A woman, Oriini Kaipara, a inspiring presenterhas made history as she becomes the first person with a Mori facial tattoo to present primetime news.
On Monday (December 27), Oriini Kaipara filled in for regular hosts Sam Hayes and Mike McRoberts on Newshub’s 6 o’clock broadcast.
She will start as a permanent reporter for the news organization’s 4.30 p.m. bulletin, but she aspires to become a presenter for the 6 p.m. slot.
Kaipara claimed that she got the tattoo after a DNA test confirmed that she was 100% Mori.
The moko kauae – a holy lower chin tattoo worn by Mori women – has received a lot of good feedback online, with one commenter emphasizing the necessity of “keeping culture in such different, human, and beautiful ways.”
Talking to Stuff, she said: “It’s really exciting. I’m really enjoying it. I’m not speechless, but it’s a buzz. I am proud of how far I’ve come in being able to anchor 6pm right now.”
“It’s breaking new ground for us as Māori, but also for people of colour,” she said. “Whether you’ve got a moko kauae or not.”
“I’m very much aware that I’m the first [with moko kauae] to anchor a six o’clock primetime news bulletin,
“That is always at the back of my mind, that every step I make is like breaking through a glass ceiling,” she added.
Social feeds were flooded with love and support for the journalist, with many “hoping this 6pm news slot is made permanent for Oriini.”
The 37-year-old first made headlines when she presented TVNZ’s midday broadcast in 2019.
“It’s definitely a step forward, and a step-up. If there was a goal for me, it would be anchoring prime time news, and that’s happened,” she said.
“We’ve got a good team at Newshub, I don’t feel the pressure as much as I used to when I first started out in journalism. But that comes with doing the hard yards, and then actually realising it and doing it is really exciting.”
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
