Multimedia, Indigenous and equitable storytelling is Carmen’s love, and expertise. She’s a multi award-winning journalist, editor and news executive. From 2001, she has worked in print, television and digital newsrooms. Carmen was named New Zealand’s editorial executive of the year in 2021, and runner up NZ journalist of the year in 2019, and 2021.

In 2020, Carmen created and led the Pou Tiaki (guard post) strategy at Stuff Group in New Zealand, focused on improving fair or equitable representation of Māori and all marginalised communities.

Part of her extensive body of work includes the increased use of reo Māori, the Māori language, across the business from lessons to dual masthead names. She recently introduced the world’s first news AI reo Māori translation tool with Straker and Microsoft. Over two years, Carmen led a production team, academics, and community leaders to create Te Matarau, an animated online programme to help Stuff staff use a multil lens approach in their everyday work. Part of Te Matarau included hosting the first ever, industry wide, news wānanga or gathering focused on improving representation in 2023.

She also helped lead Stuff’s successful campaign to make Matariki, the first Māori public holiday, and of course, the historic Tā Mātou Pono apology from Stuff to Māori for how they had been represented since the mid-1800s. It is still the only national media apology, in the world, to be offered to Indigenous people. The project won the INMA Global Media Awards: Best in Asia/Pacific in 2021. Carmen was also named PRovoke Media’s top 25 media innovators in Asia/Pacific. She has just started working with Te Amokura, a Māori focused consultancy business as a media specialist working on Indigenous national and international projects.

If you want to know more:

• Watch this seminar with Isabella Higgins on reporting on Indigenous issues
• Read this project on the challenges faced by Indigenous journalists by our Journalist Fellow Bridget Brennan
• Read our write-up of this seminar with Stuff CEO Sinead Boucher 

Part of our Global Journalism Seminars.

Register below.