Journalist David Farrier says the audience are responding to formats like TikTok because they are "dangerous and interesting". Photo: RNZ / Samuel Robinson
Journalist David Farrier has spent the past four years calling America home - during which the New Zealand media landscape where he found his footing has undergone a radical transformation.
Farrier underwent his own transformation following the international success of his 2016 documentary Tickled, after which he moved to the United States, getting trapped when the borders shut in 2020.
He has flown back and forth since then, usually to see friends, catch up with family and fight the various legal battles his often-provoking journalism finds him in.
He is back for a different venture this year: Farrier is holding a pop-up market for subscribers of his award-winning newsletter Webworm and hosting a special screening of Tickled.
"I figured it's time to watch it again," he says. "Who doesn't like tickling?"
When filming for the project began a decade ago, Farrier could not have foreseen it launching a successful career for him in the US.
Farrier during the making of Tickled. Photo: Supplied
The film has just been added to US Netflix for a new audience to find, while his 2022 feature Mister Organ - which profiles his maddening encounters with a parking enforcer - has just been added to Netflix Australia and New Zealand.
"Suddenly when it's on Netflix... so many more people are watching it. I started hearing from a load more people that had met this person and that had been ripped off by him. So, I was reminded about the insane reach that Netflix has."
When Farrier returned to New Zealand in 2022 to premiere the documentary, he had to power through a series of "frivolous" court cases
filed by the subject of the film - including one through the Family Court - to stop the release.
Farrier says all the "legal stuff" surrounding the project is now clear.
But he has a warning: "Loads of people don't Google Michael Organ when they meet him. Google anyone you meet. If you go on a date with someone, Google them. If you're going into business with someone, Google them... because people don't do that enough."
Since the last time Farrier returned home, the New Zealand media has undergone a dramatic change, with trust in journalism entering a "very fast freefall".
TV3 - the station where Farrier cut his teeth - closed its suite of news programming, leaving some of his closest friends without a job.
"It's inevitable that things are going to shift. I just feel super grateful that I ever got to work there. That whole place and community is now completely evaporated... and so, the idea that this whole institution has just gone? It's just - I think it's just really sad."
Farrier does not know where it is all headed for certain, but he has some ideas.
"It costs a lot of money to do good journalism because it takes time, and so, subscription models are one way, whether it's a website or a newsletter. But I don't think it's the only way."
Farrier in the US during filming of his Dark Tourist series. Photo: supplied
Farrier feels that the state of journalism is, in large part, due to local television becoming "generic and safe". It is a stark contrast to his time reporting for current affairs show Nightline - the "most fun gig" he ever had.
"It was so loose. It was so ridiculous," he says, remembering the time he interviewed a man who had sexual relations with a dolphin.
"You'd be editing this story, and it would just go out with no one watching it first. It'd always be this idea that, like, don't push it too far or you'll get in trouble, but also push it.
"I think that's why people are responding to formats like TikTok. It's dangerous and it's interesting. The way the news is produced, it's just a bit more dry, I think. And it used to be a lot more batshit.
"And it doesn't mean the new ways are great. I mean, there's so much on TikTok that is just bullshit misinformation."
Farrier's friend and former Nightline host Samantha Hayes has seen many iterations of news programming in New Zealand, from co-anchoring Newshub's primetime news bulletin alongside Mike McRoberts, to fronting the new Stuff-produced bulletin at 6pm.
Farrier says she's doing "an amazing job".
"It's just so interesting talking to her because she's mourning the loss of this place where we all grew up in, but she's also really excited about this new role."
Despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges facing the media, and the world at large, Farrier does not appear shaken by the idea of continuing his work.
"Netflix and I are still friends... and you know we're swapping ideas. We're tossing things around," he says.
"I want to make another documentary. It's too early to say, but there are some wacky characters that go down a rabbit hole and I want to see if there's a way that I can start filming some of that."
