Each week on Dan News’ 11 Questions, we shine a light on the people shaping the media industry.
From their inspirations and career highlights to their views on where the sector is headed, the series offers an insight into what makes them tick.
This week’s guest is Mark Crysell.
Mark Crysell’s path to journalism was anything but direct—after a decade of global adventures and countless odd jobs, he found his spark in the cheeky surf and music mags of his youth.
He’s since reported from extraordinary places, including a rare train crossing into North Korea, and draws inspiration from a wide mix of journalists, artists and musicians.
In this chat, he shares his take on the media’s funding crisis and the eclectic tastes, from Beyoncé to Scorsese, that keep him inspired.
When did you first become interested in media, and why?
I grew up in New Plymouth when there was only one TV channel – so of course we watched the news every night, then pulled it apart around the dinner table.
But it wasn’t the six o’clock bulletin that made me want to be a journalist.
That spark came later, flipping through surf and music mags like Tracks and NME.
They were cheeky, political, irreverent, funny and gloriously anti-establishment. I thought, yeah, I could do that. It took me a ten-year OE and about 40 different physical labour jobs all around the world to get there.
I was 29.
Who are some people you admire or look up to as role models, either in your career or in life in general?
Pretty much every journalist who’s still fighting the good fight inspires me – anyone who follows their heart and makes something that either moves me or makes me feel a bit smarter.
A few that leap to mind: Patrick Radden Keefe, John le Carré, George Plimpton, Norman Mailer, Joan Didion, Matt Frei, Cameron Bennett, Miriama Kamo, Fergal Keene, Jack Tame, Jeremy Bowen.
Then there are the outsiders who’ve shaped the way I see the world – Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Springsteen, Snoop Dogg, Hunter S. Thompson, Scorsese, Jesse Armstrong, David Lynch, Alexander Payne, Coppola.
Add in Zaha Hadid, Mies van der Rohe, Don McCullin, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lee Miller, Tim Page, Picasso, Rothko, Edward Hopper, Gordon Walters, Hotere, Corbesier, Tania Kovats, Alex Hartley, Richie McCaw, Magic Johnson, Sir Richard Faull… and of course my old Sunday whānau and the people who trusted me to tell their stories.
Tu meke.
It’s an old question, but I love it: If you were to invite four people to dinner (living or dead), who would you choose and why?
We love having people around for lunch.
First invite would go to my mum – kind, quirky, nosy, funny, and the best company. I miss her.
Then Anthony Bourdain – he could cook and tell travel stories. Dolly Parton, because… well, she’s Dolly Parton.
Winston Churchill, a brilliant, deeply flawed man who’d probably drink all the wine but would keep us talking.
And Frank Lloyd Wright as the plus one – the architect with an ego as big as his buildings.
What is a memory from your career so far that will stick with you well after you retire?
My mates at The Elephant still take the piss out of me for this, but I’ll never forget it: crossing the Yalu River by train into North Korea, reporting from places no other foreigners had ever set foot.
It was like going to the moon.
Tell us some of your interests outside of work.
Reading, photography, being a dad, watching TV, travel.
What is your favourite movie and television show? (I’ll allow you to choose a runner-up for both… just to be nice.)
Movie: Goodfellas (I actually got to tell Martin Scorsese that to his face) runner up, Sideways
TV show: The Sopranos – runner up – Succession
What are some of your most played songs?
Not picking a favourite ’cos it changes all the time, at the moment I’m flogging Bodyguard by Beyoncé, Messy by Lola Young, S.O.B. by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats and A Feather’s Not a Bird by Rosanne Cash
Give us a random or weird fact that people may not know about you.
I’m running for the Waitematā Local Board as an independent under the slogan “Buck Up Waitematā – Get The Funk Out of Here”
A couple of harder ones. How would you describe the state of the media industry both locally and internationally at the moment, and do you have any suggestions about how things need to change?
Journalism isn’t broken – great stories are still being told every day.
What’s broken is the funding model.
The real question is whether we, as a country, value telling our own stories. If we do (and I reckon we should), then it’s time the government clipped the ticket on the big tech bros who are creaming it here and barely paying tax.
That money should go into a contestable fund for public journalism and documentaries.
Where do you see AI fitting into a modern media industry? What do you personally see as the advantages and disadvantages of its use?
It’s not going away so we need to find a way to work for it – it’s useful as a writing tool but not for research and only to support original thought – I mean all my answers were written by ChatGPT or were they?
Who from the industry would you like to see answering these eleven questions?
Cameron Bennett and Rob Harley
(Cameron and Rob, we will be in touch!)
The Elephant
Mark Crysell is part of a team, including fellow journalist Miriama Kamo and producers at Herd Productions, that has recently launched The Elephant, a bold new video series on the Herald.
Funded by NZ On Air, the series tackles some of New Zealand’s most divisive issues—from gender identity and racial inequality to drug reform and the future of contact sports—creating a space for open, honest discussion without fear of offence or cancellation.
Kamo described it as a chance to listen and understand, while Crysell said it aimed to bridge polarisation and avoid echo chambers.
The first episode, The Shame Game, featured Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau and former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman exploring the lasting impact of public shaming, and the series is available on nzherald.co.nz, iHeartRadio, and the NZ Herald YouTube channel.
Email: news@dannews.tv
