The Newsroom Blog

American Journalism Student 'Comes Home' to New Zealand

For Brigham Young University (BYU) journalism student, Caitlin Kingi, coming to New Zealand for a three-month education visit is exciting for two reasons.

Not only is she honing her craft as a writer, photographer and videographer, she is also able to visit some of the people and places she has heard her Huntly-born father talk about since she was a little girl.

Yesterday the American-born Maori was among a group of 20 BYU students who were hosted by New Zealand Herald journalist, Vaimoana Tapaleao, at the newspaper's Auckland headquarters.

Left to right: New Zealand Herald journalist, Vaimoana Tapaleao; director of public affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Auckland and Northland), Muriel Samuela; and Brigham Young University student, Caitlin Kingi.

The students are in New Zealand as part of their undergraduate coursework. They have been put in small teams, given video cameras, microphones and editing software, and tasked to go out and find interesting stories to tell about New Zealand and its people.

Yesterday’s visit to NZME headquarters in Auckland was an opportunity for the students to learn—from the experts—how a major newspaper works. In addition to hearing from Tapaleao, the BYU students also met online editor Irene Chapple, chief of staff Elizabeth Binning and other editorial staff.

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