Pokere Paewai

What I cover: I cover the 'world' of Te Ao Māori and have traveled around Aotearoa to cover kaupapa Māori, highlights have been covering the annual celebrations at Waitangi, the kapa haka festival Te Matatini and last year's Hīkoi mō te Tiriti. I am particularly passionate about covering topics in or about te reo Māori especially seeing the many ways Māori have revitalised their language and culture.

My background: Tini whetu ki te rangi, ko Rangitāne ki te whenua. I grew up in Dannevirke on the whenua of my iwi Rangitāne. I've always wanted to tell Māori stories but my first exposure to journalism came while I was studying at Massey University. When I returned to Aotearoa in 2022, I decided to pick up journalism again and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the Henare Te Ua Māori journalism interns. The next year I moved into the Māori News Team fulltime. 

Contact: If you have an idea for a story or have feedback for me, please feel free to get in touch: pokere.paewai@rnz.co.nz