Indira Stewart turns award success into growing next wave of Pacific journalists

Tongan-Fijian journalist Indira Stewart is turning her award-winning reporting into a resource for the next generation of Pacific storytellers.

The in-depth multimedia and investigative journalist at 1News was recently named Reporter of the Year at the New Zealand Screen Awards.

While Stewart has made headlines for her investigations into the children of prisoners, women in gangs, the Shincheonji religious movement, and underage sex workers, she is now focused on mentoring young Pacific journalists and helping them navigate a fast-changing media landscape.

Speaking with Carolanne Toetu’u on Pacific Days, the mother-of-four, says from a young age Pacific people are taught “skills of connection”, coming from a village mentality where networking is a natural element of being Pacific, particularly Tongan.

“So one, it's been a privilege to have grown up in this world where I'm connected to so many family, friends and wider communities. And two, I don't take it lightly, the privilege of being trusted, or having access to some of those people,” Stewart says.

“Some of these journalists will go back and they might never see the people they interview again. I will end up at a wedding sitting next to someone that I interviewed two years ago. I know that I'm in a position where I have to make sure that if I'm asking someone to trust me, I have to make sure that my character and my integrity is in place so that people know that they're safe.”

Watch Indira Stewart’s full interview below.

Stewart says her Pacific identity is central to her journalism. She hails from Tu’anuku in Vava’u, Tonga, and Kadavu in Fiji, and her family moved to New Zealand in the 1980s.

Having lived in both Aotearoa and Australia, she says that growing up in a big Tongan and Fijian family connects her to often-overlooked communities in mainstream news, particularly in matters of housing, education, and politics.

“You grow up in so many different environments. It's not just your school life and your work life. You've got church, you've got extended family, you've got all these things that you get involved in in the community.

Watch Indira Stewart’s award speech below.

“Sometimes there are stories here, for example, housing issues, education or anything else to do with this, maybe not even specifically Pasifika. I always find that I'm so blessed to have access to my community and powerful stories because our people often are most impacted or most vulnerable in some of these really key issues in politics.”

Stewart also says that her diverse upbringing allows her to access and tell powerful stories that highlight the vulnerabilities of her community. She recalls an emotional moment during the production of her piece, Children of Prisoners, when she interviewed a Pasifika father in Serco prison, who turned out to be someone she knew from her childhood.

“It was a reminder to me of all the different paths that our lives can take in our own community. It ended up with judges who got in touch with myself and also these rangatahi [youth]. Chief Judge Ida Malosi, the Principal Youth Court Judge, an amazing woman. She got in touch, then got in touch with the rangatahi.

“They've been really helping to support those girls to try and pass a legislation change next year. To see that have an impact on their lives and change perhaps the next generation, we're hopeful that it does, has been something that I'm so proud to have been a part of.”

Her award comes at a difficult time for the media sector, with funding cuts affecting platforms including Te Karere, RNZ, and Tagata Pasifika, which put pressure on newsrooms to tell Pacific stories.

Stewart says she will continue to focus on maintaining integrity and community responsibility, urging young Pasifika journalists to pursue the same.

“Integrity is the biggest thing that I always try to chase. I'm not a perfect person and I've never been perfect. I haven't always had a journey that hasn't been full of mistakes at all. But seeking to be a person of integrity is something that I will always strive for and continue to strive for.

“No matter where life takes you, in order to be able to maintain any platform you might get, you have to have the character to sustain yourself in those places. You see a lot of people get to different places of achievement and in those places, the spotlight can be harsher when your character isn't, you know, as honest and pure as it can be, authentically.”