Fighting the good fight _{by Madelaine Empson}

The instantly recognisable, infinitely quotable Paddy Gower has spent a decade telling New Zealanders’ stories as one of our foremost news journalists. From political editor to documentary maker, radio broadcaster to television presenter, he’s nothing short of a broadcasting legend.

I had the pleasure of catching up with Gower ahead of his first ever appearance at Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival. With Phil Quin asking the questions, the This is the F#$%ing News author will join Matt Heath, Wayne Langford, and John Connell for a candid conversation about masculinity and society, health and wealth, life and death, and everything in between in Yeah, It’s All Good: Men Keeping Themselves Well on Sunday the 11^th of May at 1:30pm at Kiwi Hall.

What first piqued your interest in journalism?

I first got interested in journalism, believe it or not, in the 1990s when I was a little boy. I was interested in who was going to be in the All Blacks team on the 1989 tour of Wales and Ireland. They’d name a team for the weekend games and for the weekday games and I just really wanted to see the paper in the morning, the Taranaki Daily News, to see the team all written down. This was in the old, old, old olden days when that was how news got to us. That started a love of newspapers, and then it went from there. I went to university and got a degree, and I didn’t know what to get a job in, and then I studied journalism, then I got a job in journalism, and I’m still here today, 25 years on. And still reading the newspaper!

Everything’s changed so much in that time.

Everything has changed a huge amount. When I started, I went to a course to learn how to use Google. We had a day off journalism to go and learn how to use Google. They were showing us how to like, type in and hit return and stuff. So heaps has changed, but I still subscribe and get The Post on Saturdays, I still like reading the paper. And even though there was a media Armageddon last year and I lost my job and there’s been all of this change, it hasn’t really changed that much. It’s really still about talking to people, getting stories, giving them to someone else. So despite all of that, including actually it destroying my job, I’m still pretty happy [laughs].

What would you describe as the most important work of your career?

Working in Parliament was really important, I did that for 10 years. That’s the same amount of time that someone gets for murder in Paremoremo, you know, it’s a life sentence. And it felt like that at times in there. There were probably more psychopaths and sociopaths there than there are in Paremoremo, but my time there was important because that’s holding the powerful to account on behalf of other Kiwis. I’ve done three leaders debates before the elections – our leaders on show for big audiences. I’ve done a lot of investigative journalism, exposing things and fighting for people. But to be honest, at the moment, I’m trying something called positive news for Stuff, and this latest round of my work is really important too, because it’s about positivity, which is kind of a new thing in journalism. It’s also about holding the line when the industry is being destroyed around me, or feels like it is. That’s important as well, that I’m seen to be out there and fighting the good fight, literally. Long story short, everything’s important [laughs].

On the note of positive news, that’s what we do – we’re designed to elevate and celebrate movers and shakers and their art.

I love it!

Thank you! But it must be so different for you now, talking to someone for a positive news story as opposed to trying to get the scoop, right?

Yeah! The whole positive thing has been really positive for me. I know for a fact that when I used to ring up organisations or email them, it would send shivers down the spine of the whole place. You know, ‘Paddy Gower is onto this!’ A panic light would go up in whatever government department or place it was, that Paddy was hunting them down. You’d ring places up and there’d be this sort of silence on the end of the line. That’s all gone now. With being positive, people want to get in there, and they know there’s not going to be any trick questions. You’re not trying to drag them somewhere they don’t want to go. There’s no surprises. And you’ll know this as well – I think there’s an endless amount of stuff that needs to be elevated out there. We’ve been very quick to tear things down in the media, but slow to elevate them. It’s just an awesome thing to be able to talk to someone about something positive and then shake hands at the end and say, ‘See you later,’ and everyone gets on well.

What’s one of the most surprising stories you have?

The weirdest thing is that I have been into Donald Trump’s toilet at the Mar-a-Lago Club, his house in Florida. He has a ballroom at this estate called the White & Gold Ballroom, and the toilet was white and gold as well. That’s something surprising, isn’t it? Or maybe not for Donald Trump. But, yeah, I’ve used his white-and-gold toilet, more than once!

Wow! Let’s jump into Featherston Booktown. What are you most excited about when it comes to the festival?

I’ve heard it’s the best book festival in Aotearoa, and Featherston absolutely rules, the Wairarapa absolutely rules. I’m going to be on stage with the legend Matt Heath, potentially the funniest man alive. Wayne Langford, absolute legend of a farmer. And then an amazing Irish agricultural writer [John Connell] who’s come out from Ireland. I’m super excited and can’t wait.

Why was it important to you to join the discussion on men’s mental health?

Men’s health, and men’s mental health is so important, and we know that guys don’t want to talk about it. The title of this particular session sounds a bit like we’re asking people to come along to the GP, or come along and have a prostate examination or something like that [laughs]. We’re not doing that. If you do want to do that, please do! But this is going to be more like a good, fun, friendly yak. I’ve had a lot of mental health problems, and I’m open about them. I’ve had anxiety, a breakdown from stress, burnout, addiction, I was an alcoholic, and I’m comfortable about talking about all that in a funny way. People can just come along and take some of the lessons that I’ve learned while we’re just having some banter on stage. I mean, how good!

Is there a book or piece of literature that has had the biggest impact on you?

Yeah, and it’s a good book – The 1987 Rugby Almanack of New Zealand from the year that New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup for the first time. I’m not sure if it’s literary... Hopefully no one from Featherston Booktown in the literary society reads this and revokes my literary status [laughs].

I have to ask, do people still come up to you on the street and go, ‘This is the f**king news’?

F**k yes, every f**king day. The only way I won’t hear it is if I don’t go out in public. If I go out in public, someone will say, ‘This is the f**king news’. And you’ll have to bleep this one too, and I absolutely f**king love it.