Mike White (journalist)

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Mike White
Mike White NZ journalis.jpg
White, 2016
OccupationInvestigative journalist
NationalityNew Zealand

Mike White is a New Zealand investigative journalist, photographer and author, and former foreign correspondent (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq). He has written two books and has won awards for his magazine articles on themes of justice within New Zealand. [1] He is also an awarded travel writer. White has won New Zealand Feature Writer of the Year (Qantas / Canon / Voyager Media Awards) three times, and a Wolfson Fellowship to the University of Cambridge. He has also won the Cathay Pacific New Zealand Travel Writer of the Year title three times.

Contents

Early life and education

White grew up near Blenheim, and graduated with a political science and history degree from the University of Canterbury in the mid-80s. [2] In 1996, he graduated from the Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University) School of Journalism.

Career

After six years working as reporter and chief reporter for the Marlborough Express in Blenheim, [3] he left to work as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. [2] [4]

In 2003 White returned to New Zealand to write full-time for North & South, a current affairs monthly magazine, becoming a senior staff writer. He is now a senior writer for Stuff, [5] and is based in Wellington. [2] [6]

In an eight-page North & South article in 2015 (Long Walk to Justice) [7] White asked if New Zealand's justice system should establish an independent commission to investigate wrongful convictions. White researched this story in the UK during his Wolfson Press Fellowship to the University of Cambridge. [7] [6]

White covered the Ben Smart and Olivia Hope/Scott Watson case as a reporter on the Marlborough Express from 1998; [8] he revisited the case for North & South in December 2007. In 2014 Scott Watson invited White to interview him in prison, having maintained his innocence for 18 years. The Department of Corrections sought to prevent that meeting. It took more than a year and a hearing in the High Court to overturn that decision. [1] White described the widely reported verdict [9] [10] as a "win for journalism." [11] [12]

"The judge has realised that journalists have a special role in investigating cases of potential miscarriage of justice and has enforced that role. In certain circumstances, journalists do have a responsibility to investigate these cases and the best way to do that is by talking to the people who have been convicted and imprisoned." [12]

White's story on the interview with Watson in Rolleston Prison was published in North & South in December 2015. [13] In November 2016, after again taking the Corrections Department to the High Court, he covered the first meeting between Scott Watson and Olivia's father, Gerald Hope, also held in Rolleston Prison. [14]

White has also written extensively on the Lundy case. [15] In 2015 he spent two months in Courtroom One at Wellington’s High Court, covering the retrial of Mark Lundy for North & South. It’s a case he had been following for seven years. [16] His 18-page story: The Lundy Murders: What the Jury Didn’t Hear, in North & South’s February 2009 issue, led to international lawyers and experts joining Lundy’s team and eventually having his conviction quashed by the Privy Council in 2013. [17] White’s story on Lundy’s trial and reconviction in May 2015 [18] examined whether the justice system was able to cope with such a complex case, and whether the verdict was correct.

In 2016 White and his long time partner, Wellington journalist Nikki Macdonald, took over the editing of long-form journalism website Featured. [19]

Awards

Books

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References

  1. 1 2 "Mike White - crime journalism". RNZ. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Contributors". North & South: 11. September 2003.
  3. ↑ "Journalist Mike White will interview speakers at the Marlborough Book Festival". Stuff. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  4. ↑ Skinner, Tony (24 March 2003). "Picton man heads for war zone". The Marlborough Express.
  5. ↑ "Mike White News". Stuff. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Confessions of a media junkie". www.noted.co.nz. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  7. 1 2 White, Mike. "A long walk to justice". Noted. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  8. ↑ Ashcroft, Nerida. "Mike White chats about Scott Watson". www.rhema.co.nz. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Journalists and jailbirds: The pros and cons". RNZ. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "The right to talk to the media - in and out of jail". RNZ. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "Journalist Mike White welcomes High Court decision on Scott Watson, Gerald Hope meeting". Stuff. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Full Interview: Mike White on Scott Watson decision". Newshub. 6 April 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  13. ↑ White, Mike. "From the archives: An interview with Scott Watson - North & South". Noted. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  14. ↑ White, Mike. "The full interview: Gerald Hope and Scott Watson - North & South". Noted. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  15. ↑ Hollings, James (2017). A moral truth : 150 years of investigative journalism in New Zealand. Hollings, James (James H.). Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN   9780994141583. OCLC   993043075.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ↑ "Contributors". North & South. May 2015.
  17. ↑ White, Mike (February 2009). "What The Jury Didn't Hear". North & South.
  18. ↑ White, Mike (May 2015). "Evidence That Will Make You Think Again". North & South.
  19. ↑ "Good reads for the long weekend". RNZ. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  20. 1 2 "Contributors". North & South: 12. May 2005.
  21. 1 2 "ACP Media the High Flyer at Qantas Media Awards". www.scoop.co.nz. 16 May 2005. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards" (PDF). Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  23. 1 2 3 "North & South, Metro scoop Qantas Magazine Awards". www.scoop.co.nz. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  24. 1 2 "Qantas Media Awards 2008 Results". www.scoop.co.nz. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  25. ↑ "Qantas Media Awards 2009 Results". www.scoop.co.nz. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  26. ↑ "ACP Magazines Score Multiple Wins at Qantas Awards". www.scoop.co.nz. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  27. ↑ "nzherald.co.nz wins supreme award at Canon Media Awards". The New Zealand Herald. 27 May 2011. ISSN   1170-0777 . Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  28. ↑ "2014 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  29. ↑ "Wolfson Fellowship". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  30. ↑ "Wellington.scoop.co.nz » Mike White wins travel writer of year award" . Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  31. ↑ "2015 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  32. ↑ "2016 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  33. ↑ "2016 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  34. ↑ "2018 winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
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