What’s new to listen to
Ximena Smith rounds up the best of recent podcasts.
Peter Ellis, the Creche Case & Me
This eight-part series from Newsroom looks back at the story of Peter Ellis, the Christchurch childcare worker who was wrongfully convicted of child sex abuse in 1993. Hosted by Newsroom’s lead investigations editor, Melanie Reid, the podcast features dozens of excerpts from interviews Reid did with Ellis when she was a young television reporter, pictured. As Reid notes, there was pressure at the time for her stories to focus on the more controversial, adversarial elements of the interviews, while the rest of the tapes – featuring hours of conversation between herself and Ellis – wound up on the cutting room floor. Now, alongside Newsroom’s investigations team, Reid uses the tapes to retell Ellis’ story in a way that really highlights how articulate, creative and thoughtful he was, as well as the extraordinary forgiveness he showed towards those who accused him of abuse. Reid could have easily portrayed her own reporting of Ellis’ case as always being on the right side of history but, to her credit, she instead casts a critical eye over her work, including some of the uncomfortable questions she asked Ellis about his sexuality. The only drawback with the series would be that its dual-medium release as both a podcast and video series doesn’t make the most of each medium’s potential. All episodes available now.
Full Disclosure
Wellington Paranormal’s Karen O’Leary, pictured, is the host of this conversational podcast that features gay and bisexual New Zealanders telling their coming out stories. Tom Sainsbury, Ali Mau, Ryan Bridge and Grant Robertson are among the show’s guests – and O’Leary has a comfortable, effortless rapport with each of them. The episodes are pithy, punchy and packed full of hilarious and heartwarming anecdotes, but there are some heartbreaking moments in there too, which O’Leary handles with poise. Be warned that swear words and sexual references abound in this one, so perhaps have that in mind when choosing your listening location. New episodes available now.
Undercurrents: Tech, Tyrants and Us
Audible and the international news site Coda Story are behind this new series that investigates how states around the world are using digital technology as a tool of oppression. Each of the eight episodes features journalists on the ground in countries where people are persecuted by governments via tech, such as the digital surveillance of the Uyghur minority in China and the use of social media and biometric databases by the Taliban. Interestingly, it’s not just authoritarian regimes that get featured in Undercurrents – stories from democratic nations are told too, such as the intense surveillance of migrants in the French port of Calais and Florida’s ‘‘data driven policing’’ programme. Hosted by Coda Story’s editor-in-chief and co-founder, Maria Antelava, Undercurrents is the epitome of hard news: It is high quality and informative and it showcases stories that matter. All episodes of Undercurrents: Tech, Tyrants and Us are exclusively available on Audible.