At our October meeting, Mike McRoberts delivered a very interesting and inspiring talk on his decades as a journalist and of his experiences in some of the world’s hotspots.

Mike started his career as a cadet in Radio NZ at the age of 17 years in 1984. From the 1985 Springbok Tour through to the events in the USA of 11 September 2001 and how that event changed the world, Mike has been in the thick of presenting and reporting on major local and international events.

His international reporting from war zones included Afghanistan and Iraq, both of which he talked about in detail. We gained a sense of how he operated in the field – how he focussed his reporting on things that his audience could relate to so as to establish the connection that all good stories have with their audience.

A major aim of his reporting from war zones is to shine a light on what is happening on the ground so as to bring pressure to end conflicts.

Mike has won numerous journalism awards.