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What the picker changes
  • Top topics digest — the cards score the selected period against the prior 4 weeks.
  • 12-week heatmap & outlet matrix — show the 12 weeks ending at the selected week (they slide back with the picker, they aren’t a fixed snapshot).
  • Per-topic volume / alias drift — same 12-week trailing window, anchored on the selected period.
  • Coverage gap quadrant — scores the selected period against the 12 weeks before it (not including it).
  • Anomaly cards — only show alerts the detector fired during the selected period. Quiet weeks legitimately show none.
What stays as-is
  • Outlet orientation strip / lean colours — context-only, drawn from the last 12 weeks of activity regardless.
  • Co-occurrence graph — recent-activity anchored, not picker-driven.
  • Source & topic profiles — all-time data for the topic; the picker doesn’t affect them.
Rolling 7 days is a sliding live window for “current vibes”; switch to Weekly to compare specific weeks side-by-side.
Weekly Rolling 7 days
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Press topic

Special Needs Grant Food Denial

20 articles · 19 aliases in press · peaked week of 6 Sep 2026 · first seen 8 Sep 2026

The denial of emergency food grants by New Zealand's Ministry of Social Development, which told thousands of applicants food was not an essential need, leading to an apology and political criticism.

The stories behind this signal

across press, releases & commentary · links open at the source
News MSD's one failure after another on payments RNZ · 13 SepRead ↗ Commentary At MSD, it’s one failure after another Newsroom Opinion · 13 SepRead ↗ News At MSD, it’s one failure after another Newsroom · 13 SepRead ↗ Commentary Why does National despise the poor? The Standard · 10 SepRead ↗ Commentary Luxon must step in on bungled benefits – Labour The Daily Blog · 9 SepRead ↗ Govt release Release: Luxon must step in on bungled benefits Labour Party · 9 SepRead ↗ Commentary FOOD IS ESSENTIAL: CHILD POVERTY GROUP DEMANDS ANSWERS OVER THOUSANDS OF MSD DECLINES Waatea News · 8 SepRead ↗ Commentary JACKSON FIRES BACK: MSD FOOD GRANT FAILURES, TAMARIKI BEHIND THE PRISON STORY AND PARIS ACCORD IN LABOUR’S SIGHTS Waatea News · 8 SepRead ↗ Govt release Release: National fails hungry Kiwis Labour Party · 8 SepRead ↗

Sample framings

Up to 12 framings across outlets and orientations — each a short phrase the extractor generated to characterise the piece's editorial angle (not a quote). Filter by lean to see how each bloc is spinning the story; click through to read the original.

rnz Centre

misguided assessment of essential needs

MSD's one failure after another on payments
13 Sep
newsroom Centre

misguided eligibility criteria

At MSD, it’s one failure after another
13 Sep
+10 more framings Create a free account to see them all →

Coverage by outlet lean Methodology →

Stacked weekly counts; colour by editorial lean. Stuff and The Spinoff lean centre-left, NZ Herald centre-right, others centre.

Alias drift

How press outlets have named this topic, week by week.

Free account Create a free account to watch this topic — get alerted when framing shifts, when an MP adopts new language, or when discourse and press diverge. Create a free account Log in

Recent headlines

Most recent 12 articles linking to this topic.

How the public reacted

Social-media signal on the same topic, drawn from the social lens. Engagement is likes + 2×shares + 3×replies, the same weighting used across the digest cards. View on /social →

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