Journalism in New Zealand: interview with Caitlin Cherry
--
Caitlin Cherry is a journalist and broadcaster from New Zealand. She has experience in investigative journalism and programme production. Her work includes a special focus on technologies and multimedia. She produces digital content and uses a wide range of different platforms to create, share content, increase audience, and improve engagement.
She has a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from New Zealand Broadcasting School and a bachelor’s degree in Films and Theater Studies from Victoria University of Wellington. For 19 years, Cherry had worked at Radio New Zealand. In the last two years, she was the Director of Content at RNZ National, in Wellington region, where she started working as Executive Producer in 2016. Read more in the interview below.
Enio Moraes Júnior — Have social networks changed journalism in New Zealand in the last 20 or 30 years? If so, how do you evaluate this change?
Caitlin Cherry — Yes. Many stories are shared via social media so people might happen upon content rather than go looking for it specifically. However the rise of fake news via social media is a huge concern for all nations.
EMJ — According to statistics on quality of life, New Zealand is a good country to live. What does the national press say about the country? What are the most relevant problems?
CC — Famous visitors to New Zealand are almost always asked how much they like in New Zealand. As NZ is so far away from the rest of the world, we love it when people from the other side of the world praise our country. The key problem in NZ is housing. House prices have risen 25 percent in the past year alone. Rents have also risen and we have a serious homelessness problem. In fact social agencies have been housing families in motels because of the shortage of rental accommodation. We also have too many cold and damp homes that contribute to poor health outcomes. These are difficult problems to solve and while many people praise the current government for how well it has handled the Covid pandemic, there is a lot of anger about the lack of action around housing.
EMJ — How do you evaluate the coverage of human rights and minorities in the NZ media?
