This year's Te Rito Journalism cadets (one absent). Photo / Vaimoana Mase
This year's Te Rito Journalism cadets (one absent). Photo / Vaimoana Mase
They may come from different backgrounds and ethnic make-ups, but a group of budding journalists share one common goal - to bring more diversity to newsrooms around Aotearoa.
A total of 12 new cadets have been announced for this year’s intake of the Te Rito Journalism Project - an initiative funded by NZ On Air’s Public Interest Journalism Fund and launched last year to help train, develop and eventually hire students from Māori, Pacific and diverse backgrounds.
For a year, starting this month, they will train and work in newsrooms in Auckland and around the country under media outlets NZME (NZ Herald), Whakaata Māori, Newshub, Pacific Media Network and other media support partners.
Last year’s cohort had a majority of Māori students taking part. This year, more than half of the participants are Pasefika; hailing from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji.
Five Māori students are a part of this year’s intake and a young woman from India is also among the group.
At a pōwhiri and official welcoming event at Hoani Waititi Marae, in West Auckland, friends, whānau and aiga gathered to support their respective students named as successful candidates in the 2023 programme.
Among the speakers today was Pacific Media Network chief executive Don Mann, who encouraged students to remember the people and places they come from - and to use that in their work.
“It’s really important that you don’t lose a sense of who you are. Your superpower is your family background - don’t lose that. That’s what will set you apart.”
‘I’m bringing diversity and my culture to the newsroom’
Paridhi Bakshi aims to tell migrants' stories. Photo / Vaimoana Mase
Paridhi Bakshi arrived in New Zealand from India in 2016 and has a passion for telling people’s stories.
“I want to share migrants’ stories and the problems we face. I feel there are so many stories out there that [aren’t] shared in the mainstream media.
“I’m bringing diversity and my culture to the newsroom,” she said.
Why it’s important to have brown voices
‘Alakihihifo Vailala, 22, hails from the villages of Kolomotu’a and Haveluloto in Tonga, but calls Māngere, South Auckland, home.
Known as Ala to her friends, the inspiration to look at journalism as a career ultimately started with an interest in politics; having represented former Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio in Youth Parliament a few years ago.
'Alakihihifo Vailala has an interest in Pacific people in politics. Photo / Vaimoana Mase
“I’ve been working in the political world since and media has a big part in that,” she said.
“I got an opportunity to work at [Pacific Media Network] last year and I was really interested in their work, as I saw another side of the media.”
Vailala has a special interest in sharing stories about Pacific people in politics.
Having lived in Tonga when the world shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she is also keen on sharing her experiences with others.
“I hope to bring the different experiences that I’ve had in my life to diversify media.
“I think my generation has grown up in a world of social media and where we pay attention to media. That’s why it’s really important to have our voices in this field.”
