and now this. pitchfork.com/news/fugees-...
Fugees’ Pras Michel Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison on Conspiracy Charges
The rapper was found guilty of criminal conspiracy and illegal foreign lobbying in 2023
pitchfork.com
November 21, 2025 at 7:13 AM
Never picked the Fugees as the hardest-core hip hop group of the 90s. Lauryn Hill did years for tax evasion, and now this. pitchfork.com/news/fugees-...
Elon Musk to Grok engineers rn:
a man wearing a hat and buttons says hands up who likes me
ALT: a man wearing a hat and buttons says hands up who likes me
media.tenor.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Elon Musk to Grok engineers rn:
Lessons from the McSkimming affair: Cover-ups can be worse than the crime/misconduct; No suprise does not mean trying to bury suprises with suppression orders; It's not rotten apples we should be talking about, it's fish who decompose from the head down.
November 12, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Lessons from the McSkimming affair: Cover-ups can be worse than the crime/misconduct; No suprise does not mean trying to bury suprises with suppression orders; It's not rotten apples we should be talking about, it's fish who decompose from the head down.
New Zealander of the Year: McSkimming's complainant.
November 11, 2025 at 6:47 AM
New Zealander of the Year: McSkimming's complainant.
Fatherhood summed up in one image:
November 7, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Fatherhood summed up in one image:
I'll say two things about SPG funding boost announced today: 1) No mention of likely costs to the government, 2) The removal of caps on above-the-line-spending on leading actors/directors was largely in response to criticism of SPG subsidising 20% of ScarJo's $25m fee to apper in Ghost in the Shell.
November 7, 2025 at 7:14 AM
I'll say two things about SPG funding boost announced today: 1) No mention of likely costs to the government, 2) The removal of caps on above-the-line-spending on leading actors/directors was largely in response to criticism of SPG subsidising 20% of ScarJo's $25m fee to apper in Ghost in the Shell.
Reposted by Matt Nippert
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
Data Journalist - BusinessDesk - NZME
Join BusinessDesk as a Data Journalist—break market-moving stories, visualise insights, and set the global benchmark for data-driven reporting.
careers.nzme.co.nz
November 5, 2025 at 8:41 PM
BusinessDesk has a fantastic (and rare) for a data journalist in New Zealand. The Herald and BusinessDesk are separate publications, but whoever is in this role will work with me on projects like Budget day visualisations 1/2
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
careers.nzme.co.nz/jobs/6697721...
Think I'm working on my best story since Citizen Thiel. So good I don't even mind writing on the weekend. 3000 words in and it feels like I might be half-way? Just 200 more pages of OIAs, three hours of interview transcripts, and several dense pages of legalese to sythenise and I'm g2g.
November 1, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Think I'm working on my best story since Citizen Thiel. So good I don't even mind writing on the weekend. 3000 words in and it feels like I might be half-way? Just 200 more pages of OIAs, three hours of interview transcripts, and several dense pages of legalese to sythenise and I'm g2g.
In memorandum of the burning down of Palmie's The Fitz, here's my first (and only, really) piece of gonzo journalism for Salient in 2003 about the Worst Pub in the World. CW: Piss and vomit. @jgreenbrookheld.bsky.social
November 1, 2025 at 5:02 AM
In memorandum of the burning down of Palmie's The Fitz, here's my first (and only, really) piece of gonzo journalism for Salient in 2003 about the Worst Pub in the World. CW: Piss and vomit. @jgreenbrookheld.bsky.social
Had panicked today and worked like a demon thinking it was a short week and I only had one more day before the weekend to finish a long-brewing project. I came home, frazzled and barely holding it together, and my wife told me today was Wednesday, not Thursday.
October 29, 2025 at 4:44 AM
Had panicked today and worked like a demon thinking it was a short week and I only had one more day before the weekend to finish a long-brewing project. I came home, frazzled and barely holding it together, and my wife told me today was Wednesday, not Thursday.
Thai E-Sarn (refugee from Food Alley RIP) on Hobson St might be the best Thai joint in the city. Beef salad 10/10 no notes.
October 23, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Thai E-Sarn (refugee from Food Alley RIP) on Hobson St might be the best Thai joint in the city. Beef salad 10/10 no notes.
Watercare’s fault reporting service has all the charm of a back-end spreadsheet, but a minor leak in our meter box got sorted <24 hours so AG.
October 20, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Watercare’s fault reporting service has all the charm of a back-end spreadsheet, but a minor leak in our meter box got sorted <24 hours so AG.
More Talley's v TVNZ: This time with bonus minister talking of a 'culture of fear' at the company. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
‘Culture of fear’: Former minister details WorkSafe concerns at Talley’s
Former minister says Talley's had 'serious deficencies' and a 'culture of fear'.
www.nzherald.co.nz
October 7, 2025 at 8:32 PM
More Talley's v TVNZ: This time with bonus minister talking of a 'culture of fear' at the company. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
Goddamn (allergic?) eczema outbreak on my eyelids. My eyes are gonna be swollen shut by morning. Spring is whack.
October 1, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Goddamn (allergic?) eczema outbreak on my eyelids. My eyes are gonna be swollen shut by morning. Spring is whack.
Talleys v TVNZ defamation trial reaches a crescendo. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
‘I have never seen anything like the fear I saw’: TVNZ reporter explains anonymous sources in defamation defence
TVNZ's Christchurch reporter Thomas Mead defends his investigation into Talley's.
www.nzherald.co.nz
September 30, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Talleys v TVNZ defamation trial reaches a crescendo. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
Objectively, nothing tops chorizo-fried bacon, right?
September 20, 2025 at 7:31 AM
Objectively, nothing tops chorizo-fried bacon, right?
Pickup sticks ‘til ‘26.
September 18, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Pickup sticks ‘til ‘26.
Out in Titirangi we have lots of power outages. Some water outages. But the most insidious and debilitating is a fibre outage, now ticking into its 30th hour.
September 15, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Out in Titirangi we have lots of power outages. Some water outages. But the most insidious and debilitating is a fibre outage, now ticking into its 30th hour.
My final story from the epic/tragic/comic Zuru nappy trial. Feat: Reflections on the startup exit stories we tell ourselves, competition issues raised for for supermarkets and suppliers, and a hand-scrawled note where the Taylor family are schooled about FAANGT. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
‘Treasures ends tomorrow. Or it’s on’: How a dispute over diapers erupted into ‘all out war’
The protagonists, the arguments, and a joke than cannot be repeated.
www.nzherald.co.nz
September 5, 2025 at 5:35 AM
My final story from the epic/tragic/comic Zuru nappy trial. Feat: Reflections on the startup exit stories we tell ourselves, competition issues raised for for supermarkets and suppliers, and a hand-scrawled note where the Taylor family are schooled about FAANGT. www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
The Zuru nappy trial hearing, just concluded after four long weeks, keeps bringing the tea. (Honestly, the most bonkers civil case I've ever covered.) www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...
August 29, 2025 at 9:52 AM
The Zuru nappy trial hearing, just concluded after four long weeks, keeps bringing the tea. (Honestly, the most bonkers civil case I've ever covered.) www.nzherald.co.nz/business/com...