RNZ Pacific turns 35

For Radio New Zealand’s Pacific manager, Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor, 35 years have flown by.

With 30 years of experience at New Zealand’s public service radio broadcaster, she has witnessed RNZ Pacific’s growth from just two journalists to a team of 12.

“Radio was very much king,” she said. “I don't think anyone had a TV station back in those days, a very long time ago and it was still very limited in terms of communications and getting information to those various organisations.”

This year marks the 35th anniversary of RNZ Pacific, a service that has been instrumental in connecting and informing Pacific communities.

Launched as RNZ International on 24 January 1990, the same day Auckland hosted the Commonwealth Games, RNZ Pacific has been at the forefront of adapting to technological advancements.

“RNZ Pacific had a website even before RNZ had a website itself,” Tuilaepa-Taylor said.

“One thing we definitely recognised was that more people were coming, more news organisations were coming online.

“That also helped our stations be able to grab our news off the website a lot quicker.

“A lot of our partner stations will use a lot of our stories that we have on the website for their news bulletins.

“So actually adapting that, having the website, meant that it was a lot more instant for them to be able to grab stories.

“If they were breaking stories as well, they could grab breaking stories as well.

“In the past, that wasn't so much a thing until we had the website, which obviously changed over time.”

Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor. Photo/RNZ Pacific

Reporting through crises

When it comes to covering crises in the region, Tuilaepa-Taylor credits their team of overseas correspondents in 20 Pacific nations, many of whom have been in their roles since the beginning.

From natural disasters like the 2009 Sāmoan tsunami to the devastating Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcanic eruption in 2022, the service has provided critical updates even when local broadcasters were knocked offline.

“For instance, there was the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai [eruption],” she said.

“It was actually our former journalist, Finau Fornua, whose mum actually had rung him from Tonga and had mentioned something was happening.

“So that really kicked us into action. We knew something was going on. We have been monitoring the volcano for the last couple of days.

“On the morning of the day the eruption had happened, I had actually spoken to the Tonga Metrologicals, the Tonga Geo Services.

“They had said that it had calmed down a bit, so we knew something would happen.

“We think of the riots in Port Moresby as well. That was really challenging. But also, we've got a correspondent in PNG.

“We recognised the violence in Honiara with the riots a couple of years ago. That was really challenging.

“But as I said, having correspondents, talking to people on the ground, building those relationships over the years has really, really helped us report on what's going on in the ground in many of those Pacific nations.”

(L-R) Linden Clark and Ian Johnstone, former managers of RNZ International now known as RNZ Pacific, Moera Tuilaepa-Taylor, current manager of RNZ Pacific. Photo: RNZ

A reflection of the Pacific

RNZ Pacific's commitment to representing Pacific voices and cultures has been a cornerstone of its mission.

“It's really growing now, the team, in terms of Pacific representation. That's something really important that really reflects the value that we bring in terms of stories that we cover.

“Language is a very important thing as well. A lot of our news stories and bulletins are relayed by various partners in the Pacific region.

“We, as Pacific people, hate getting our names mispronounced or wrongly spelt.

“So that's what we want to also make sure that when other people hear our names, that when they hear their names, we got it right, and it’s spelt right.”

This commitment extends to RNZ Pacific's partnerships with local broadcasters within the Pacific, offering technical support and training to strengthen regional media capabilities.

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The path ahead

Tuilaepa-Taylor highlighted the importance of breaking away from one-dimensional narratives about the Pacific.

“In some ways we kind of see, are seen as mainstream because we are a wider part of RNZ, but really kind of for a long time, we weren't really kind of seen as mainstream to our local partner stations.

“Really, we were kind of seen as a Pacific service, and I think that's really important. I think the coverage of stories is really important.

“Often, I think mainstream media has changed in terms of not every story is about us being at the bottom of some stack.

“There are actually amazing stories that are happening in the Pacific community in New Zealand but also in the region as well so it's really important to tell those stories.”