Emma Espiner (née Wehipeihana) is a New Zealand broadcaster and political commentator. In 2020, she won Opinion Writer of the Year at the

Voyager Media Awards The New Zealand Newspaper Publishers’ Association awards are annual New Zealand media awards recognising excellence in the news print media. The first awards were held in 1974 giving out awards for news photography and have expanded to include ...

Biography

Espiner grew up in Wellington. Her mother, Colleen Smith, was a feminist activist and Espiner was involved in feminist protests from a young age. Her father was Martin Wehipeihana. Of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

descent, Espiner has whakapapa (heritage) to the Ngāti Tukorehe and

Ngāti Porou Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou is affiliated with the 28th Maori Battalion and has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand ...

iwi. She graduated with a

Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

from the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

in 2020. She is a columnist for

Newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...

and hosts a podcast ''Getting Better'' for

Radio New Zealand Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and c ...

about Māori health equity.

Personal life

Espiner is married to journalist

Guyon Espiner Guyon Espiner (born 31 December 1970) is an investigative journalist at Radio New Zealand. He has worked in print, radio and television for more than 20 years, as a reporter, political editor and anchor. Career Espiner grew up in Christchu ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Espiner, Emma Year of birth missing (living people) Living people New Zealand journalists New Zealand podcasters New Zealand women podcasters Ngāti Porou people Ngāti Raukawa people