Anatomy of a Scoop
Sometimes the biggest stories come from a single email.
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Hi,
New Zealand is about to have a general election on November 7, and the inevitable slew of scoops and scandals are doing the rounds.
The left has been hit particularly hard after video emerged of Labour candidate Kerrin Leoni campaigning alongside gang members. It's become the main, frustrating conversation in the leadup to this election (there are more important things to talk about), and it caused Leoni to resign.
Political gang warfare ensued, a photo of National Party minister Tama Potaka doing the rounds, showing the MP hanging out with gang members back in 2024. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon hit back – saying that unlike Leoni, Potaka is, "Not campaigning. He's not fundraising."
Leading to the big question: How do you one-up a politician being friendly with a gang member? Well, you show them getting chummy with a child sex predator of course.
A few days ago, the New Zealand press was filled with a fairly big story: One of the National party’s campaign volunteers – proudly smiling in a photo with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon – was a known child sexual predator. Not a great look for National, not a great look for Christopher Luxon.
From what I can tell, the Herald was the first outlet to print this information, saying:
The Herald revealed [politician] Bansal’s electorate committee member, Roger Buchanan, had been convicted of sexual conduct with a minor, which National claims Bansal and the party were not aware of."
Other press followed:
It's an important story to be told, and I'm glad it has been. But I also think it's an interesting case study in how stories come to be, and how they're presented to the public.
The Herald said it "revealed" the story – which is true. But words like "revealed" come with added weight: This idea of a journalist painstakingly working away to find out some hidden information. Pouring through campaign photos and tracing the identity of every volunteer. Up till 3am tapping away at the keyboard.
The thing is – often these kinds of stories exist thanks to the heavy lifting of someone else. For instance, this particular story about a convicted sex pest helping the National party campaign arrived in the form of an email.
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