The Dunedin Herald is a new satirical Instagram account, self-described as “our most special city’s most trusted news”. Despite being only six days old at time of writing, they’ve gained over 1400 followers. Although the student behind the account wanted to remain anonymous for “a little bit longer”, even to Critic Te Ārohi (um, rude), they were more than happy to answer a few questions about their rise in the shitposting community.
The page began as a “commentary on Dunedin and student issues”, but has quickly become “an analysis of media literacy as well.” Indeed, Critic has had multiple people ask if headlines are real, including the recent 67 post featuring Andrew Geddis, with one law student describing it as “hysterical”. There definitely is something to say for how much people “appreciate niche local shitposting and we’ve got a unique student community [...] It’s just fun to have references and memes that are specific to here.”
The Dunedin Herald’s favourite headline so far was their very first: ‘Hyde Street walk-out for Clavicular.’ They noted that this headline made fun of “the mentality of the manosphere”, and also ended up demonstrating exactly how “people comment on stuff without thinking about it for more than half a second.” The Dunedin Herald added that they got “lots of angry comments” on the post, but “it also got a lot of traction so that's a factor.” All press is good press.
News can get pretty heavy, especially at the moment, and the Dunedin Herald emphasised that while “obviously people knowing more about what's going on is positive”, when people “know too much about everything [it can get] to the point where we feel overwhelmed and helpless.”
While not directly addressing real issues or current events, satire like this can open a gateway for these conversations to be had between friends and viewers alike, and although the comments are mainly reaction gifs at this stage, a picture tells a thousand words. The Dunedin Herald noted that students being aware of issues that impact them, and being willing to engage in conversations, especially as they are often left out of the discourse, has “gotta be positive.”
They added that these posts can “definitely be used to bring issues into people's minds so they can look into them later on if they want to”. So meta.
The Dunedin Herald emphasised that while they do believe all this, at its core the account is “just a fun thing”, so they “won’t try to intellectualise it.”
Finally, their end goal is “to be Critic's critic and set up our own rival office.” Even with the 101-year old headstart, we feel a little intimidated.
Follow @dunedinherald on Instagram to stay informed on the North D shitposting community
