Journalism interests

Once a journalist always a journalist.

After completing a one-year national certificate in Journalism at Wellington Polytechnic in 1982 I commenced my working life in 1983 as a print journalist for Independent Newspapers Ltd – working just under two years for the daily Manawatu Evening Standard and one year at the Upper Hutt Leader, a community newspaper.

While my career subsequently took me into other fields across multiple sectors – from publication editing and information management to public relations – I have consistently maintained strong associations with journalism and journalists.

Strong associations with the journalism profession:

  • in the 1990s I initiated a project with the NZ Journalists Training Organisation to run its first ever training for journalists on use of the Internet as a research tool, involving: delivering half-day workshops in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch; setting up a website platform; publishing a training handbook; and contributing to Amanda Cropp’s 1997 book ‘Digging Deeper: A NZ guide to investigative reporting’
  • in the 10 years between 2005 and 2015 I regularly attended and participated in a large number of journalism events, including:
  • from January 2014 to February 2017 I re-entered the media industry and worked  firstly as General Manager for two years of NewsRoom Ltd in Wellington (then owned by Sublime Group), and then as inaugural Medianet Editor for 14 months at Australian Associated Press in Sydney. These roles were both premised on a similar business model involving a heavy commercial focus on the cyclical handling, screening and republishing of media releases. Both involved recruiting and training teams in the basics of journalism.

Working as a freelancer 

Having spent a number of years focused away from freelance writing I began regularly freelancing and ‘news reporting’ again in 2007. The bulk of my freelance writing has been about topics related to urban design – as outlined in the Urbanism|design section of this site and separately stored in a full-text archive.

Examples of other subjects I have reported on and written about, primarily as an on-the-spot, unpaid reporter cover an eclectic range:

  • Building an understanding of how we’re governed – one book at a time (Wellington.Scoop)
  • Benefits identified from Living Wage, as increase announced (Wellington.Scoop)
  • Kapiti suicide prevention advocates to host movie premiere (Wellington.Scoop)
  • A Taste of GREAT Britain in Wellington (Newsroomplus.com; no longer in service)
  • Ask not for whom the climate change bell tolls (Newsroomplus.com)
  • BERL Economist: Keep Calm, But Don’t Carry On (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Building Business Bridge Between Fiji And Australia (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Burning Down The House: The Climate Change Contribution Consultation (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Clash of the Generations on The Nation – an informed debate? (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Climate Change Issues: Turning the ‘Con Con’ into a ‘Can Can’ (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Deloitte-BusinessNZ Election Conference (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Down to the flagpole (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Every Everest needs a Climathon (Newsroomplus.com)
  • He Māramatanga Huangō: Advocacy for Asthma (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Happy Birthday Magna Carta ! (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Journalists mark National Poetry Day (Newsroomplus.com)
  • One hundred years of military nursing remembered (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Out Of Australia : Big Mansions & An Ageing Nation (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Privacy Week 2015 Sparks A Creative Response (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Second Drafts Of History: Time to choose a flag (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori: Toitū te whenua, toitū te mana, toitū te reo! (Newsroomplus.com)
  • ‘The FIRE Economy’ Book Launch (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Who Am I? – Excerpts from the Identity Conference 2015 #idnz2015 (Newsroomplus.com)
  • Business As Usual [the 2014 New Zealand Election] (Acuity magazine)
  • Bruce Pepperell – On rethinking emergency management; A planning wake up call for Wellington (Local Government)
  • Unlike any other: Vellington vampire movie has its hometown premiere (Wellington.Scoop)
  • Aussie with Kiwi touch (Walkley magazine)
  • The week that was Storyology (Walkley magazine)
  • Storyology in Sydney (Scoop.co.nz)
  • At the Crossroads in Coaltown – The Westport Story part 1 (Scoop.co.nz)
  • The Pain of “Uncertainty” – The Westport Story part 2 (Scoop.co.nz)
  • Filenotes On Webstock: News, Design & Dystopia (Scoop.co.nz)
  • Record attendance of 280 for Professor Harry Ricketts’ Kipling lecture at VUW (Wellington.Scoop)
  • Standing ovation for 90-year-old Island Bay nun after film festival premiere (Wellington.Scoop)
  • Good launch for Wellington’s Good Enterprise series (Wellington.Scoop)
  • Call for second ‘super ministry’ worth investigating (Scoop.co.nz)
  • New Zealand fallen never forgotten at Beaudignies (Scoop.co.nz)
  • Review -Te Whaea Theatre, Newtown: Triple Bill Dance Triumph (Scoop.co.nz)
  • Triple Bill a trifecta of triumphant dance (Scoop.co.nz)
  • Why Kiwi history is booming on the internet (Scoop.co.nz)

Publications and websites I have written for include: 

In addition to extensive experience with online/ social media, I have, over the course of my professional working life, been both the editor and primary writer/ contributor for a number of print publications:

  • Biosecurity NZ (MAF)
  • Corrections News (Department of Corrections)
  • Doorways (Community Housing Aotearoa)
  • HousingWorks (Australasian Housing Institute)
  • Kete Kupu/ Policy Watch (NZCCSS)
  • New Dialogue (NZFVWO)
  • Onboard (Social Workers Registration Board)
  • Social Work Noticeboard (ANZASW)
  • Working Life (PSA)
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