New All Blacks captain Ardie Savea at the official announcement of the 2026 squad in Feilding on Monday; Greens co-leaders Marama Davidson and Chlöe Swarbrick in the tax video with some slightly out-of-sync lip movements. Photos / Mark Mitchell, Green Party
Midweek Media Insider: All Blacks squad accidentally revealed - seven hours early; Green MPs’ voices dubbed into tax campaign video; Kiwi music start-up Lume’s launch date and starting roster unveiled; says it will go global from day one.
In rugby terms, it was the equivalent of being five metres in front of the kicker.
A specialist rugby podcast was accidentally released early on audio platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts yesterday morning, revealing details of the All Blacks’ first 2026 squad, some seven hours before the official announcement.
And although the genuine mistake was immediately picked up and fixed - within a minute - that wasn’t quite fast enough to retrieve it from everywhere, including, for example, from listeners who have the podcast on automatic download.
Media Insider was sent a 5.44am Apple screenshot of the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. The episode carried all the details of the All Blacks’ squad, including the four test-squad debutants and new captain Ardie Savea.
“They blew it out of the water,” said one rugby source.
NZ Rugby works closely with the media to give reporters a heads-up on announcements, often releasing team details and other announcements under a strict embargo. That gives journalists time to get their thoughts and stories together.
It’s also a common practice in politics and business, and for events such as the Budget, industry awards and New Year’s and King’s Birthday honours.
Most media organisations’ rugby journalists received the All Blacks team by 10am on Monday, on the understanding that it was under embargo until 12pm.
In this case, the Aotearoa Rugby Pod – hosted by Ross Karl, James Parsons and Bryn Hall – was given details of new All Black coach Dave Rennie’s team on Sunday, so that the trio could prepare their podcast in time.
In a previous life, as NZ Herald managing editor, I know only too well the angst of a rare and accidental breach of an embargo, including, on a couple of occasions, details of the royal honours. Those were also down to human and technical errors - for example, the early release and announcement about Sir John Key’s knighthood in June 2017.
All Blacks communications manager Juliet Calder said: “This was an unfortunate human error that was corrected quickly and fortunately did not spread far prior to the All Blacks squad being named.
“We try to work with media to help them tell our stories, including sometimes providing details under embargo if that assists.
“While there is always an element of risk in providing information under embargo, we value our positive working relationships with media and will continue to work in the same co-operative ways, including the use of embargoes when beneficial and appropriate.”
Karl, a respected rugby commentator and observer, did not wish to comment yesterday.
The podcast, once it was officially released, has so far enjoyed more than 16,000 views on YouTube, as well as downloads on audio platforms.
The Greens’ tax policy was also accidentally revealed early on Sunday - eagled-eyed NZ Herald chief political journalist Jamie Ensor revealed how it had been hidden in plain sight.
But that hasn’t been the only issue with the tax announcement.
The party had to re-issue its policy yesterday after RNZ delved into the costings, and found they were out by $800 million. “There was a typo, which you’ve rightfully pointed out, with net revenue figures,” Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick told RNZ’s Midday Report.
The Green Party has dubbed its new policy “a tax system for all of us”. It takes aim at inequality and “corporate greed”.
A video that the Greens have produced to accompany the campaign also has some chins wagging.
The Greens have confirmed they had to dub in re-recorded voices of Swarbrick and co-leader Marama Davidson for parts of the video, which targets the tax structure for the super wealthy in New Zealand.
An expert video producer approached Media Insider yesterday, questioning the audio on the video – the MPs’ lips are not in sync with their words in part of the video - and whether any of the visual effects were produced using special effects.
“All our online content is produced inhouse by our small but mighty social media team and we’re super proud of this video,” said Green Party communications director Meg Hubscher.
The video features the two MPs at several Auckland locations, including K Road, the Viaduct and Bastion Point.
“It was filmed mainly at the Michael Joseph Savage memorial at Bastion Point, and wind conditions on the day meant we re-recorded some of the audio later on – which you can tell if you listen closely,” said Hubscher.
“We don’t have a big budget or flash kit, so we just work with what we have.”
But she reassured Media Insider about the visual effects.
“Chlöe and Marama were together in all the scenes that they appear together in, there are some effects and filters used for artistic effect so the ‘pop’ look is pretty strong.
“The video has had a really positive response online – we love it.”
Kiwi music start-up Lume will launch on July 17, its founders have announced today. They have also unveiled their starting roster of musicians.
With big-name investors such as Lorde, Substack’s Hamish McKenzie, Letterboxd’s Karl von Randow and media boss John Fellet, Spinoff founder Duncan Greive and his partners have raised $1.3m for the new digital music venture.
The new app confronts several major issues in the local music industry: the lack of financial return for Kiwi musicians from streaming services (Spotify, especially, and YouTube), and a richer, digital album experience for those, like Greive, who have a deep love of music.
Lume’s founders describe it as “an album-centric music platform”.
Unlike the streams and singles that drive Spotify’s model, Lume showcases a full album experience. Alongside the music will be exclusive creative material, such as handwritten lyrics, photography, behind-the-scenes footage and other videos, or different iterations of a song and album as they came to life.
Lume had originally been due to launch this month, but has been delayed slightly while rights deals were signed - this now allows it to be launched globally from day one.
“Artists at every scale have fans all over the world,” said co-CEO Tim Harper in a press statement.
“So while we will still launch with a slate of 100% local artists, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to let them sell Lume to fans wherever they might live.”
Greive said Lume would always be a New Zealand company, but the change allowed “us to meet with and release music by artists from all over the world far earlier than we had previously imagined”.
Lume today announced its first full slate of releases, including new and recent albums from Bic Runga and Troy Kingi, along with other on-the-rise artists, including School Fair, Fazerdaze and Lontalius.
There are also reissued releases from Fur Patrol, Tiki Taane, Die! Die! Die!, The Phoenix Foundation and The Reduction Agents.
The Lume team said it was now “deep into assembling the first of this novel approach to albums, which the team calls a ‘format’: essentially a sequel to vinyl or CDs, only with far greater possibilities due to the devices on which they’re housed”.
“We’ve received truly incredible archival material,” said co-founder and head of artist relations Justin Warren.
“Everything from historically important unreleased live sets, to the voice notes where iconic New Zealand songs first began, to diary pages or exciting cover versions.”
The app will be live on both Google’s Android and Apple iOS on July 17.
The full starting roster
New and recent releases: Erny Belle – Not Your Cupid; Dick Move – Dream, Believe, Achieve; Earth Tongue – Dungeon Vision; Vera Ellen – Heaven Knows What Time; Fables – Change Is A Slow Moving Beast; Fazerdaze – Soft Power; Reb Fountain – How Love Bends; Geneva AM – Pikipiki; Troy Kingi – Troy Kingi Presents: Night Lords; Lontalius – Heavy; Mainard Larkin – Rattlesnake Boy; Isla Noon – Out of Body Redux; Ringlets – The Lord Is My German Shepherd; Bic Runga – Red Sunset; School Fair – Unexpected Violence; Swallow The Rat – The Search For Kusel (live recordings 2018-2025); Tali – Future Dwellers; Theia – Girl, in a Savage World; Voom – untitled demos release; Womb – One Is Always Heading Somewhere.
Reissued classics: Die! Die! Die! – self-titled; Fur Patrol – Pet; The Phoenix Foundation – Give Up Your Dreams; Tiki Taane – Past, Present, Future; Reduction Agents – The Dance Reduction Agents.
The company once known as TV3 – the free-to-air channel now fully owned by Sky TV – posted a net loss of almost $5 million in 2025, an improvement on the hundreds of millions of dollars lost in previous years.
But Sky TV still faces a massive challenge as it continues to bed-in free-to-air Three company into its operation – financial statements show Three advertising revenue fell from $102.6m in 2024 to $79.7m in 2025, a 22.3% drop.
The financial statements reveal that “cost efficiencies” are ongoing to turn it into a profitable arm of publicly listed Sky.
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.