It’s great to see the #LowMow Revolution coming to Wellington, NZ.

“Low mow sites had about double the plant species - an average of 21.8, compared to 11.3 on regularly mown sites. Bugs were also more abundant, with 5.5 invertebrates on low mow sites, but just 1.2 on sites mowers frequent. Bird life was about the same, but the ground absorbed rainwater twice as quickly.”

“Others said the area wasn't used much, and longer grass with daisies and buttercups poking through looked more interesting than a plain mown patch.“

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/575491/wellington-city-council-s-low-mow-lawn-approach-a-win-for-biodiversity

#lawns #biodiversity #restoration #nz #RNZ

It’s great to see the #LowMow Revolution coming to Wellington, NZ.

“Low mow sites had about double the plant species - an average of 21.8, compared to 11.3 on regularly mown sites. Bugs were also more abundant, with 5.5 invertebrates on low mow sites, but just 1.2 on sites mowers frequent. Bird life was about the same, but the ground absorbed rainwater twice as quickly.”

“Others said the area wasn't used much, and longer grass with daisies and buttercups poking through looked more interesting than a plain mown patch.“

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/575491/wellington-city-council-s-low-mow-lawn-approach-a-win-for-biodiversity

#lawns #biodiversity #restoration #nz #RNZ

"My reo wish is; all NZers understand Te Reo Māori is their language. It is for them to use, forever. From their children to their kuia / koroua, is it every NZer's language. Love it, use it."

#CarmenParahi, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mata-with-mihingarangi-forbes?share=217b526c-32ba-4e1f-ac53-8011e74c02b1

#podcasts #RNZ #Mata #TeReoMāori

If you think we have it bad in Aotearoa, with NZ Labour drifting around in the neoliberal centre-right, just look at Oz. Their Labour party is firmly in the neoconservative right under Albanese. Just listen to his defensive comments here about the plight of refugees his country's government traps on Nauru for years at a time;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/programmes/tagata-o-te-moana/audio/2019005051/tagata-of-te-moana-for-20-september-2025

#podcasts #RNZ #TagataOfTeMoana #refugees #AnthonyAlbanese

<<Jacinda Ardern calls for the end of 'genocide' in Gaza>>

Luxon the country awaits your announcement of a Palestine State.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/573620/jacinda-ardern-calls-for-the-end-of-genocide-in-gaza

#RNZ #JacindaArdern #Gaza #Palestine

Political talking points - or "key messages" as Nicky Hagar called them in The Hollow Men - are a cancer on political communication. Expressly designed to allow politicians to make public statements without actually *saying* anything.

There's some great examples in yesterday's FOP on RNZ, where CLuxon and Rimmer vomited up and ate the same verbal hairballs they've been retaining since 2023;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/focusonpolitics/2025/FOCUSDISCONTENT

(1/?)

#podcasts #RNZ #FocusOnPolitics #TalkingPoints #KeyMessages

The enshittification of commercial news media continues apace ...

"So you need human journalists. AI will not replace them. It might make one journalist do the work of 10, but you still need that journalist.

We're ... moving into a full newsroom based on AI."

#PeterFowler, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=4df8ef6b-aef5-4a92-9f6a-44a3d314ae09

*shudder* Oh the hubris. This is exactly the wrong way to use any kind of AI. But especially the current crop of Trained MOLEs.

#podcasts #RNZ #MediaWatch #MOLE #AI

"... the teaching the use of AI is really different from teaching how AI works. They're quite different subjects really
... how AI works is a classic STEM subject and we certainly need in our country people who know how to do that ... the use of AI is a much broader one ... it's an interdisciplinary subject ... I'm not sure whether it fits in one course ..."

#AlistairKnott, Professor of AI, Victoria University, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2019003931/kiwi-students-to-learn-ai-in-schools

#podcasts #RNZ #MorningReport #AI

MediaWatch did a good segment on the datacentre-related reputation laundering by scAmazon and NatACT First, and its Useful Idiots in news media (notably Mike Hoskins);

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=18fdbc07-39b4-4deb-96ba-1d9809b54c6f

#podcasts#RNZ#MediaWatch

Did I just hear two separate data-centre-focused interviews on #RNZ#NineToNoon that failed to mention the risk to our data sovereignty from US-owned infrastructure?
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/25/microsoft_admits_it_cannot_guarantee/
Maybe they've covered this before, I don't listen often enough.

Did I just hear two separate data-centre-focused interviews on #RNZ#NineToNoon that failed to mention the risk to our data sovereignty from US-owned infrastructure?
https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/25/microsoft_admits_it_cannot_guarantee/
Maybe they've covered this before, I don't listen often enough.

(1/?)

@leighelse
> Moving Radio New Zealand's "centre of gravity" to Auckland is an ill-considered strategy.

I had the same concerns based on my first impressions. But after listening to the interview with Paul Thompson on yesterday's edition of MediaWatch;

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/mediawatch/audio/2019002028/rnz-s-push-to-stop-the-slide-on-air-rude-words-ok

... it doesn't sound like the plan is for RNZ to become "Auckland-centric". Just to focus for a while on making sure it's serving the needs of (50+) radio listeners in Tamaki Makaurau.

#podcasts #RNZ #mediawatch

"It's quite amazing how really good it is to get a tool suited to a purpose."

#BryanInnes, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/countrylife?share=3c3d6a50-7844-4935-a147-9795edd71f89

#podcasts#RNZ#CountryLife

People talking about fixing an economy that's bleeding out, with more cutting of regulation and public spending, is like a doctor proposing to save a person who's bleeding out, by doing more bloodletting.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/focusonpolitics?share=3bb48a4d-e5cb-4fd1-bd2b-209f8458de06

#podcasts#RNZ #FocusOnPolitics

"... there is no point knowing that we are right if we are left clinging to our mountains of evidence when the last tree is cut down.

What we actually have to do is not wring our hands about the 'missing million' voters. We need to go out and we need to find them, and we need to build trust with them. Not just when it's easy and convenient in election years, but outside of that."

#ChlöeSwarbrick, Co-leader, #NZGreens, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mata-with-mihingarangi-forbes?share=3cd12678-90ad-453b-b654-5ff2bd78ec39

#podcasts#RNZ#Mata

"Now online, they don't want you to go back down to calm. Because once you get back down to calm, you can engage the part of your brain that's logical and rational, and you go actually I've had enough time online. They keep you in an active emotional state."

#KathrynBerkett, educational psychologist, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2019000868/the-emotional-gym-growing-your-child-s-resilience-muscle

#podcasts#RNZ#9ToNoon #psychology#PlatformPsychology

Complaining about of "maorification" of media, because they're starting to reflect the unique cultural mix of Aotearoa, is like complaining about "pacification" when institutions start taking meaningful action to prevent domestic abuse.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=e6bc82e6-bcc8-42bf-915c-f27d859a21df

#podcasts#RNZ#MediaWatch

"[IDF] have admitted it was deliberate attack, but it claimed that [Anas] al-Sharif was Hamas operative. They called him a 'mouthpiece of intellectual terrorism'..."

#HaydenDonnell, 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/podcast/mediawatch?share=36b8bb92-d72c-404b-8948-5850ce600cf6

#podcasts#RNZ#MediaWatch#Gaza #journalism