Daisy Hudson, Timaru Herald reporter: So good that her stories keep getting ripped off by the bigger news organisations (usually without getting the proper credit), Hudson is one of dozens of young, keen reporters at NZ's smaller newspapers, but shows us all how it is done. She gets great stories out of famously tight-lipped Timaruvians, (and puts up with some bullshit from them), finds terrific new angles on old chestnuts, and can actually say 'Timaz Hard' without sounding like a total dork, (this is a real skill.) Definitely bound for bigger things, enjoy Hudson's tales of small town shenanigans while you can.
Todd Niall, RNZ Auckland correspondent: New Zealand's greatest living media assassin, Niall's silky smooth voice, cherubic face and frankly alarming vest sweaters hide a fiercely analytic mind and the fearlessness to ask the hard questions about life in our biggest city. It's all smiles and polite talk, but if you're in local government and hiding the truth about something, Niall will get it out of you, sliding in the blade without you feeling it. Like all good hitmen, he's appropriately dispassionate, and he will take on either end of the political spectrum, and as an occasional presenter on Morning Report, stepping in for Guyon Espinier, (a slightly flashier news hitman), many of his interview subjects may have thought they were getting off lightly, only to get a journalistic bullet in the head.
Susie Nordqvist, Newshub presenter: Mediaworks has a small and hugely solid team of news presenters, fronting up on the big events, day after day, week after week, and none of them get enough credit for their fine work. Led by noted silver fox Mike McRoberts, the team of Hayes, McRae, McNeil, Shepherd, Suo, Hipkiss and Davies are all professional as hell. But Nordqvist is a brilliant back-up, stepping in to randomly present the late news, or taking on the big desk at 6pm over the shitty holiday break, while everybody else is at the beach. She has a solid reporting background, both for TV3 and print publications like the Ashburton Guardian, and she always does a terrific job fronting the news - comfortably, calmly and coolly selling the big events of the day, dealing with sudden, breaking news with apparent ease, and pronouncing the name of the latest tennis superstar from Bukfukistan perfectly. Not as easy as it looks.
Sophie Ryan, Herald online business editor: Ryan has proved to be a solid business reporter on the Herald's business website for a while now, with a particular skill for backgrounders that put everything into context, no doubt helped by working on the regular daily news beat for a number of years. Ryan might be the most one of the ridiculously upbeat journalists in the whole damn profession, but also has a keen news sense and a steely determination to get the real story. As part of a general revitalisation of the Herald's business world, which has also seen the similarly energetic Hamish Fletcher take on the main business editor role, she recently stepped up to take on the job of online business editor, and she is just the kind of keen mind to give that section of Granny's world a good kick up the arse.
Harkanwal Singh, data editor, NZ Herald: A lot of media companies like making a lot of noise about their commitment to data journalism, without really knowing what they're doing, and blunder ahead with half-arsed pie charts. But the NZ Herald is well ahead of the pack, thanks largely to the genuinely pioneering and focused efforts of Singh and his data team. His interactives and charts and figures always have a real substance to them (with the generally excellent Herald reporting team often digging up the data themselves), and can be addictive as hell when you get to really drill down into it. Numbers and charts have never looked more solid or more sexy, and the Herald's efforts in this arena are truly world-class, so it will be fascinating to see what Singh whips up next.
We could go on and on, and rave about Checkpoint producer Bridget Burke's strikingly good ability to find great talent, (John Campbell's secret weapon, beside his bottomless empathy, remains the sharp people - and women in particular - who work behind the scenes of his shows). Or praise Rob Kidd's wry and honest court stories for the Otago Daily Times, or pay genuine tribute to Henry Cooke's gargantuan efforts on Stuff's live blogs over the past few months, or respect to ace TVNZ reporter Kaitlin Ruddock's incredible ability to do a live cross with a long fringe in Wellington wind.
There are so many terrific reporters and editors and producers that we could add to this list, and if we tried a little harder, we could have avoided being so fucking Auckland-centric with our list. (It's bad enough finishing off with such effusive praise for the Herald with the last two examples, but that's what happens when you go alphabetical.) We haven't even touched on the massive pool of amazing camera-people, photographers and other visual journalists in this country, with sharp eyes from one end of the country to another. We've also ignored some brilliant freelancers, and haven't listened to the crucial regional radio people, who do an essential job.
Rest assured, there are news people at newspapers, magazines, radio stations, TV outlets and digital ventures that deserved to be just as honoured, and we just wanted to give a shout out to a small fraction of our favourites, as examples of the incredible professionalism of many modern journos, and we just hope they're not embarrassed by the adulation. We're all taking shit from the public - and even other journos - every goddamn day, but the odd kind word never hurts.
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