How a man googling PORN HUB ended up on the Herald's website
The Herald killed the picture of PORN HUB man. But it can't kill the idea of PORN HUB man.
A Herald report last Friday began with a profound truth. 'Internet users are suffering,' it read, before adding six unnecessary words, 'outages across New Zealand this morning.' The story was a boilerplate account of the blackout, which later reports would reveal was the result of the Australian navy flicking the wrong switch and accidentally wiping out half our infrastructure.
So far, so New Zealand. But internet users who hadn't been severed from the mainframe by a clumsy seaman or petty officer were able to take a closer look at the article. They saw something awry. It was illustrated with a picture of a man sitting at a computer with Google open on his web browser. His search was easily visible if you zoomed in a bit. 'PORN HUB,' it read.
How did this image make it to the country's website of record? Why was it used in a story about internet outages? The obvious answer is that a bleary-eyed online editor added a stock image to the story without looking closely. But as sleuths on Reddit pointed out, PORN HUB man's bookmarks bar contains websites that don't feature on Getty, including Stuff and the Herald.
The only possible conclusion is someone met with a local photographer and sat down to be snapped typing 'PORN HUB' into Google. More websites and search requests may also have been involved, as it appears 'porno-hub videos – XVIDEOS.COM' has already been clicked.
The original story gave its image credit to George Heard, a photographer who works with the Herald in Christchurch. Emails to Heard were met with a request to refer questions to NZME's in-house comms person. The Spinoff did that, even though it suspected NZME's in-house comms person would be unlikely to divulge useful information. Its emails were not answered.
A reverse image search was more successful. It showed PORN HUB man may originally have been used in 2021 on stories by Anna Leask and David Fisher about revenge porn and child sexual abuse images. It's possible that in the Herald's image library, the photo wasn't titled in a way that indicated its true nature.
Whatever happened, PORN HUB man lay dormant until the morning of June 6, 2025, when a web editor typed something like 'internet' or 'computer' into the Herald CMS, and attached a photo that at first glance looked appropriate, but on closer inspection was of a man furiously googling PORN HUB to find genres such as 'teen', 'hottest porn videos', 'porn videos', 'gay porn', and 'recommended'.
The mistake was spotted quickly. Herald staffers contacted by The Spinoff said the image was removed within 15 minutes, after it was queried in the corrections channel of the office Slack. It wasn't fast enough. Diligent Redditors captured the image. One post about it has been upvoted more than 2,100 times.
Though some might be embarrassed, staff at the Herald appear to be taking the mistake in their stride. In a statement to The Spinoff, one summed up the reaction: 'I want you to know my available-for-publishing statement as an NZ Herald staffer is that the incident was 'funny as fuck'.'
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The Spinoff
a day ago
- The Spinoff
How a man googling PORN HUB ended up on the Herald's website
The Herald killed the picture of PORN HUB man. But it can't kill the idea of PORN HUB man. A Herald report last Friday began with a profound truth. 'Internet users are suffering,' it read, before adding six unnecessary words, 'outages across New Zealand this morning.' The story was a boilerplate account of the blackout, which later reports would reveal was the result of the Australian navy flicking the wrong switch and accidentally wiping out half our infrastructure. So far, so New Zealand. But internet users who hadn't been severed from the mainframe by a clumsy seaman or petty officer were able to take a closer look at the article. They saw something awry. It was illustrated with a picture of a man sitting at a computer with Google open on his web browser. His search was easily visible if you zoomed in a bit. 'PORN HUB,' it read. How did this image make it to the country's website of record? Why was it used in a story about internet outages? The obvious answer is that a bleary-eyed online editor added a stock image to the story without looking closely. But as sleuths on Reddit pointed out, PORN HUB man's bookmarks bar contains websites that don't feature on Getty, including Stuff and the Herald. The only possible conclusion is someone met with a local photographer and sat down to be snapped typing 'PORN HUB' into Google. More websites and search requests may also have been involved, as it appears 'porno-hub videos – has already been clicked. The original story gave its image credit to George Heard, a photographer who works with the Herald in Christchurch. Emails to Heard were met with a request to refer questions to NZME's in-house comms person. The Spinoff did that, even though it suspected NZME's in-house comms person would be unlikely to divulge useful information. Its emails were not answered. A reverse image search was more successful. It showed PORN HUB man may originally have been used in 2021 on stories by Anna Leask and David Fisher about revenge porn and child sexual abuse images. It's possible that in the Herald's image library, the photo wasn't titled in a way that indicated its true nature. Whatever happened, PORN HUB man lay dormant until the morning of June 6, 2025, when a web editor typed something like 'internet' or 'computer' into the Herald CMS, and attached a photo that at first glance looked appropriate, but on closer inspection was of a man furiously googling PORN HUB to find genres such as 'teen', 'hottest porn videos', 'porn videos', 'gay porn', and 'recommended'. The mistake was spotted quickly. Herald staffers contacted by The Spinoff said the image was removed within 15 minutes, after it was queried in the corrections channel of the office Slack. It wasn't fast enough. Diligent Redditors captured the image. One post about it has been upvoted more than 2,100 times. Though some might be embarrassed, staff at the Herald appear to be taking the mistake in their stride. In a statement to The Spinoff, one summed up the reaction: 'I want you to know my available-for-publishing statement as an NZ Herald staffer is that the incident was 'funny as fuck'.'
NZ Herald
a day ago
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Police, Customs warned of ‘gap' in NZ's child sex offender system, how ministers responded
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Photo / Marty Melville 'Significant risk to community safety' Police and Customs have a direct access agreement, which was signed by ministers in 2018. It allows police to use the border system – known as CusMod – for various reasons, such as identifying and arresting fugitives crossing international borders. However, according to a briefing to ministers last October, the agencies years ago found a hole in the agreement when it came to identifying and monitoring what are called 'corresponding registrable offenders'. These are people who have been sentenced to imprisonment in a foreign jurisdiction or required to report information about themselves to authorities overseas as a result of a conviction for a child sex offence. If they enter New Zealand to reside here or show an intention to stay, they become a 'registrable offender' and are required to report extensive information about themselves, which is contained in the Child Sex Offender Register. Police need to inform these offenders of their obligations. The agreement allowed police to access the border system to monitor for child sex offenders sanctioned by New Zealand courts, but the briefing says this didn't extend to those convicted overseas for similar offences. This issue is described in the document as a 'monitoring gap', which the agencies said presented 'operational risks for Police and Customs, and a significant risk to community safety'. Police wanted direct access to Customs' system. Photo / NZME Police had to rely on Customs identifying people who could be a corresponding registrable offender. Customs staff had to hold a 'reasonable belief' that sharing that information with police was 'necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to public safety'. This arrangement was 'resource intensive' and meant both Customs and Police staff had to separately assess whether someone qualified as a corresponding registrable offender. 'The current arrangement places an unnecessary burden on Customs' border staff to identify and monitor corresponding registrable offenders and notify Police accordingly.' Another operational risk associated with that arrangement was that the offenders could enter New Zealand 'undetected' and reside here 'unmonitored'. 'Failing to correctly identify a person as a registrable child sex offender means such persons may not be identified and monitored by Police, which exposes our tamariki and rangatahi to an increased risk of serious violence and ongoing harm,' the document says. The agencies said the register's staff were 'specifically trained and undoubtedly best placed to determine' whether someone met the appropriate criteria. 'Allowing Register staff direct access to CusMod to create, check, update and clear corresponding registrable offender alerts will reduce the risk that a corresponding registrable offender who is a registrable offender enters New Zealand undetected and without Registry monitoring.' It was proposed to ministers that the agencies' agreements be changed by adding and rewording some provisions. They would allow the register's staff to directly identify any foreign child sex offenders coming to New Zealand, ensure those who met the criteria were informed of their obligations and also check any who had no stated intention to reside here actually did leave the country. 'Varying the direct access agreement would enable Police to protect tamariki and rangatahi and keep New Zealanders safe,' a section of the briefing read. This change was considered 'essential' to keep New Zealand's 'borders and most vulnerable members of the community safe and prevent further sexual offending by persons who are at risk of reoffending against children'. The issue was described as a "monitoring gap" in the child sex offender system. Photo / 123RF Why'd it take until now to fix? The Police and Customs ministers did agree to make the changes. But the documents show it took years to get to that point. Back in February 2023, the agencies identified the 'operational risks and inefficiencies' of the arrangement of the time could be addressed by changing their agreement. The ministers at the time agreed to advance this work but were required by law to first consult with the Privacy Commissioner. The commissioner responded in October 2023 confirming he was 'satisfied with the consideration of privacy impacts and have no comments on the agreement'. The fix, however, hit a hurdle when the agencies came to the view the proposed changes 'did not clearly and consistently define the cohort of individuals who would be subject to direct access monitoring'. This led to officials redrafting the changes and liaising with the office of the Privacy Commissioner. In October last year, officials recommended to the ministers they approve more formal consultation with the Privacy Commissioner on the changes, which was completed by the end of 2024. Again, the commissioner raised no concerns with the substantive changes and in February ministers were finally asked to approve the changes, which they did. In a statement to the Herald, acting manager of the Child Sex Offender Registry Glenda Mitchell said the changes would improve 'operational effectiveness'. 'Customs has always been able to stop and interact with persons covered under the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 through border legislation, but the actual management and assessment of any registerable offenders has then been handed over to the Registry. 'This and legislative changes have both been undertaken to make improvements to keep children and young people in our communities safe from harmful sexual behaviour. This variation will deliver practical improvements to further support the protection of our children.' Simon Peterson, Chief Customs Officer for the child exploitation operation team, said managing these offenders was not a legislated function of his agency. 'It is more appropriate from a legal and resourcing perspective that those with the mandated function have the necessary access to our border management system and tools that they need to carry out their lawful functions.' Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.
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