The accidental comment that set one graduate on a path to journalism

When Kira was 13-years-old, she decided she wanted to be a journalist. The decision came almost by accident. She had just won a Year 8 interschool speech competition in Nelson, when a friend told her she should be on the news.

Something about the comment stuck. “I don’t know what it was about this phrase that flipped a switch in my head, and my entire life trajectory, but it did,” she says.

Kira had always been a keen consumer of news, waking at 6am to watch breakfast television and seeking out independent news and commentary online. By high school, journalism had become the career she was set on.

Her original plan was to study in London. By Year 13, she realised that wasn't going to happen, so she googled ‘journalism degree New Zealand’ and started comparing her options. She knew she wanted to move to Wellington, and was drawn to Massey’s journalism programme and its international accreditation.

“I chose to study at Massey in the space of an hour,” she says.

Kira enrolled in the Bachelor of Communication, majoring in journalism and initially minoring in linguistics, before switching to media studies. The degree pushed her outside her comfort zone, from making her first cold call to walking into a business unannounced to ask for an interview.

“I remember the first time I cold-called someone. I had to psyche myself up for the whole day just to do it. Same deal for the first time I walked into a business unannounced to ask for an interview. Each time I walked away with a spring in my step and a sense of accomplishment.”

She also learned to take feedback from her lecturers like Charlotte Shipman, who Kira had grown up watching on television. One lesson in particular has stayed with her: When receiving feedback, don’t be defensive and don’t give excuses. Accept feedback for what it is, and take it on board for the next story. That is how you show them you can learn.

Kira also valued the relationships she developed with her lecturers. “They weren’t just remote figures at the front of the class but real people who we knew, and who knew us.”

Those relationships would become particularly important after graduation.Kira finished her degree in November 2024 but graduated the following April. Without an internship or a job lined up, she wasn't sure what would come next, and admits she spent much of that time avoiding the fact that she wasn’t sure where her career was heading.

“I spent most of that time burying my head in the sand not wanting to confront my total lack of direction or immediate options.”

A few months after finishing her degree, Kira had coffee with Massey lecturer Teresa Housel and asked if she could help her get some experience in the Radio New Zealand newsroom. Nothing immediately came of it, but a few weeks later, when the editor of the Marlborough Express approached Massey looking for graduates, Kira was recommended.

Kira applied with low expectations, having already been turned down by another newspaper. This time was different. She interviewed the day after graduation and received a job offer a week later.

“I was in my living room surrounded by my flatmates when the call came, we all screamed the second I got off the phone.”

As a local democracy reporter, Kira spends much of her time following what is happening across the region, including reading lengthy council reports and turning them into stories for readers. Her ability to take a 60-page report and distill it into 600 engaging words is something she has developed with experience.

But it is the impact of local journalism that has become one of the most rewarding parts of her job. Kira has reported on construction noise affecting residents, changes to arts funding and the future of decades-old whitebait stands facing removal by the council.

For one story, she walked two kilometres through pasture fields in 28-degree heat to visit the stand. Her reporting helped secure a commitment from the council that the well-maintained stands could stay.

“Getting thanked by your talent is the best feeling ever.”

The job has also taught her that improvement never stops. As her editors have pushed her further, Kira has become more aware of the small things she could have done better, whether that is a question she didn't ask, information she failed to get or an interview technique she could have used differently.

“These days each of my successes are riddled with tiny failures, what-ifs, places I could have done more or gone further.”

She sees that as part of becoming a better journalist. Her writing has become faster and more concise, her photography has improved, she is more confident with navigating conflict, and talking to strangers has become less daunting. Cold-calling sources no longer makes her nervous.

Her editor once told her that a good journalist is someone who knows the right people and asks the right questions. Kira isn't sure she always lives up to either requirement, but she says her contact list has grown considerably and she is constantly finding new questions to ask.

Kira encourages students to build relationships with the people around them, noting that classmates can become colleagues or contacts and lecturers can provide a way into the industry.

“Maintain your relationships. Seriously, relationship maintenance is an important skill.”