In 2022, TVNZ chief correspondent John Campbell compiled a series of stories called 'Tough Love'. Set against the backdrop of increasing youth crime and ram raids across New Zealand, Campbell's stories illuminated the lives of the teens behind the headlines, and asked what got them there, and the effort being undertaken to get them out of a life of crime.
If you grew up glued to the television like me, John Campbell's journalism was appointment viewing.
The award-winning journalist has been on Kiwi screens in one way or another for 34 years now, hosting shows like Breakfast at TVNZ, Campbell Live and 3News before that, as well as RNZ's Checkpoint for three years.
It was during his time at RNZ that he filed a longform report from the Palmerston North youth justice residence Te Au Rere a te Tonga, which deals with youth who are either at risk or high risk - and many who are both.
Four years later, after a long and successful stint presenting Breakfast, Campbell was appointed to his current role of TVNZ chief correspondent, and found himself returning to the youth of Te Au Rere a te Tonga.
"I found them incredibly without guile. You know, you'd ask them a question and they'd just answer it, even if the answer didn't reflect very well on them."
For many of the youth, this centre is their last chance to break the cycle of violence and crime before they are treated as adults.
"What had changed between 2018 and 2022 was the kids who were stealing the cars and fleeing the cops at high speed were now ram-raiding as well.
"What the hell makes a child behave like that?"
His determination to find out, and to illuminate lives on what he calls a "strikingly un-level playing field" led to the Tough Love series for 1News.
"They do not have lives that we would even remotely describe as ordinary."
His brand of journalism is uniquely empathetic, but he argues that doesn't mean he's soft on crime.
"Actually I would say that going soft on crime is the current narrative which just says, 'how are we going to punish the crime' after the fact.
"That feels to me that it's going soft on crime because it allows it to happen."
Campbell's investigation was thorough, as reflected by how far he travelled to complete it.
Te Au Rere a te Tonga was just the first stop on a series that also took him to South Auckland, as well as securing an interview with Principal Youth Court Judge Ida Malosi.
Malosi was appointed to the position a month prior to the interview, at a time when there were increasing calls to get tough on young offenders.
"But what I see in young people, John, is that they have the sense that what they're doing is wrong, but they don't have the ability to do it in the right way unless we give them an opportunity for that," she told him.
Malosi said they needed to be reached long before they arrive at the Youth Court.
In this emotional first instalment of The Story I'll Never Forget, Campbell grapples with youth crime, the circumstances surrounding it, and the vast abyss between their childhood and that which his own children experienced.
The Story I'll Never Forget is a fortnightly, digital-exclusive series by 1News, asking New Zealand's leading team of journalists about stories that imparted meaning and memories upon their lives.
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