April 12, 2026 • 23 mins
Barbara is a highly respected journalist and storyteller, known for bringing the voices and stories of the Pacific to the forefront of New Zealand media. With decades of experience and deep cultural understanding, she has reported from across the region with integrity, compassion, and courage.
A multi-award-winning journalist, Barbara has received top honours including the Voyager Media Award for Best Māori and Pacific Affairs Reporting, recognising her outstanding contribution to journalism in Aotearoa.
Her work not only informs but connects communities, shining a light on important issues while celebrating the richness and resilience of Pacific peoples.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real Life with John Cowan
on News Talk s EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good day, Welcome to real Life. I'm John Cowan and
my guest tonight is Barbara Driver and she's covered the
Pacific for thirty years as a journalist and in that
time she's won top awards and been made an officer
of the New Zealand Order of Merit. So welcome Barbara.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Hi there, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh, it's a pleasure to have you on, and I
hope you've been staying dry and out of the weather pretty.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Much, Yes, pretty much?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, okay, I mean this is you've seen cyclones. You've
been in a few around the Pacific. I was talking
to my mate Raymond Moore today and he was your
cameraman up and cyclone Geeta. I think, oh, he is.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
An incredible guy. He is just an incredible camera operator,
but also just a wonderful human being. And we've been
through many, know, quite a dodgy situation together.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I don't pop him up too much. He's probably listening tonight,
so you know, we've got to got to worry about
his sense of modesty, but no, he's a great guy.
But it was just intriguing hearing him describing how you.
I think you told him that, oh, pack a raincoat
just in case as you're heading off to cover some
story up and tongue that's exactly right, and ended up
(01:54):
sort of having to be holed up in a hotel
room with I think you were curled up on the
floor to protect yourself in case stuff came flying through
the window and there's water coming through the door.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
It was a very tense situation, and you know what
always goes through your head, as it has with this
particular cyclone. You always think about people who you know,
you may be dry, but there are people who are
going through some great hardship outside the four walls. So
you know that always crosses your mind, and certainly in
(02:27):
the Pacific in these sort of situations with the Category
fives that we went through with cycling Geita, that you
always really frantically worried about families, and you know they're
in buildings that are not as sturdy as the one
that you're in. So I may have been curled up
on the floor but at least at least it was
(02:49):
a concrete building.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Right, I mean, there's a fragility about that. The whole
Pacific isn't there, And they've got some big threats and
you've covered many of them over the years. By the way,
I sincerely hope everyone who's listening tonight is safe and
not being affected too badly. But yes, when the PC
(03:11):
when it happens in the Pacific, they're often even more ferocious.
And it's also a matter of I guess, of not
what you lose, but what you've got left afterwards. And
there's just not the resilience there is there in their
economy or.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That's so that's that's exactly right. You know, you've got
to absolutely bang on right there. And it's but what
I would say is that the Pacific, they're they're very
good at preparing because they go through it every year,
so they know how to prepare. And but yes, they
it's the pick up afterwards. And you know we've seen that,
(03:46):
not just with with the cyclones, but it's more so
for example, the volcano eruption and tsunami in Tonga, and
people are still they still can't go back to their
home islands, and they're they're having to build a new
life back on it. In the mainland, on tonge Tapu
and so and there are a resorts that have just
(04:08):
completely shut up shop. They just can't afford to get
back on their feet. Families too, you know. It's and
they provide for employment for families in the village. So
it has this knock on effect which is particularly hard.
So once you get over the there's the actual disaster
itself and you worry about, you know, the families who
(04:33):
are affected in that immediate life or death situation. But
then then afterwards, as you say it's the economic side,
what it would say is that New Zealand has come
to the form in many situations and and and also
the non government organizations. You see many organizations like Save
the Children, World Vision and so forth, who who do
(04:56):
a great job in helping out our communities, our Pacific
communities overseas.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I'm smiling a little bit when you're praising up the
New Zealand institutions that go and help and they es
they do fantastic work. But I know that you have
cross swords with m fat Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade when they step up there and act almost like
colonial powers, and I think you have cross swords with
them at different times.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, I've cross swords with everybody. No, because it's not
about there's some incredible people with an m fat really
good people who know their stuff. But of course, like
call anyone with politicians or big groups or whatever. If
there if they fail in their job or they try
(05:50):
to prevent me from doing a story which has very
valid then of course I will step up. I don't
really care who they are. And you know that's that's
including people who I really respect as well, So you know,
no one's off limits really, but I do I do
think that it's important to treat people with respect until
(06:14):
until then you stopped from doing your job. And my
job is to make sure that the public have the
information that they need.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, this is sort of a generosity of spirit that
you have. I mean, by the way, I should mention
that Barbara's just launched a book called Be Brave, The
Life of a Pacific Correspondent, and there's been a great read.
And how you have this love hate relationship with a
lot of the politicians and authorities and things about how
they will one moment be sort of summoning it at
(06:43):
their office to give a dressing down or trying to
arrange you for you to be deported, But the next
minute you're sort of waving to them and sort of
having friendly conversations with them. Is that a Pacific thing?
Was it just a you thing?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I think if you're a good journalist, I mean, you're
always going to and you find that the gallery journalists
go through the same thing as that. You know, they're
dealing with politicians on a daily basis, so they have
to have contacts, but they also stand up and make
sure that they do their job right. And so I
guess it is. But it's harder in the Pacific because
(07:20):
we are such small communities, haven't we, And so you know,
in my early career I found it really tough because
I was going up against I was exposing the actions
of my friend's fathers, for example, and in a small community,
these are people who you have daily dealings with, and
it's really hard. But then as you get older, you
(07:41):
just get a little bit more I don't know, hardened
is not quite the right word, but you certainly get
tougher and you know what's really important. And so yeah,
I think it's harder for to do my job in
the Pacific because it is small communities and it's an
area that I love as well, of course, which makes
(08:03):
it more important, right.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
So yeah, well it's very very evident in the reporting
the you do that your heart is for the Pacific,
your origins were there, your family's up there. But it's
interesting of this idea of community and family up there,
Like I know that you offended some politician in the
Cook Islands and the next minute the Prime Minister's calling
you in because it happened to be his cousin.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yes, so, yes, there are many situations we That is
a problem, you know in small countries is that you
find yourself if you're not relate to them or friends
with them or or although to be fair, I'm not
really friends with any politicians. I'm going to be completely honest.
(08:50):
It's it's too hard. I respect people until I don't.
You know, if they do their job right, we're good
to go.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
If you just joined us. My guest tonight is Barbara Driver,
who has been stomping around the Pacific for thirty years
and racking up some fantastic stories and many tales. And
I've been going through her book called Be brave. It's
just full of stories, fantastic stories, and lots of insights
as well. And we'll be talking after the break with
(09:23):
Barbara about an amazing rescue that she was involved in
where she wasn't so much reporting on the news but
actually doing something that was in herself really newsworthy. This
is real life on news Talks here, B. I'm John
Cowen talking with Barbara Drever. Be back of you in
just a minute.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on NEWSTALKSB.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John cown I'm talking
with Barbara Driver, who has been a journalist in the
Pacific for many, many years, and she's packed, not surprisingly
a Pacific song. What are we listening to there?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Oh, that's our brother Love and he did a wonderful
few albums. And the reason I love Brother Love, who's
a Cook Islander, is that many years ago we were
drinking buddy, and I probably shouldn't say this, but we
were a big group of us and we're all we're
rat bags in the early days in the Cook Islands.
(10:16):
So whenever I hear that UK lately going, I really
just feel like I'm back home. In the Cook Islands.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You say home, do you feel like Cork Islands is
your home?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, I'm a part Cook Islander as well. I'm half
kiddy Bus, but I've also got Cook Islands blood. And
I lived there for eight years and it's really my
stomping ground for becoming a good journal That was my
early career, my first years as a journalist. We're in
the Cook Islands and I learned how to break stories
and it's just a magnificent stamping ground. We broke big stories,
(10:50):
we learned how to Yeah, we had some tough days
there and so by doing that groundwork and our own
co owned a newspaper folding the damn thing, and you know,
we did everything.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I think you delivered them yourself on a motorbike around
that Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Oh I had a motorbike, but we'd have to borrow
a cuff. The delivery it was, yeah, it was. It
was pretty tough going. And the publisher Jason Brown, you know,
and myself where partners at the time, were just we
really worked hard to make that work and it went
from the two of us and one computer to doing
(11:33):
pretty well. People would leak us all sorts of documents
and that was really where I became a good journalist, right, And.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
You must have had a bit of a reputation up
there of being the ones to go to if you
had a leak or something like that, and you had
some relish. I guess in these expose as of the
politicians up there, of course, it doesn't seem to do
much good because they still seem to say in power
and get re elected.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
I've been through more prime ministers in the Cook Islands
than hot Breakfast sometimes in terms of like so you know,
they come and they go. All politicians do ye ye.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Back to New Zealand and you had a reset. Oh
by the way, I did tease at the end of
the last break that you were involved in an amazing
rescue and you were up in a Tahiti. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah. I was there with Mike Fitzgerald and camera opression
and we'd been doing some environmental sort of tourism sort
of stories and we'd heard we were on Bora Bora,
and we'd come back from days shooting and heard screaming
and these two guys from the hotel ran out and
(12:47):
I just knew that someone was drowning, and sure enough
it was a Japanese man and it has been his
wife who had swum to shore to get help. And
these two guys swam out, got him and tried to
bring him, brought him back to the gety, and I
was yelling at them, no, no, no, take him to
the beach, take him to the beach, because I knew
we wouldn't be able to drag him up on the
(13:08):
jetty was too high. And then myself and Fittsi gave
CPR to this gentleman who Masayuki, who had been out
at sea for quite a while. His heart had stopped
for a long time, and we gave him CPR and
probably after about eleven minutes his hull, Fittsy could feel
(13:31):
his heart both into his hand and and I did
the breathing, and together we brought him back and it
was Yeah, it was a very traumatic time, not less
for his his wife Ayoku. But yes he was. He
was still unconscious and we thought that she wouldn't come back,
(13:52):
but he did.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
A doctor told you that he wasn't likely to survive.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, well, it's very unusual for someone who's been you know,
his heart had stopped for so long to at least
not have brain damage, but certainly if they don't. He
didn't regain consciousness. You see, he was in a coma
for many days, so it's a minor miracle or a
major miracle, really. And I flew back with my son
(14:19):
actually to when he came out of his coma and
when when we went, because I was having bad dreams
about it. It was a very traumatic situation. And as
we as I went up met them and his wife.
Of course he didn't remember me because he was unconscious,
but his wife just ran at me and he just
(14:41):
hugged each other, and it was a really magical moment.
And they sent me an email with a photo and
I and fits there's a bot of fireworks going off
in the background and they're holding a drink in their hands.
And and he went, he went back to work, you know,
And I was very very happy to play a small
(15:02):
role in that.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
That must be an amazing feeling. I wonder if his
grips were saw afterwards.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I'm sure, yes, I'm sure they were, but he was alive.
But also he was in a comer for days, so
anything that was broken was here. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I was wondering if his ribs would be after after
Papa new Guinea.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
That's right, FITZI fell into a big hole and broke
many ribs and but yet kept shooting the camera.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Are tough.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Oh look, they're my heroes, you know, and and this
book there's no story without a camera operator. But when
I'm actually being said those stories and I recount the
behind the scenes, these guys are pretty incredible. And Raymond
will not least like, yeah, they're they're all no no pictures,
(15:55):
no no story. But it's not just that that they've
been my confidant. They've been we've been through some tough
times together and they've got me through some bad times
and we share the laughter as well, and sometimes it
feels like us against the world. You know.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Your book, as well as telling lots of stories, also
sort of well, the theme of it is you building
your courage and the things that you need. An incredible
amount of courage. You needed it during that I was
reading about when you're going through that hurricane, that cyclone.
(16:32):
You're lying there telling yourself, you know, I've been through crises.
I'm good in crises. As if you're coaching yourself to
be brave, and there's been so many times you've being
courage like being trapped in a trapped up in underwater
in an upside down helicopter. It sounds absolutely terrifying.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
It wasn't pleasant, but there were divers outside to pull
us out because of course practicing what would what would
happen if we were caught in a real shopper incident
at sea, and so I knew that we'd be It
was horrible, but I knew i'd be okay. It's the situations,
I guess, which are not so controlled, that are not
(17:10):
within your control, that I have the most problems with.
And most of the time it's been in Fiji during
the coups, the respective cups, I.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Mean, during the space hostage taking, when he was talk
all those hostages, I mean, where were you in the
middle of it?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I mean, yeah, well I did get into the into
the hostage camp, managed to talk my way into it,
and they had press conferences up there. But I knew
too I had to get more and that wasn't just
a publicity sort of stunt that they were pulling having
(17:48):
these press conferences. I needed to be in there for
longer to see what was really happening on the ground.
And yeah, it was a terrible time. Actually, it was
these these young men who had gone up to support
George Space. The gun men woren't actually the major issue.
They one issue, but it was the unarmed young men
(18:11):
from the village who high on carver and caestosterone and
hugely excited at the thought of what was going on there,
that that were actually the problem. And so, yeah, they
tried to break in one night to the dining room
we were and the husbands of some of the kitchen
stuff put up big forms that you sit on ludge
(18:34):
them against the doors, and yeah, we were told that
name you might try an assassinator hostage and for the
overseas media who were in there to witness it, and
by that time, you know you have to get out.
We became part of a nasty machine in there, so
(18:56):
it was time to get out, and we knew we
had to get out, so we did. But yeah, that
was pretty pretty traumatic in the especially I was very
young in my career as well.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So it's no wonder that your books called be Brave,
You've needed courage in so many of these situations. The
question that was going to put to you, and I
don't know if you've ever thought about this, is that
these different things where you've required a lot of courage.
Some people would be traumatized by that and bruised wounded
by it, whereas for yourself, it seems to have made
(19:26):
you tougher. And I'm just wondering, is there something that
you say to yourself in these situations that helps you
actually process these dangerous situations? Like Raymond again was telling
me you were flying over a volcano and your plane,
your plane has been hit by rocks being thrown out
of the volcano. And you know, these are situations that
(19:47):
I personally don't encounter all that often, and you seem
to fly into them all the time. And I'm just wondering,
what is it that you say to yourself that helps
you survive if your nerves intact.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
These are a few things I mean. I mean, I
do muster to myself, be brave, be brave, which is
the name where the name of that title came from.
But also I mean, our job is to report without
fear or favor as a reporter. That's what you do,
and and we don't do I don't do it to
be on television. I don't. I don't give give a
rats about about my face being on it. But I
(20:21):
give people who need a voice. I give them a voice,
and that's really important. We do it to make a difference,
and so when we can't, they count on us. We've
got to give the right information. We've got to give truth.
We've got to tell the truth. And you know, it's
so important. And so when I'm in a tense situation,
(20:43):
I'm always thinking about is the story going to get
to that's the most important thing? Is is it that
that happens.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Right at the end of the book, you describe yourself
as being an old school journalist. I mean, you don't
lend your name to many causes or publicity or anything
like this. You actually do believe in this journalism, the thing,
this thing that's being squeezed from all sorts of different pressures.
Are you worried about journalism?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, yeah, I am. I am, because it's just there
seems there's a I understand that there's good journalists and
there's there's not so good journalists. There There is that
in any profession, but it seems that there's less trust
in a media and more trust in social media, which
(21:34):
is really worrying. But also the resourcing for media. It
worries me as well. But yeah, so in terms of
I know some really great journalists across the board and so,
and I also know some incredible of Carlin journalists, some
of whom I've helped train. So, and I know that
(21:57):
we're in good hands across that's encouraging.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I can hear in the background some music playing the
music that I think you've selected then tonight's show with
what are we listening to?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Satellite by half a Finn right, And I chose that
song because it reminds me of my late brother, who
the book has dedicated to. It's about grief and dealing
with it. He took his life and I am so
proud of who he was as a person, and I
miss him pretty much every day, as does my family.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Oh well, it's wonderful that you're honoring him in that way.
And thank you so much, Barbara for taking the time
to be with us tonight on real life. Thank you
so much. This has been real life. I'm John Cown,
looking forward to being back with you again next Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Shining like s light sending messages, Think you can see
the shining on you like satellite sending messages. I look
(23:33):
up and think.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Coview For more from News Talk said B. Listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real Life with John Cowan
on News Talk s EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Good day, Welcome to real Life. I'm John Cowan and
my guest tonight is Barbara Driver and she's covered the
Pacific for thirty years as a journalist and in that
time she's won top awards and been made an officer
of the New Zealand Order of Merit. So welcome Barbara.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Hi there, how are you.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh, it's a pleasure to have you on, and I
hope you've been staying dry and out of the weather pretty.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Much, Yes, pretty much?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yes, okay, I mean this is you've seen cyclones. You've
been in a few around the Pacific. I was talking
to my mate Raymond Moore today and he was your
cameraman up and cyclone Geeta. I think, oh, he is.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
An incredible guy. He is just an incredible camera operator,
but also just a wonderful human being. And we've been
through many, know, quite a dodgy situation together.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I don't pop him up too much. He's probably listening tonight,
so you know, we've got to got to worry about
his sense of modesty, but no, he's a great guy.
But it was just intriguing hearing him describing how you.
I think you told him that, oh, pack a raincoat
just in case as you're heading off to cover some
story up and tongue that's exactly right, and ended up
(01:54):
sort of having to be holed up in a hotel
room with I think you were curled up on the
floor to protect yourself in case stuff came flying through
the window and there's water coming through the door.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
It was a very tense situation, and you know what
always goes through your head, as it has with this
particular cyclone. You always think about people who you know,
you may be dry, but there are people who are
going through some great hardship outside the four walls. So
you know that always crosses your mind, and certainly in
(02:27):
the Pacific in these sort of situations with the Category
fives that we went through with cycling Geita, that you
always really frantically worried about families, and you know they're
in buildings that are not as sturdy as the one
that you're in. So I may have been curled up
on the floor but at least at least it was
(02:49):
a concrete building.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Right, I mean, there's a fragility about that. The whole
Pacific isn't there, And they've got some big threats and
you've covered many of them over the years. By the way,
I sincerely hope everyone who's listening tonight is safe and
not being affected too badly. But yes, when the PC
(03:11):
when it happens in the Pacific, they're often even more ferocious.
And it's also a matter of I guess, of not
what you lose, but what you've got left afterwards. And
there's just not the resilience there is there in their
economy or.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
That's so that's that's exactly right. You know, you've got
to absolutely bang on right there. And it's but what
I would say is that the Pacific, they're they're very
good at preparing because they go through it every year,
so they know how to prepare. And but yes, they
it's the pick up afterwards. And you know we've seen that,
(03:46):
not just with with the cyclones, but it's more so
for example, the volcano eruption and tsunami in Tonga, and
people are still they still can't go back to their
home islands, and they're they're having to build a new
life back on it. In the mainland, on tonge Tapu
and so and there are a resorts that have just
(04:08):
completely shut up shop. They just can't afford to get
back on their feet. Families too, you know. It's and
they provide for employment for families in the village. So
it has this knock on effect which is particularly hard.
So once you get over the there's the actual disaster
itself and you worry about, you know, the families who
(04:33):
are affected in that immediate life or death situation. But
then then afterwards, as you say it's the economic side,
what it would say is that New Zealand has come
to the form in many situations and and and also
the non government organizations. You see many organizations like Save
the Children, World Vision and so forth, who who do
(04:56):
a great job in helping out our communities, our Pacific
communities overseas.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I'm smiling a little bit when you're praising up the
New Zealand institutions that go and help and they es
they do fantastic work. But I know that you have
cross swords with m fat Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade when they step up there and act almost like
colonial powers, and I think you have cross swords with
them at different times.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Yes, I've cross swords with everybody. No, because it's not
about there's some incredible people with an m fat really
good people who know their stuff. But of course, like
call anyone with politicians or big groups or whatever. If
there if they fail in their job or they try
(05:50):
to prevent me from doing a story which has very
valid then of course I will step up. I don't
really care who they are. And you know that's that's
including people who I really respect as well, So you know,
no one's off limits really, but I do I do
think that it's important to treat people with respect until
(06:14):
until then you stopped from doing your job. And my
job is to make sure that the public have the
information that they need.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well, this is sort of a generosity of spirit that
you have. I mean, by the way, I should mention
that Barbara's just launched a book called Be Brave, The
Life of a Pacific Correspondent, and there's been a great read.
And how you have this love hate relationship with a
lot of the politicians and authorities and things about how
they will one moment be sort of summoning it at
(06:43):
their office to give a dressing down or trying to
arrange you for you to be deported, But the next
minute you're sort of waving to them and sort of
having friendly conversations with them. Is that a Pacific thing?
Was it just a you thing?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I think if you're a good journalist, I mean, you're
always going to and you find that the gallery journalists
go through the same thing as that. You know, they're
dealing with politicians on a daily basis, so they have
to have contacts, but they also stand up and make
sure that they do their job right. And so I
guess it is. But it's harder in the Pacific because
(07:20):
we are such small communities, haven't we, And so you know,
in my early career I found it really tough because
I was going up against I was exposing the actions
of my friend's fathers, for example, and in a small community,
these are people who you have daily dealings with, and
it's really hard. But then as you get older, you
(07:41):
just get a little bit more I don't know, hardened
is not quite the right word, but you certainly get
tougher and you know what's really important. And so yeah,
I think it's harder for to do my job in
the Pacific because it is small communities and it's an
area that I love as well, of course, which makes
(08:03):
it more important, right.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
So yeah, well it's very very evident in the reporting
the you do that your heart is for the Pacific,
your origins were there, your family's up there. But it's
interesting of this idea of community and family up there,
Like I know that you offended some politician in the
Cook Islands and the next minute the Prime Minister's calling
you in because it happened to be his cousin.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yes, so, yes, there are many situations we That is
a problem, you know in small countries is that you
find yourself if you're not relate to them or friends
with them or or although to be fair, I'm not
really friends with any politicians. I'm going to be completely honest.
(08:50):
It's it's too hard. I respect people until I don't.
You know, if they do their job right, we're good
to go.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
If you just joined us. My guest tonight is Barbara Driver,
who has been stomping around the Pacific for thirty years
and racking up some fantastic stories and many tales. And
I've been going through her book called Be brave. It's
just full of stories, fantastic stories, and lots of insights
as well. And we'll be talking after the break with
(09:23):
Barbara about an amazing rescue that she was involved in
where she wasn't so much reporting on the news but
actually doing something that was in herself really newsworthy. This
is real life on news Talks here, B. I'm John
Cowen talking with Barbara Drever. Be back of you in
just a minute.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on NEWSTALKSB.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John cown I'm talking
with Barbara Driver, who has been a journalist in the
Pacific for many, many years, and she's packed, not surprisingly
a Pacific song. What are we listening to there?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Oh, that's our brother Love and he did a wonderful
few albums. And the reason I love Brother Love, who's
a Cook Islander, is that many years ago we were
drinking buddy, and I probably shouldn't say this, but we
were a big group of us and we're all we're
rat bags in the early days in the Cook Islands.
(10:16):
So whenever I hear that UK lately going, I really
just feel like I'm back home. In the Cook Islands.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
You say home, do you feel like Cork Islands is
your home?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
Well, I'm a part Cook Islander as well. I'm half
kiddy Bus, but I've also got Cook Islands blood. And
I lived there for eight years and it's really my
stomping ground for becoming a good journal That was my
early career, my first years as a journalist. We're in
the Cook Islands and I learned how to break stories
and it's just a magnificent stamping ground. We broke big stories,
(10:50):
we learned how to Yeah, we had some tough days
there and so by doing that groundwork and our own
co owned a newspaper folding the damn thing, and you know,
we did everything.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
I think you delivered them yourself on a motorbike around
that Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Oh I had a motorbike, but we'd have to borrow
a cuff. The delivery it was, yeah, it was. It
was pretty tough going. And the publisher Jason Brown, you know,
and myself where partners at the time, were just we
really worked hard to make that work and it went
from the two of us and one computer to doing
(11:33):
pretty well. People would leak us all sorts of documents
and that was really where I became a good journalist, right, And.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
You must have had a bit of a reputation up
there of being the ones to go to if you
had a leak or something like that, and you had
some relish. I guess in these expose as of the
politicians up there, of course, it doesn't seem to do
much good because they still seem to say in power
and get re elected.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
I've been through more prime ministers in the Cook Islands
than hot Breakfast sometimes in terms of like so you know,
they come and they go. All politicians do ye ye.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Back to New Zealand and you had a reset. Oh
by the way, I did tease at the end of
the last break that you were involved in an amazing
rescue and you were up in a Tahiti. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Yeah. I was there with Mike Fitzgerald and camera opression
and we'd been doing some environmental sort of tourism sort
of stories and we'd heard we were on Bora Bora,
and we'd come back from days shooting and heard screaming
and these two guys from the hotel ran out and
(12:47):
I just knew that someone was drowning, and sure enough
it was a Japanese man and it has been his
wife who had swum to shore to get help. And
these two guys swam out, got him and tried to
bring him, brought him back to the gety, and I
was yelling at them, no, no, no, take him to
the beach, take him to the beach, because I knew
we wouldn't be able to drag him up on the
(13:08):
jetty was too high. And then myself and Fittsi gave
CPR to this gentleman who Masayuki, who had been out
at sea for quite a while. His heart had stopped
for a long time, and we gave him CPR and
probably after about eleven minutes his hull, Fittsy could feel
(13:31):
his heart both into his hand and and I did
the breathing, and together we brought him back and it
was Yeah, it was a very traumatic time, not less
for his his wife Ayoku. But yes he was. He
was still unconscious and we thought that she wouldn't come back,
(13:52):
but he did.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
A doctor told you that he wasn't likely to survive.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Yeah, well, it's very unusual for someone who's been you know,
his heart had stopped for so long to at least
not have brain damage, but certainly if they don't. He
didn't regain consciousness. You see, he was in a coma
for many days, so it's a minor miracle or a
major miracle, really. And I flew back with my son
(14:19):
actually to when he came out of his coma and
when when we went, because I was having bad dreams
about it. It was a very traumatic situation. And as
we as I went up met them and his wife.
Of course he didn't remember me because he was unconscious,
but his wife just ran at me and he just
(14:41):
hugged each other, and it was a really magical moment.
And they sent me an email with a photo and
I and fits there's a bot of fireworks going off
in the background and they're holding a drink in their hands.
And and he went, he went back to work, you know,
And I was very very happy to play a small
(15:02):
role in that.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
That must be an amazing feeling. I wonder if his
grips were saw afterwards.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
I'm sure, yes, I'm sure they were, but he was alive.
But also he was in a comer for days, so
anything that was broken was here. Yes, that's right.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
I was wondering if his ribs would be after after
Papa new Guinea.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
That's right, FITZI fell into a big hole and broke
many ribs and but yet kept shooting the camera.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
Are tough.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Oh look, they're my heroes, you know, and and this
book there's no story without a camera operator. But when
I'm actually being said those stories and I recount the
behind the scenes, these guys are pretty incredible. And Raymond
will not least like, yeah, they're they're all no no pictures,
(15:55):
no no story. But it's not just that that they've
been my confidant. They've been we've been through some tough
times together and they've got me through some bad times
and we share the laughter as well, and sometimes it
feels like us against the world. You know.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Your book, as well as telling lots of stories, also
sort of well, the theme of it is you building
your courage and the things that you need. An incredible
amount of courage. You needed it during that I was
reading about when you're going through that hurricane, that cyclone.
(16:32):
You're lying there telling yourself, you know, I've been through crises.
I'm good in crises. As if you're coaching yourself to
be brave, and there's been so many times you've being
courage like being trapped in a trapped up in underwater
in an upside down helicopter. It sounds absolutely terrifying.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
It wasn't pleasant, but there were divers outside to pull
us out because of course practicing what would what would
happen if we were caught in a real shopper incident
at sea, and so I knew that we'd be It
was horrible, but I knew i'd be okay. It's the situations,
I guess, which are not so controlled, that are not
(17:10):
within your control, that I have the most problems with.
And most of the time it's been in Fiji during
the coups, the respective cups, I.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Mean, during the space hostage taking, when he was talk
all those hostages, I mean, where were you in the
middle of it?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
I mean, yeah, well I did get into the into
the hostage camp, managed to talk my way into it,
and they had press conferences up there. But I knew
too I had to get more and that wasn't just
a publicity sort of stunt that they were pulling having
(17:48):
these press conferences. I needed to be in there for
longer to see what was really happening on the ground.
And yeah, it was a terrible time. Actually, it was
these these young men who had gone up to support
George Space. The gun men woren't actually the major issue.
They one issue, but it was the unarmed young men
(18:11):
from the village who high on carver and caestosterone and
hugely excited at the thought of what was going on there,
that that were actually the problem. And so, yeah, they
tried to break in one night to the dining room
we were and the husbands of some of the kitchen
stuff put up big forms that you sit on ludge
(18:34):
them against the doors, and yeah, we were told that
name you might try an assassinator hostage and for the
overseas media who were in there to witness it, and
by that time, you know you have to get out.
We became part of a nasty machine in there, so
(18:56):
it was time to get out, and we knew we
had to get out, so we did. But yeah, that
was pretty pretty traumatic in the especially I was very
young in my career as well.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So it's no wonder that your books called be Brave,
You've needed courage in so many of these situations. The
question that was going to put to you, and I
don't know if you've ever thought about this, is that
these different things where you've required a lot of courage.
Some people would be traumatized by that and bruised wounded
by it, whereas for yourself, it seems to have made
(19:26):
you tougher. And I'm just wondering, is there something that
you say to yourself in these situations that helps you
actually process these dangerous situations? Like Raymond again was telling
me you were flying over a volcano and your plane,
your plane has been hit by rocks being thrown out
of the volcano. And you know, these are situations that
(19:47):
I personally don't encounter all that often, and you seem
to fly into them all the time. And I'm just wondering,
what is it that you say to yourself that helps
you survive if your nerves intact.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
These are a few things I mean. I mean, I
do muster to myself, be brave, be brave, which is
the name where the name of that title came from.
But also I mean, our job is to report without
fear or favor as a reporter. That's what you do,
and and we don't do I don't do it to
be on television. I don't. I don't give give a
rats about about my face being on it. But I
(20:21):
give people who need a voice. I give them a voice,
and that's really important. We do it to make a difference,
and so when we can't, they count on us. We've
got to give the right information. We've got to give truth.
We've got to tell the truth. And you know, it's
so important. And so when I'm in a tense situation,
(20:43):
I'm always thinking about is the story going to get
to that's the most important thing? Is is it that
that happens.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Right at the end of the book, you describe yourself
as being an old school journalist. I mean, you don't
lend your name to many causes or publicity or anything
like this. You actually do believe in this journalism, the thing,
this thing that's being squeezed from all sorts of different pressures.
Are you worried about journalism?
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah, yeah, I am. I am, because it's just there
seems there's a I understand that there's good journalists and
there's there's not so good journalists. There There is that
in any profession, but it seems that there's less trust
in a media and more trust in social media, which
(21:34):
is really worrying. But also the resourcing for media. It
worries me as well. But yeah, so in terms of
I know some really great journalists across the board and so,
and I also know some incredible of Carlin journalists, some
of whom I've helped train. So, and I know that
(21:57):
we're in good hands across that's encouraging.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
I can hear in the background some music playing the
music that I think you've selected then tonight's show with
what are we listening to?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Satellite by half a Finn right, And I chose that
song because it reminds me of my late brother, who
the book has dedicated to. It's about grief and dealing
with it. He took his life and I am so
proud of who he was as a person, and I
miss him pretty much every day, as does my family.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Oh well, it's wonderful that you're honoring him in that way.
And thank you so much, Barbara for taking the time
to be with us tonight on real life. Thank you
so much. This has been real life. I'm John Cown,
looking forward to being back with you again next Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Shining like s light sending messages, Think you can see
the shining on you like satellite sending messages. I look
(23:33):
up and think.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Coview For more from News Talk said B. Listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
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