Barbara Dreaver

Barbara Dreaver
ONZM
Dreaver in 2024
Born
Barbara Helen Dreaver

Banaba, Kiribati
Alma mater
OccupationJournalist
EmployerTVNZ

Barbara Helen Dreaver ONZM is a Kiribati-born New Zealand broadcast journalist.[1]

Biography

Dreaver was born on Banaba, a coral atoll in Kiribati. Her mother, Lavinia, was from Banaba and her father, Peter, was a schoolteacher from New Zealand, stationed on the atoll as an adult education officer under the Volunteer Service Abroad scheme.[2][3] The family moved to the main island of Tarawa when she was young, and when she was 10 years old, moved to New Zealand.[4]

Dreaver studied education at the University of Auckland, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then completed a Pacific Island journalism course at Manukau Institute of Technology, but struggled to find work in journalism in New Zealand.[4] In 1990, she moved to Rarotonga and began her career in journalism as a reporter with the Cook Islands News. She later co-owned and edited a weekly newspaper, Cook Islands Press. In 1998, she returned to New Zealand and worked as a business columnist and freelance feature writer for the New Zealand Listener, National Business Review and Radio New Zealand.[5] In 2002, she started working for TVNZ and in 2003 became the network's Pacific correspondent.[6]

In December 2008, Dreaver was detained and deported from Fiji after her reporting offended the regime of dictator Frank Bainimarama.[7][8] Journalists were subsequently required to seek permission to enter Fiji.[9] The ban was lifted in October 2016.[10]

In September 2018, Dreaver was arrested in Nauru and stripped of her media accreditation for the Pacific Islands Forum meeting after interviewing refugees held at the Nauru Regional Processing Centre.[11][12][13]

In 2020, Dreaver created a two-year training programme through the Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Ltd to support new Pacific journalists across the Pacific region. In 2022, she was appointed a member of the Establishment Board for the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media body.[14]

Awards and honours

In 2019, Dreaver won two awards at New Zealand's Voyager Media Awards for her coverage of the 2019 Samoa measles outbreak: Best TV/Video News Item and Best Coverage of a Major News Event.[15] In November 2022, she was named Reporter of the Year at the New Zealand Television Awards.[5]

In the 2024 New Year Honours, Dreaver was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities.[14]

References

  1. ^ Stokes, Melissa (30 December 2023). "NY Honours: 1News' Barbara Dreaver honoured for Pacific storytelling". 1 News. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  2. ^ Milford, Catherine (6 October 2023). "TVNZ reporter Barbara Dreaver is a voice for Pasifika". New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. ^ "12 to work for V.S.A." The Press. Vol. 106, no. 31253. 28 December 1966. p. 12. Retrieved 31 December 2023 – via PapersPast.
  4. ^ a b Bamber, Shaun (30 June 2021). "Tears, battles and making a difference – Barbara Dreaver's Pacific odyssey". Stuff. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  5. ^ a b "Award-winning journalist Barbara Dreaver tells it like it is". Cook Islands News. 24 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  6. ^ "Barbara Dreaver". Real Life. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  7. ^ "NZ journalist deported from Fiji". RNZ News. 16 December 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  8. ^ "NZ reporter sent home as Fiji row escalates". Otago Daily Times. 16 December 2008. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Journalists must seek permission to go to Fiji". Stuff. 31 January 2009. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  10. ^ "Fiji Prime Minister extends personal invitation to banned TV journo Barbara Dreaver". Stuff. 22 October 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  11. ^ "TVNZ reporter Barbara Dreaver released after being detained in Nauru". Stuff. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  12. ^ "1 NEWS Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver released after being detained by police in Nauru". 1 News. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  13. ^ "New Zealand journalist reprimanded for interviewing refugee on Nauru". CNN. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  14. ^ a b "New Year honours list 2024 - citations for Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  15. ^ Pacific Media Watch (23 May 2020). "TVNZ's Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver wins Voyager media awards | Asia Pacific Report". Retrieved 30 December 2023.