Tech Won't Save Us - Amazon’s Highly Subsidized Foray Into Middle-Earth w/ Thomas Coughlan

Paris Marx is joined by Thomas Coughlan to discuss Amazon’s foray into Tolkien’s fantasy world, the big subsidies it received to film in New Zealand, and how its decision to move the series to the UK is giving fuel to demands to reassess the support for Hollywood productions.

Thomas Coughlan is a senior political reporter at NZ Herald, and formerly was a journalist at Stuff and Newsroom. Follow Thomas on Twitter at @coughlthom.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

  • Thomas wrote for Stuff about the effort by the New Zealand government to attract Amazon to New Zealand and how it hoped the relationship would go beyond the TV series. For the NZ Herald, he also wrote that Amazon’s decision to move the series away from New Zealand will have implications for tourism and wasn’t communicated to the government until the last minute.
  • Benjamin Clark wrote about how film subsidies have been essential to attracted big Hollywood productions to New Zealand.
  • Madelaine Chapman dug into how much Peter Jackson has benefited from those subsidy schemes.
  • Amazon is spending about $464 million on the first season of The Rings of Power.
  • Amazon announced it was moving future seasons of the show to the UK in August 2021, causing frustration in New Zealand.
  • There were concerns about safety on the set of The Rings of Power after stunt workers were injured and they didn’t seem to be properly reported to authorities.
  • In November 2021, Unity acquired the technology division of Jackson’s Weta Digital.
  • There’s also a growing debate in New Zealand over whether it should be the site of major data centers.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Best Of 2022 | The Michigan Democrat Who Said “Enough”

Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow went viral in April for striking back at an extreme characterization made by a Republican colleague. The video of McMorrow’s speech—viewed over 14 million times—tells a bigger story about how national political rhetoric is affecting local political debates. But is the senator really demonstrating how to reset the terms of debate? Or is she just one more person who went viral for speaking to her echo chamber?


As summer winds down, we're replaying some of our favorite episodes from this year. This episode originally aired on May 3, 2022.


Guest: Mallory McMorrow, Michigan state senator representing Grand Oak and the suburbs north of Detroit. 

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Serious Inquiries Only - SIO338: Is Depression ‘Just a Chemical Imbalance?’ with Dr. Dean Burnett

Recently a study made the rounds that sought to cast doubt on the efficacy of antidepressants. At the core of this misleading study was a real truth – that depression isn't merely a question of "not enough serotonin." But what exactly does that mean? Is this a new discovery? And why doesn't that mean that medication focused on serotonin doesn't work? Explaining this brilliantly and with singular charm is Dr. Dean Burnett!

The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout - BONUS: The Megawatt We Don’t Use

We’ve talked about the supply-side fixes — but what about the demand side?

The Disconnect Season 2 is a project of The Texas Newsroom, the collaboration among NPR and the public radio stations in the state. It received support from FRONTLINE’s Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Short Wave - The Stars That Settled The Great Debate

It may seem obvious now that other galaxies lie beyond the Milky Way, but less than 100 years ago, some astronomers held a view of our universe that was a little more ... self-centered. In the 1920s, astronomers were locked in the "Great Debate" — whether Earth was center of the universe and if the universe was just the Milky Way. Today, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to Dr. Vicky Scowcroft about the stars that ended astronomy's Great Debate.

Follow Short Wave on Twitter for more on everything science.

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NPR's Book of the Day - In ‘Electable,’ Ali Vitali explores the glass ceiling for women in politics

In Electable: Why America Hasn't Put a Woman in the White House... Yet, author Ali Vitali explores why the glass ceiling separating women from the highest office is still intact. Vitali and Juana Summers talk about why it wasn't possible to elect a woman in 2020 – and the importance of female representation in politics for America's future.

It Could Happen Here - Libs of TikTok vs a Literal Children’s Hospital

We walk through Libs of TikTok and Matt Walsh’s campaign of terror against trans kids and Boston Children’s Hospital.

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Curious City - Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain and Why the City’s Got So Many Alleys

Growing up, one listener heard tales about how an engineer was hidden inside Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain in order to make sure the water spouts out each day. This week we go inside the innards of the fountain to see how it works and learn the history behind it. Plus, we get the answer to the question: Why does Chicago have so many alleys?