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Patrick Gower

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Patrick Gower
Born1976 or 1977 (age 47)[1]
New Plymouth, New Zealand
EducationFrancis Douglas Memorial College
Alma materBA Hons from Victoria University of Wellington
OccupationPolitical journalist
EmployerStuff
Children2
WebsiteOfficial Newshub profile

Patrick "Paddy"[2] Gower (born 1976/1977) is a New Zealand political journalist for Stuff. Prior to his current role he was political editor and then national correspondent for Newshub (formerly called 3 News).

Early life

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Gower grew up in New Plymouth where his father was a fitter and turner at a power station, and his mother was a doctor's receptionist.[3] He had a Roman Catholic upbringing and schooling, having attended St Joseph's Catholic School and Francis Douglas Memorial College.[3]

He has a BA with honours in politics from Victoria University of Wellington, choosing the university because it was near Parliament. While he attended Victoria University he got involved in Salient magazine.[4] After finishing his politics degree, he studied journalism at Auckland University of Technology.[3]

Journalism career

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Gower started his journalism career working the graveyard shift (6pm–1:30am) at The New Zealand Herald,[3][5] later becoming one of the newspaper's two police reporters. He subsequently moved to the UK and worked at Jane's Police Review.[3] Once back in New Zealand he worked again at the Herald, covering politics and working under Audrey Young.[3]

Later he made a move to television journalism and began working at 3 News, where he was initially a political reporter. He has said that the transition involved a big change in reporting styles:

I always said that in print it's like working with a scalpel, because you can really get into the nitty-gritty, and you can be really specialised and direct. And you can work with complex issues really easily. In TV you've got to drop the scalpel, and they hand you an axe. It can be really effective to use, but it's nowhere near as delicate as working in print.[4]

He took over as political editor of 3 News from Duncan Garner in November 2012.[6]

Despite controversy about political bias on social networking sites, Gower claims to be a non-voter on the grounds of impartiality, stating:[7]

People ask all the time do I vote, and I just don't, because I like to be independent as possible. I understand a lot of other journalists here can vote and personally I think that's fine. And being fair to both sides is important, and always giving a fair go to everyone and letting them have their say is absolutely crucial. Ultimately the best guard against bias is just by doing the best stories in the best way that you can. If you’re following the news then you never have to worry about being biased.

In 2018, after five years as Newshub's political editor, he shifted roles to become its national correspondent.[8] He maintained this role until Newshub’s closure in 2024.

On 20 August 2024, Stuff announced the hiring of Gower for its news operations.[9]

Viral skit

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On 18 August 2014, Gower appeared in a skit by the University of Auckland Law School’s comedy revue, presenting a live report for 3 News in the campus’s library. In the skit, a library-goer stands up and says, "This is a fucking library!", to which Gower replies, "This is the fuckin' news."[10] A remix of the video posted in December later went viral.[11][12] He recreated the video in the same location as part of the announcement of his hiring by Stuff ten years later, with the profanity bleeped out.[9]

Cannabis documentary

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In 2019, Gower featured in a two part documentary series Patrick Gower: On Weed where he explored issues related to medicinal and recreational cannabis before the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum. The documentary, produced by Three and funded by NZ on Air, was filmed in New Zealand and the United States.[13][14] A final third episode was released in September 2020,[15][16] in advance of the referendum which had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17][18]

They Are Us script

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In July 2021, Gower broke the story on a leaked draft script of the controversial They Are Us movie, which was based on the Christchurch mosque shootings. The proposed script was criticised by members of the New Zealand Muslim community as well as several politicians including National Party leader Simon Bridges, ACT Party David Seymour, and former Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters for its depiction of graphic violence, exploitation of the tragedy for commercial gain, and historical inaccuracies of the events relating to the mosque shootings.[19][20][21] Gower was emotionally affected by the script and called upon the film's director and writer Andrew Niccol to withdraw from the film production.[22]

Personal life

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Gower lives in Wellington[1] and has two children.[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Daniell, Sarah (22 November 2012). "Twelve Questions with Patrick Gower". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Paddy Gower Has Issues | CURRENT-AFFAIRS | ThreeNow". www.threenow.co.nz. Retrieved 27 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Du Fresne, Karl. "Gower Power". New Zealand Listener. pp. 22–26. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  4. ^ a b McCarthy, Molly & Blake-Kelly, Stella (29 July 2013). "An Hour With Gower". Salient magazine. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Gower power". The New Zealand Listener. 9 May 2014. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Patrick Gower profile at". LinkedIn. Archived from the original on 28 June 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  7. ^ Gavin Bertram (9 September 2014). "Asking the Right Questions: Patrick Gower". The Pantograph Punch.
  8. ^ "Patrick Gower to Take on National Correspondent Role in 2018 | Scoop News". www.scoop.co.nz. Retrieved 11 August 2018.
  9. ^ a b Fenwick, Janine (20 August 2024). "Paddy Gower has finally got a job doing the f...ing news". www.stuff.co.nz. Stuff. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  10. ^ Auckland Law Revue (18 August 2014). "The Campaign [Revue Plot Parody] "The Law Society Campaign"". YouTube. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  11. ^ "Reporter's F-Bomb Retort Goes Viral, Reminds Us It Really is All About "Location, Location, Location"". Independent Journal Review. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  12. ^ "Patrick Gower's 'thug life' goes viral". Stuff. 22 December 2014.
  13. ^ "Patrick Gower uses marijuana in the name of research for On Weed doco". Stuff. 18 September 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  14. ^ "Paddy Gower's weed documentary was fun but severely flawed". The Spinoff. 20 September 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Cannabis referendum: Patrick Gower says final On Weed doco shows yes vote can 'change things for people'". Newshub. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Patrick Gower to do more Weed next year". Stuff. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  17. ^ "New Zealand delays election over coronavirus fears". BBC News. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  18. ^ "Jacinda Ardern delays New Zealand 'Covid election' by four weeks". The Spinoff. 17 August 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  19. ^ Gower, Patrick (11 July 2021). "Leaked They Are Us draft script graphically depicts Christchurch terror attack, families say it's 'worse than the livestream'". Newshub.
  20. ^ "Christchurch mosque attacks movie: Leaked 'They Are Us' script rewrites NZ history". The New Zealand Herald. 13 July 2021. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  21. ^ Andelane, Lana (14 July 2021). "They Are Us: Winston Peters calls on producers of Christchurch terror attack film to 'quit while they're behind' after viewing draft script". Newshub. Archived from the original on 13 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  22. ^ Andelane, Lana (12 July 2021). "They Are Us: Patrick Gower issues emotional plea to Kiwi director Andrew Niccol to scrap contentious film". Newshub. Archived from the original on 15 July 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  23. ^ Howie, Cherie (28 September 2014). "Gower gets one in the eye over election". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
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