COURAGE UNDER FIRE
Mike McRoberts’ big milestone
It wasn’t the most auspicious start to a new job. On his first day as a newsreader at TV3 20 years ago, Mike McRoberts was driving to the studio when he realised he didn’t know exactly where the television company, now called Three, was based.
“It was before Google maps,” chuckles Mike, “and I remember driving there, thinking, ‘Where the hell is this place?’ I had to ring reception to find out.” As it was Good
Friday, he also had to
get someone to let him into the building, tucked away in a side street in Auckland’s
Eden Terrace. Despite suffering from first-day nerves, he felt comfortable straight away.
“I read the news with Carolyn Robinson and Wendy Petrie did the weather, and they made me feel so welcome,” recalls Mike. “I was so nervous and I can’t remember a single word I said, but I got through. I did the news for the rest of the long weekend and I immediately felt at home.”
In the last two decades, Three has become Mike’s second home. At his actual home, a stylish 1960s house surrounded by native bush, he’s reminiscing with the Weekly about his 20 years at the channel and recalling how going from the state broadcaster to Three was a big call, but one he’s never regretted.
“The culture of Three is “based on being the underdog but doing things better anyway,” he enthuses. “We revel in the fact that we can break things faster and there is not a massive chain of command that you have to go through. We’ve got an amazing team and I think we do a great job.”
He’s told the country about events from the 9/11 attacks through to the Christchurch mosque shootings, and last year was possibly one of the most taxing in his presenting career, with many extra hours devoted to coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was tiring but I was very glad I got to do it with Sam [Hayes, his fellow primetime news anchor]. We have developed an incredible partnership and it is a real privilege to work with her.
And she pulls me up if I tell too many dad jokes!”
Mike says the fact that both he and Sam still report on the news, as well as reading it, provides authenticity. And he never ceases to be grateful for the opportunities he’s had to travel around the world covering major news stories.
His first experience of an overseas conflict had been when he covered the coup in Fiji in 2000. That whetted his appetite, not just for reporting on events as they were happening, but finding stories Kiwis could relate to.
“I love the storytelling – the richness of the stories you come across,” explains Mike.
When he started at Three at Easter 2001, he had no idea that within months, he’d be reporting on the fallout of one of the biggest events of the 21st century.
“When 9/11 happened, it changed my life completely,” reflects Mike. “It became clear that the US was going to retaliate and go into
Afghanistan. Mark [Jennings, then TV3’s head of news] and I figured that based on how long it had taken them to act after the first Gulf War, it would probably take them a month before they went into Afghanistan.
“We wanted to make sure I was there when it kicked off and I got there four or five days before the Americans started bombing.
“My first big story was being caught in the mad riot after the bombings started. It was very violent and unlike anything we had experienced before. It really was life-changing. I definitely had moments of thinking, ‘What am I doing?’ But if you don’t have those moments, then you shouldn’t be doing it.
“[My then wife] Paula [Penfold] had just found out she was pregnant with our daughter Maia and our son Ben was very young, so I did have a lot to think about. I didn’t take any unnecessary risks and what came out of it was that I learned so much about covering conflict.”
Another difficult time was when he went to Iraq in 2005. It was a particularly dangerous time for journalists – some had been kidnapped and beheaded. Mike and the team had protection for the first time, hiring former Iraqi royal guards. They dressed like locals, travelled in two beat-up cars and spent most of their time lying in the back seats so they wouldn’t be seen.
“Every time we stopped,
you’d hear the guys in front clicking their guns, getting them ready. The road from the airport into the city was at that time the most dangerous road in the world. I did have times when I thought, ‘Why are you here?’ But when people see me reporting in situations like that, it brings it home a bit more and it makes it feel more real to New Zealanders.”
Mike and the TV crew have scored a few scoops, including attending a rally of Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who was on the US’s “most wanted” list.
In the Solomon Islands, he was able to secure an exclusive interview with warlord Harold Keke, which involved braving rough conditions in a tiny boat to get into the jungle.
“It’s physically one of the toughest things I’ve ever done,” tells Mike. But it was worth the arduous journey to be able to return not only with the interview footage, but with a note from Keke to the Australian and New Zealand defence forces, saying he was prepared to talk to them about disarming.
Mike is quick to point out that he’s no fan of war, especially after what he has seen.
“It’s a horrible thing. It kills people, it debases the human spirit, it tears people apart, the destruction is terrible. But the stories are incredible and it is important to tell those stories.”
He’s seen many traumatic things, but says he has got better at coping with them. “I used to bottle things up, but I know now that you have to deal with it. I’ve had a bit of counselling, but I’ve also done a lot of work helping out on trauma courses with younger journalists and that’s helped me.”
There are stories that he carries with him long after they have screened and people he will always remember. These include a young girl who had been badly injured in the fighting in Gaza in 2014.
“The carnage and loss of life was horrendous,” recalls Mike, shaking his head at the memory of covering that conflict, which he says was one of his toughest assignments.
Similarly, when he went to Haiti in 2010 to report on the aftermath of the earthquake that killed an estimated 250,000 people, he was compelled to help a five-year-old girl who’d suffered a horrific leg injury.
“She probably got seen by the doctor earlier than she would have because the camera was there and she got operated on straightaway. I don’t know what happened to her in the end, which I feel bad about.”
Mike’s sombre as he talks about some of the awful things he’s seen, but brightens when he recalls acts of kindness he’s witnessed. These include the Haitian man who let Mike and his crew sleep on the porch of his house – it was too dangerous to sleep inside in case another jolt caused the house to collapse – and use his precious electricity and broadband to send stories back to Three. “So many times I’ve been gobsmacked by the generosity and kindness of others.”
The pandemic has put a halt to foreign travel for the time being, but Mike is looking forward to being able to head out to international hotspots again one day. In the meantime, he’s relishing his newsreading work and being a mentor to young journalists.
Keeping fit is one of his priorities – he recently joined two pals to compete as a team in the Nutri-Grain Ironman, doing the 90km bike ride. To his delight, they came eighth.
He turned 55 in March and spent the morning cycling through the Waita¯ kere Ranges with his partner Heidi Ettema on new mountain bikes. “They were my birthday present to us and a great way to spend my birthday.
“To be honest, I don’t really think about my age that much. I feel really healthy and I’m happy and grateful that I have been able to do so much.
“I feel like I’m in a really good time of my life, doing what I love – and hopefully that will continue.”
‘I used to bottle things up, but I know now that you have to deal with it’