Kiwi Journalists Featured In New Podcast, Friday Prayers
A new podcast has unveiled raw, firsthand stories of Kiwi journalists who reported from the frontlines of Christchurch’s Mosque Attacks.
Friday Prayers is a six-part podcast series featuring honest interviews with New Zealand journalists who played a significant role in reporting the events of March 15, 2019.
Hosted by Media Chaplain and Radio Broadcaster Reverend Frank Ritchie, this independent podcast infuses the reporters’ tales with his personal experience supporting journalists in processing the intensity of the attacks.
Newshub Journalist Thomas Mead features in the podcast’s first episode, talking to Ritchie about what it was like working that day and how he walked the line between delivering the news and being empathic to the people of his city whose world had been turned upside down.
The podcast series also features:
Stuff’s award-winning investigative journalist, Blair Ensor, who was one of the first at the scene having arrived on a Lime Scooter at the same time as emergency services.
TVNZ journalist Lisa Davies whose emotional live report outside the Mosque gave a glimpse into the sensitivity required of all journalists working that day.
Former Stuff visual journalist George Heard (now Newshub) whose images of the scene at Deans Ave were the first to be broadcast across the world.
NZME’s Rachel Das whose empathetic approach to the victims led to touching interpersonal moments we would not usually associate with journalism.
Logan Church of RNZ who threw himself into the mix, reporting early, and doing his best to help victims.
Rolled out across the week before the first anniversary of March 15, the podcast sheds light on what it was like to be a New Zealand journalist on such a historic day and the emotional and mental processing that followed.
Rev Frank Ritchie says for the Christchurch journalists the attacks felt personal as it was their home.
“Their empathy shone through. They threw themselves into danger, yet in all of it maintained their professionalism, while also extending care to those who were suffering.
“All of us around the country knew what was going on within minutes of the attack because there were people who had rushed into the chaos, digesting and relaying information and stories as it all unfolded – journalists; most importantly, Christchurch journalists.”