Political head-to-heads hot up, are prediction markets legit news?

Political head-to-heads hot up, are prediction markets legit news?

September 5, 2026 · 37 min · Episode 1142

About this episode

The episode discusses the legitimacy of prediction markets in news and the intensifying political confrontations in New Zealand.

Odds from Polymarket are popping up in our news, even though it's illegal here. But are prediction markets a legit source of news anyway? Also: head-to-head clashes between politicians, and with presenters, are heating up, but not always generating light. Read more about this episode of Mediawatch on the RNZ website In this episode: 1:10 Media picking apart political bickering over delayed fuel tax. 5:50 Greens double down on misleading claims about MPs houses. 8:02 Act pushed back on media criticism of policy to put ‘reside’ back in ‘residency’ rules. 11:35 ZB host takes on Wellington mayor on Tiaki Wai rollout. 17:05 Polymarket predictions popping up in our news, six months after it became illegal for NZers to use. 23:11 Newsroom.co..nz senior business reporter Andrew Bevin on how prediction markets work and whether their odds are legit news or not. Follow Mediawatch and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any podcast app to make sure you never miss an episode. Find more RNZ Podcasts at the new section of the RNZ website at rnz.co.nz/podcasts Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

People in this episode

Guest: Andrew Bevin

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Polymarket, Greens, Act, ZB

Places: Wellington, NZ

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