Jared Savage and Steve Braunias discuss crime writing at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival

Three journalists experienced in true-crime writing – Jared Savage, Steve Braunias and Rob Kidd – discuss the ethical and practical issues of their craft.

Steve Braunias disagrees with what he describes as the “pointy-headed criticism” that it is intrinsically voyeuristic and exploitative, while Jared Savage talks about how door-knocking can unlock the pent-up desire of those affected by crime to tell their stories.

Both of them praise the success of the reporter Caroline Meng-Yee.

Listen to Jared Savage and Steve Braunias explore the art of crime writing in Aotearoa with Rob Kidd at the 2021 Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival:

Steve Braunias:

People do seem to be attracted to crime writing and crime stories. Netflix wouldn’t exist without it. Newspapers wouldn’t exist without it, really. And the reason we publish these stories and we write about them as journalists is that people like to read about them. I don’t think that’s a trivial or sordid exchange.

I think people like to read about crime stories not because it’s a voyeuristic opportunity. There’s a really disgraceful page online at Te Ara, the National Library encyclopedia of New Zealand, and it’s written by some snob at Waikato University talking about media reporting of crime. It’s a “voyeuristic pursuit, and the public should be ashamed for reading it.”

I say, “No. I don’t think the public should be ashamed for reading it.” I think that we’re attracted to crime stories in this country because we want to know what goes on in our community. I think there’s a huge amount of empathy which goes on when we read these stories.

The standard for this would be two or three years ago with the really sad tragedy of Grace Millane. The story began when she went missing and her face was on the front page of every paper and the beginning of every news bulletin on TV: “Where is Grace?” Everyone in this country was just hoping like hell that it would be found and that she would be ok. Her body was found and it wasn’t ok.

The way we felt about that was genuine sorrow and concern for her. And I think that carried over into the reading about her trial. The same reason people read true crime stories is the same reason we write about them. They have an emotional resonance and an emotional depth to them.

Robb Kidd:

Jared, I think we’ve done door knocks simultaneously working for different [media] companies. When you’re walking up to that door, and you know that the person on the other side of it potentially holds the key to a fantastic story, how do you approach that? How do you not get put off by them saying, “Ah, no, not today.”?

Jared Savage:

Door knocking is literally knocking on someone’s door. Something’s happened, news has broken, and you quickly identify someone at the centre of it, and need to speak to someone to get that interview. It’s literally walking up to the door, knocking on it, and explaining who you are, and would this person please give you an interview?

I struggle with them still. In some ways, it’s an invasion of privacy.

There are three responses you get. There’s the big, angry, “F-off.” Like they’re really angry and they don’t want to speak to you ever. Or any other journalist. They hate all the media attention.

The second option is “Not right now.” You can tell they do kind of want to talk to you, but at that point, they’re not quite ready. So that’s when you’ve got to play the long game. You might give them your card, or a note you’ve written to say “Here’s my number, and do you mind if I check back in with you in a week or two?”

And the third option is “Come on in. I want to get it off my chest and tell everybody. I’m annoyed by what’s been written so far in the Herald, or Stuff, or wherever, and I want to get our version of events out."

I’m always amazed at the graciousness of people to invite you into their home, put the kettle on, give you an Anzac biscuit, and then proceed to tell you about the worst thing that’s ever happened to them.

Jared Savage:

One of my colleagues, Caroline Meng-Yee, is just incredible at getting people to open up and talk to her.

Steve Braunias:

Jared is quite right to invoke her name, and her ability to attain people’s trust. There was a famous murder case in Dunedin, and one of the people the media wanted to speak to, was the father of the accused. He had resisted the door-knocking attempts of generations of journalists. Caroline followed this chap in his car back to his home. And he drove into his garage and the garage door went up.

So she stood outside and said, “Hi, I’m Caroline Meng-Yee. I know you’ve been hassled for this a million times, but can you speak to me?” And he said, “No. F- off.” And pressed the button on the garage door. And as it was coming down, she stepped forward and put her foot out. And of course, that automatically rolls the door back.

And this ridiculous comedy went back and forth, with the door banging, and opening and the poor devil just couldn’t get rid of her. And after about ten swings of this garage door in a suburban street in Dunedin, he finally caved in, and she attained his trust and got a terrifically good interview with the father of one of New Zealand’s worst murderers who will be incarcerated for the remainder of his days, one would think.

About the speakers:

Jared Savage

Jared is an investigative journalist with 15 years experience at the New Zealand Herald and Herald on Sunday, with a special interest in organised crime and the drug trade. He has won a dozen national and international journalism awards, including five for crime reporting or feature writing, and has been twice named Reporter of the Year. He was also awarded the prestigious Hegarty Award at the 2015 PANPA awards in Sydney as an outstanding young news publishing executive.

His career started at a suburban Auckland newspaper in 2004, before joining the Herald on Sunday in 2006 and moving to the NZ Herald in 2009. He has written about education, health, local body politics, and sport, as well as reporting on the natural disasters of the Christchurch earthquakes and the tsunami in Samoa.

As well as reporting, Jared has held senior roles in the Herald newsroom including assistant chief reporter, investigations editor, and assistant editor. In 2016, Jared moved back to his hometown of Tauranga with his wife and two young children, where he continues to work for the Herald remotely.

He was a producer on Fighting the Demon: Inside New Zealand’s Meth Crisis, a 1919 feature-length documentary, and the author of Gangland (HarperCollins NZ) published in 2020.

Steve Braunias

Steve Braunias is the author of 10 books, including Civilisation (winner of the 2013 NZ Post award for best book of non-fiction) and The Scene of the Crime (HarperCollins, 2015). He writes for the NZ Herald, is the literary editor at Newsroom, and serves as life president of the Hamilton Press Club.

Rob Kidd

Rob began his journalism career at the Waikato Times and covered crime and justice for the Sunday Star Times and NZ Herald before moving to Dunedin. He has been the books editor at the Otago Daily Times for the past three years, and last year was a judge at the NZ Book Trade Industry Awards. He is a trustee of Dunedin’s Ignition Children’s Book Festival and initiated New Chapters, a short-story competition for inmates at the Otago Corrections Facility. Rob has been the recipient of the ODT’s Valpy Rosebowl Award for Excellence the last two years.

This audio was recorded for the Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival by Otago Access Radio with funding from Copyright Licensing New Zealand