‘There’s magic everywhere:’ Niuean journalist celebrates homecoming

Niue has welcomed its newest journalist, who will cover many stories on the island.

Moana Makapelu-Lee has come back home to Niue, joining the island's only news organisation after 13 years in New Zealand media.

“What I love about working in Niue is that there’s magic everywhere. There’s stories in everything, stories everywhere. For the people here, it’s just their everyday life,” she says.

Having grown up in Niue, Makapelu-Lee returns home with a wealth of media skills and knowledge.

Makapelu-Lee interviewing Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown. Photo/Provided.

The former Te Karere and Tagata Pasifika reporter says it’s been a long time coming.

“It’s always been a long desire to come home to Niue. I actually grew up here when I was a child. My grandparents raised me with my 50 million cousins,” she chuckles.

“Those were really important years and times for me because we all grew up with those memories of this place.

“I always wanted to come back and bring my baby home, work here and give back to my people here in Niue as well. And I think my time was coming to an end at Te Karerere, so it was my opportunity to come home.

“The Pulefakamotu celebrations spurred me too, so I felt like there was no better time than now to come back home and make the most of it.”

Makapelu-Lee, who also has Cook-Islands heritage, began her career working for Whakaata Māori (Māori Television), where she found that entering journalism was a natural progression, working in Māori media.

Makapelu-Lee reporting in New Zealand Parliament. Photo/Provided.

Makapelu-Lee joins TV station BCN (Broadcasting Commission of Niue) as their newest reporter, bringing valuable experience from her work with Māori TV, Tagata Pasifika, Cook Islands News, and most recently, Te Karere.

“I started at Māori TV as a reporter. I started in sports. I was a sports reporter. I didn’t really know anything about sports, to be honest.

“After sports, I got a position as a political reporter for Maori TV, so I moved to Wellington to work in the press gallery for about a year. And that was a whole different ball game. It was kind of being chucked in the deep end and into the lion’s den.

“The kind of environment in Parliament is completely different, and the way you operate, journalists operate in the press gallery is a whole different level. You kind of have to have a thicker skin, so that was a very valuable experience.”

In 2019, Makapelu-Le joined Tagata Pasifika, where she engaged in longer-form stories that she enjoyed.

Before Covid-19 struck, she spent three months in the Cook Islands on work experience.

“I got a short-term contract to work with the Cook Islands news newspaper under Jonathan Milne. And that was another experience for me to go home and work in that home of mine, and reconnect with my family there, get into the stories of my community there.”

Reporting at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Photo/Provided.

As the news of the Covid-19 pandemic hit their newsroom, she was finishing her time in the Cook Islands.

She returned to Aotearoa and began video journalism for Tangata Pasifika before joining TVNZ’s Te Karere, where she worked for the last three years.

Now, one month into her new role at BCN, Makapelu-Lee reflects on her time there.

“We have a really small team at BCN, but they’re really, really hardworking. They’re so clever and so lovely, they don’t have all the flash technology like in New Zealand, but they work with what they have and still tell amazing stories.

“The workload is just like any region. News never ends so it is busy for news here in Niue. We haven’t really stopped since the (50th Consititon) celebrations.

“There’s just so much magic in all of it. I love capturing these stories. It’s raw and authentic and part of their identity. For me as a storyteller, it’s just everywhere and that’s what I’ve loved coming back home.”

Pathway for Niue journalists

By returning to Niue, Makapelu-Lee has contributed to addressing a labour shortage on the island where the population - about 1700 - continues to decline.

She has become one of two journalists of Niuean heritage who work at BCN.

Former BCN reporter Sariah Magaoa, who joined Pacific Media Network three months ago, expressed her encouragement at the news of Makapelu-Lee’s return.

“It’s really amazing to see, in her case, she’s able to reconnect with her land, her home, and her people, it’s her identity,” Magaoa said.

Makapelu-Lee with Winston Peters. Photo/Provided.

“In terms of the career she’s been a part of here in media, it’s really great to see our people, our own blood, our tangata, go home and give back their experience.

“We are lacking workers (in Niue). I know there are a lot of initiatives and interventions being done to help bring our people back or bring people from other countries to work, which is quite sad.

“That is something Niue continues to struggle with, how they may encourage them to come back home and build their homes and lives there. That’s still their home, no matter if they’re raised here (NZ).

“For Moana, it’s such an honour to see her go home and settle in well with BCN and do her thing.”