Telling the truth under pressure | Barbara Dreaver

About this episode

Barbara Dreaver discusses her experiences as a journalist and the importance of telling the truth under pressure.

Barbara Dreaver has spent decades moving towards stories others walk away from. As one of New Zealand's most respected journalists and TVNZ's Pacific correspondent, she has been detained in Fiji, witnessed children in crisis across the Pacific and stood in places where telling the truth was actively discouraged. In this kōrero, Petra and Barbara sit down properly for the first time, and the conversation is exactly what you'd hope for. Barbara talks about growing up barefoot in a loving Pacific family with no money and yet extraordinary richness. What it means to carry both sides of her whakapapa (Kiwi father, Pacific Islander mother), into a career built on giving voice to people who rarely get one. Her book, Be Brave, is the record of that work and an invitation to the rest of us to believe in the power of telling the truth and find our own why. She talks about the publisher who told her there was no interest in Pacific stories (the book is already going to a second edition), and the moments across her career where she's had to reach deep to keep going. They get into what it really means to be brave, not the absence of fear, rather knowing your why clearly enough to walk through…

People in this episode

Host: Petra Bagust

Guest: Barbara Dreaver

Topics covered

• journalism
• truth-telling
• Pacific stories
• courage
• identity
• social issues

Keywords

• journalism
• Pacific Islands
• truth
• courage
• identity
• Be Brave
• social justice
• storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TVNZ

Books & works: Be Brave

Places: Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, US

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