KEY POINTS:
Who is this year's most trusted New Zealander?
It's supposed to be a secret until next week, but put your money on Victoria Cross winner Corporal Willie Apiata.
Reader's Digest magazine will reveal the results of its annual trust survey on Tuesday.
But an image of the cover of the July issue, showing Corporal Apiata's photo and the words "Who do we trust?" appeared on the magazine's website on Thursday night. It had been removed by lunchtime yesterday.
The cover image suggests Corporal Apiata will take over from Sir Edmund Hillary, who was New Zealand's most trusted person for three years before his death in January.
Corporal Apiata was awarded the VC for carrying a badly wounded fellow soldier across open ground while under attack in Afghanistan.
Yesterday, he was on leave and could not be contacted. But Defence Force spokesman David Courtney said Corporal Apiata would be humbled and the news would be completely unexpected by him.
In the survey, several hundred people were asked to rate the trustworthiness of a list of well-known people, professions and brands.
