New face at the Courier’s helm
There’s a changing of the guard at the Manukau Courier.
Editor Judith Tucker left the company last Friday after 11 years at the helm.
She has been replaced by news director Justin Latif, a Mangere local and former Western Leader
journalist.
Tucker is taking early retirement after 40 years as a journalist.
She started her career as a cub reporter with the Manawatu Evening Standard in Palmerston North, where she also worked as a sub-editor, features editor, chief sub-editor and news editor.
She headed off for her big OE ’’rather late in life’’ and was the editor of a London newspaper for Kiwis in the United Kingdom for five years.
Back in New Zealand, she was chief sub-editor at NZ House & Garden magazine before taking up her role at the Manukau Courier.
She says she is still passionate about the work community newspapers do and will miss the connection she has built with South Auckland communities.
‘‘I have loved getting the stories of the people of South Auckland into the paper and up online.
‘‘Yes, we’ve had some terrible things to report over the years but overwhelmingly most of the stories we’ve told have been those of amazing achievement and very special people.’’
Latif was born in Fiji but moved to Auckland when he was five.
He grew up in Onehunga, attending Onehunga High, before going to university in Dunedin.
He began his journalism career working for a magazine in Samoa and went to work for the Western Leader and Stuff.co.nz for a number of years.
Most recently he has run a small community magazine in Mangere called 275 Times with his wife as well as working as a legal educator for the Mangere Community Law Centre.
He has lived in Mangere for the last six years with his wife and their daughter. During that time he has come to truly love South Auckland. Its communities represent some of the most caring, resilient and empowered people in New Zealand, he says.
He’s looking forward to continuing the great work the newspaper has done up till now.
And he’s also aiming to embrace all the new online opportunities that are emerging for news media.