Mike McRoberts (born 1966) is a New Zealand television journalist and news anchor.

Early life

McRoberts was born in 1966 to a

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

father and

pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non-Māori New Ze ...

mother. He attended Manning Intermediate and

Hillmorton High School Hillmorton is a suburb of Rugby, Warwickshire, England, around south-east of Rugby town centre, forming much of the eastern half of the town. It is also a ward of the Borough of Rugby. Hillmorton was historically a village in its own right, b ...

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. He completed a journalism diploma from the New Zealand Broadcasting School at CPIT (now

Ara Institute of Canterbury Ara Institute of Canterbury, often simply referred to as Ara, is an institute of technology in Canterbury, New Zealand. It was formed in 2016 from the merger of Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and Aoraki Polytechnic. Ara ...

) in 1986. As his father was discouraged to speak Maori, Mike and his older brother also never learnt to speak the language. As such, he was criticized for his lack of fluency.

Career

McRoberts began his career in 1984 as a cadet at

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 ...

. In 1995, McRoberts accepted an offer as a sports reporter for

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

. In 1998 he moved to current affairs joining the ''

Holmes Holmes may refer to: Name * Holmes (surname) * Holmes (given name) * Baron Holmes, noble title created twice in the Peerage of Ireland * Chris Holmes, Baron Holmes of Richmond (born 1971), British former swimmer and life peer Places In the Uni ...

'' programme, and after a successful stint on that show, he left TVNZ to join rival TV3 as a reporter in 2001. In 2002 he took a presenting position with current affairs show

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

. He also reported for the show, covering stories such as gangs' drug use, body dysmorphia, and addiction to internet pornography. In March 2005 McRoberts and journalist

Hilary Barry Hilary Ann Barry (née Pankhurst, born 4 December 1969) is a New Zealand journalist and television personality who co-hosts '' Seven Sharp'' with Jeremy Wells on TVNZ 1. She was a newsreader on TV3 for many years and until 2016, presented the 6 ...

were appointed as 6pm newsreaders. McRoberts is best known for his work in some of the world's most dangerous places, covering conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, East Timor and Solomon Islands. He has covered some of the world's worst natural disasters from tsunamis, to wildfires and earthquakes, including the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the Japan earthquake and tsunami and his coverage of the Christchurch earthquake in 2010 and 2011. Mike McRoberts, 2011

In May 2012, McRoberts became the anchor of TV3's new current affairs show Three 60 focusing on international news, politics, and business. In 2019 McRoberts was a contestant on ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the forma ...

''. On May 3, 2021, McRoberts was honoured for his 20 years of service for TV3/Newshub. Mike appeared on

The Masked Singer NZ ''The Masked'' ''Singer NZ'' is a New Zealand reality singing competition television show based on the '' Masked Singer'' franchise which originated from the South Korean version of the show ''King of Mask Singer''. It premiered on Three on 9 Ma ...

as "

Orange Roughy The orange roughy (''Hoplostethus atlanticus''), also known as the red roughy, slimehead and deep sea perch, is a relatively large deep-sea fish belonging to the slimehead family (Trachichthyidae). The UK Marine Conservation Society has categoriz ...

", he was eliminated in his third appearance.

Personal life

McRoberts married journalist

Paula Penfold Paula Penfold is a New Zealand investigative journalist. She is best-known for her investigation into the wrongful conviction of Auckland man Teina Pora for murder and rape. Career Penfold began her career in radio, working for Radio New Zealan ...

and the couple have two children, Ben and Maia. They separated in 2017. McRoberts has won numerous journalism awards, including Qantas Television Award for TV Journalist of the Year in 2006. McRoberts published his first book ''Beyond the Front Line'' in October 2011. McRoberts is also a

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

ambassador. In 2022's factual and autobiographical documentar
''Kia Ora, Good Evening''
He revealed that he and his family, including his older brother, John had been learning Maori, because despite his Maori heritage, neither he nor his brother learnt to speak the language even at a basic level until John reached adulthood because their father was discouraged to speak Maori in schools. This also caused backlash over the years that he has never been able to speak the ethnicity's mother tongue, which contrasts Oriini Kaipara and

Mihingarangi Forbes Mihingarangi Forbes (born ), also known as Mihi Forbes and Joanne Forbes, is a New Zealand journalist, television presenter and radio broadcaster. She has worked on current affairs shows including ''Campbell Live'', ''20/20'', and ''Native Affair ...

, who used to work for TV3 until 2012.

References

External links

Profile
on NZ on Screen * {{DEFAULTSORT:McRoberts, Mike 1966 births Ngāti Kahungunu people Living people New Zealand Māori broadcasters New Zealand television newsreaders and news presenters Mass media people from Dunedin

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links