Mike White
White, 2016
White, 2016
OccupationInvestigative journalist
NationalityNew Zealand

Mike White is a New Zealand investigative journalist, photographer and author, and former foreign correspondent (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq). He has written two books and has won many awards for his magazine articles on themes of justice within New Zealand.[1] He is also an awarded travel writer. White has won New Zealand Feature Writer of the Year (Qantas / Canon / Voyager Media Awards) three times, and a Wolfson Fellowship to the University of Cambridge. He has also won the Cathay Pacific New Zealand Travel Writer of the Year title three times.

Early life and education

White grew up near Blenheim, and graduated with a political science and history degree from the University of Canterbury in the mid-80s.[2] In 1996, he graduated from the Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University) School of Journalism.

Career

After six years working as reporter and chief reporter for the Marlborough Express in Blenheim,[3] he left to work as a foreign correspondent in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.[2][4]

In 2003 White returned to New Zealand to write full-time for North & South, a current affairs monthly magazine, becoming a senior staff writer. He is now a senior writer for Stuff, [5] and is based in Wellington.[2] [6]

In an eight-page North & South article in 2015 (Long Walk to Justice)[7] White asked if New Zealand's justice system should establish an independent commission to investigate wrongful convictions. White researched this story in the UK during his Wolfson Press Fellowship to the University of Cambridge.[7] [6]

White covered the Ben Smart and Olivia Hope/Scott Watson case as a reporter on the Marlborough Express from 1998;[8] he revisited the case for North & South in December 2007. In 2014 Scott Watson invited White to interview him in prison, having maintained his innocence for 18 years. The Department of Corrections sought to prevent that meeting. It took more than a year and a hearing in the High Court to overturn that decision.[1] White described the widely reported verdict[9][10] as a "win for journalism."[11][12]

"The judge has realised that journalists have a special role in investigating cases of potential miscarriage of justice and has enforced that role. In certain circumstances, journalists do have a responsibility to investigate these cases and the best way to do that is by talking to the people who have been convicted and imprisoned."[12]

White's story on the interview with Watson in Rolleston Prison was published in North & South in December 2015.[13] In November 2016, after again taking the Corrections Department to the High Court, he covered the first meeting between Scott Watson and Olivia's father, Gerald Hope, also held in Rolleston Prison.[14]

White has also written extensively on the Lundy case.[15] In 2015 he spent two months in Courtroom One at Wellington’s High Court, covering the retrial of Mark Lundy for North & South. It’s a case he had been following for seven years.[16] His 18-page story: The Lundy Murders: What the Jury Didn’t Hear, in North & South’s February 2009 issue, led to international lawyers and experts joining Lundy’s team and eventually having his conviction quashed by the Privy Council in 2013.[17] White’s story on Lundy’s trial and reconviction in May 2015 [18] examined whether the justice system was able to cope with such a complex case – and if the jury got it right.

In 2016 White and his long time partner, Wellington journalist Nikki Macdonald, took over the editing of long-form journalism website Featured from the journalist and author Naomi Arnold.[19]

Awards

  • 1997 Qantas Media Awards Student Journalist of the Year.
  • 2004 Qantas Media Awards: Environment & Conservation (best feature) [20]
  • 2004 Citigroup Journalism Awards for Excellence: General Business Category Winner[20]
  • 2005 Qantas Media Awards Government, Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs Winner [21]
  • 2005 Qantas Media Awards Science and Technology Winner [21]
  • 2006 Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards Best Magazine Travel Story
  • 2006 Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards Travel Writer of The Year.[22]
  • 2007 Qantas Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer of the Year [23]
  • 2007 Qantas Media Awards Crime & Justice [23]
  • 2007 Qantas Media Awards Science & Technology [23]
  • 2008 MPA Awards Journalist of the Year Supreme Winner & Current Affairs Winner
  • 2008 Qantas Media Awards Best Columnist Sport & Racing [24]
  • 2008 Qantas Media Awards Crime & Justice [24]
  • 2009 Qantas Media Awards Technology & Science, Device Technologies Award [25]
  • 2010 Cathay Pacific Travel Awards Heritage Hotels Award for the Best Travel Article Written About New Zealand [22]
  • 2010 Qantas Media Awards Best Profile [26]
  • 2011 Canon Media Awards Feature Writer Science/environment [27]
  • 2012 Cathay Pacific Travel Awards: Heritage Hotels Award for the Best Travel Story about New Zealand [22]
  • 2013 Canon Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer of the Year
  • 2013 Canon Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer Politics
  • 2013 Canon Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer Arts and Entertainment
  • 2013 Cathay Pacific Travel Awards Heritage Hotels Award for the Best Travel Story about New Zealand [22]
  • 2013 Cathay Pacific Travel Awards NZ Maori Tourism Award for the Best Travel Story about a Maori Tourism Experience [22]
  • 2014 Canon Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer, Science and Environment [28]
  • 2013 Wolfson Fellowship to the University of Cambridge [29]
  • 2014 Cathay Pacific Travel Awards Heritage Hotels Award for the Best Travel Story about New Zealand Winner [22][30]
  • 2015 Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards NZ Maori Tourism Award for the Best Travel Story about a Maori Tourism Experience [22]
  • 2015 Canon Media Awards Magazine Feature Writer Arts and Entertainment [31]
  • 2016 Canon Media Awards Feature Writer of the Year [32]
  • 2016 Canon Media Awards Feature Writer Crime & Justice [33]
  • 2018 Voyager Media Awards Feature Writer Crime, Justice and Social Issues[34]

Books

  • 2015 Who Killed Scott Guy? Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781877505478
  • 2019 How to Walk a Dog, Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781988547206

References

  1. 1 2 "Mike White - crime journalism". RNZ. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 "Contributors". North & South: 11. September 2003.
  3. ↑ "Journalist Mike White will interview speakers at the Marlborough Book Festival". Stuff. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  4. ↑ Skinner, Tony (24 March 2003). "Picton man heads for war zone". The Marlborough Express.
  5. ↑ "Mike White News". Stuff. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  6. 1 2 "Confessions of a media junkie". www.noted.co.nz. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  7. 1 2 White, Mike. "A long walk to justice". Noted. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  8. ↑ Ashcroft, Nerida. "Mike White chats about Scott Watson". www.rhema.co.nz. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  9. ↑ "Journalists and jailbirds: The pros and cons". RNZ. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "The right to talk to the media - in and out of jail". RNZ. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  11. ↑ "Journalist Mike White welcomes High Court decision on Scott Watson, Gerald Hope meeting". Stuff. 27 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  12. 1 2 "Full Interview: Mike White on Scott Watson decision". Newshub. 6 April 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  13. ↑ White, Mike. "From the archives: An interview with Scott Watson - North & South". Noted. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  14. ↑ White, Mike. "The full interview: Gerald Hope and Scott Watson - North & South". Noted. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  15. ↑ Hollings, James (2017). A moral truth : 150 years of investigative journalism in New Zealand. Hollings, James (James H.). Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 9780994141583. OCLC 993043075.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  16. ↑ "Contributors". North & South. May 2015.
  17. ↑ White, Mike (February 2009). "What The Jury Didn't Hear". North & South.
  18. ↑ White, Mike (May 2015). "Evidence That Will Make You Think Again". North & South.
  19. ↑ "Good reads for the long weekend". RNZ. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  20. 1 2 "Contributors". North & South: 12. May 2005.
  21. 1 2 "ACP Media the High Flyer at Qantas Media Awards". www.scoop.co.nz. 16 May 2005. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Cathay Pacific Travel Media Awards" (PDF). Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  23. 1 2 3 "North & South, Metro scoop Qantas Magazine Awards". www.scoop.co.nz. 21 May 2007. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  24. 1 2 "Qantas Media Awards 2008 Results". www.scoop.co.nz. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  25. ↑ "Qantas Media Awards 2009 Results". www.scoop.co.nz. 16 May 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  26. ↑ "ACP Magazines Score Multiple Wins at Qantas Awards". www.scoop.co.nz. 15 June 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  27. ↑ "nzherald.co.nz wins supreme award at Canon Media Awards". The New Zealand Herald. 27 May 2011. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  28. ↑ "2014 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  29. ↑ "Wolfson Fellowship". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  30. ↑ "Wellington.scoop.co.nz » Mike White wins travel writer of year award". Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  31. ↑ "2015 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  32. ↑ "2016 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  33. ↑ "2016 Winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  34. ↑ "2018 winners". Voyager Media Awards. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
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