Matt Nippert
@mattnippert.bsky.social
Digger for Herald Business and ICIJ. Disclaimer: Views my own yadda yadda. Signal 64211931011
I'm so old I remember following the Black Caps when our batters had test averages in the 30s and Vettori was pretty much the best scorer on offer. #GoldenYears
December 5, 2025 at 9:32 AM
I'm so old I remember following the Black Caps when our batters had test averages in the 30s and Vettori was pretty much the best scorer on offer. #GoldenYears
Generative AI is a dead end. Try building reasoning instead of paint-by-numbers iterative slop-making.
December 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Generative AI is a dead end. Try building reasoning instead of paint-by-numbers iterative slop-making.
I get the eye-rolling over the Ikea opening: But there's a pile of better-part-of-a-decade projects getting born (CRL, NZICC, Ikea) that seems a sign that finally Auckland might be getting there. And I need some cheap shelves/desk chairs.
December 4, 2025 at 8:01 AM
I get the eye-rolling over the Ikea opening: But there's a pile of better-part-of-a-decade projects getting born (CRL, NZICC, Ikea) that seems a sign that finally Auckland might be getting there. And I need some cheap shelves/desk chairs.
The creeping terror of an upcoming dental appointment, matched only the constant horror of endless iced-water sipping to suppress a toothache.
December 2, 2025 at 11:48 PM
The creeping terror of an upcoming dental appointment, matched only the constant horror of endless iced-water sipping to suppress a toothache.
As a newspaper reporter, any time your work gets picked up by the cartoonist is a sign you're on the money. Straight to the pool room.
November 29, 2025 at 8:49 AM
As a newspaper reporter, any time your work gets picked up by the cartoonist is a sign you're on the money. Straight to the pool room.
We need to issue Alien Weaponry diplomatic passports and assign them to Nordic states ASAP.
Taiwanese ambassador to Finland performs with his metal band at Taiwan-Finland cultural event! 🤘✊️
That's what I call great ambassador
That's what I call great ambassador
November 29, 2025 at 8:17 AM
We need to issue Alien Weaponry diplomatic passports and assign them to Nordic states ASAP.
The best advertisement for immigration is, terrifyingly, the Manhattan Project.
November 29, 2025 at 7:59 AM
The best advertisement for immigration is, terrifyingly, the Manhattan Project.
As the Avatar marketing budget starts to render everything blue, a reminder that in 2013 Steven Joyce signed a deal allowing James Cameron to make unlimited Avatar sequels underwritten with a 25% govt subsidy. One big win for Joyce was the inclusion of NZ tourism ads on DVD releases.
November 26, 2025 at 8:09 AM
As the Avatar marketing budget starts to render everything blue, a reminder that in 2013 Steven Joyce signed a deal allowing James Cameron to make unlimited Avatar sequels underwritten with a 25% govt subsidy. One big win for Joyce was the inclusion of NZ tourism ads on DVD releases.
The history of nuclear weapons development during the Cold War is fascinating/horrifying. They were loaded onto: depth-charges to deep-fry submarines; anti-air missiles for atmospheric blasts to shoot down planes; and even issued man-portable versions lobbed by recoilless rifle a km or two.
November 26, 2025 at 6:56 AM
The history of nuclear weapons development during the Cold War is fascinating/horrifying. They were loaded onto: depth-charges to deep-fry submarines; anti-air missiles for atmospheric blasts to shoot down planes; and even issued man-portable versions lobbed by recoilless rifle a km or two.
Allegedly I have 10k followers on The Site Formerly Known as Twitter, and only 1.7k here. Here’s an A/B test with identical content. Despite 1/6th the ostensible audience, here it generates four times the engagement (and no trolls).
November 26, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Allegedly I have 10k followers on The Site Formerly Known as Twitter, and only 1.7k here. Here’s an A/B test with identical content. Despite 1/6th the ostensible audience, here it generates four times the engagement (and no trolls).
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.