Indira Stewart reflects for the re_covering podcast on the "huge sacrifice" of training as a journalist while a solo mum-of-two on benefit.
Indira Stewart is now one of Aotearoa’s best-known and most-respected journalists, having occupied top reporting and presenting roles at the likes of TVNZ and Radio New Zealand over the last decade.
But rewind to the early 2010s, and the successful career she now enjoys looks like a distant dream.
Known back then as the impressive Tongan-Fijian singer who had finished runner-up in the 2006 series of New Zealand Idol, Stewart’s life was turned upside-down as she navigated raising two children solo while surviving on a combination of singing gigs and benefit payments.
In an illuminating interview with Media Chaplaincy/RNZ podcast re_covering released on Wednesday, Stewart lifted the lid on that “dark time in my life”, and the sacrifices she made to pursue journalism when the odds were stacked so heavily against her.
“I walked out of a marriage at 26, divorced, with two young kids under two on my back,” she told media chaplain and re_covering host Rev Frank Ritchie.
“I went through this season of really digging deep. I'd been a people pleaser all my life, and it [this experience] made me not give a f**k about what people thought about me, which was a really raw place for me to find some courage to figure out who I was and reinvent myself.”
That reinvention began with the pursuit of a different career.
“I had gone down paths that were kind of formed for me – I went to uni to do music. It wasn't until after New Zealand Idol, doing TV for that time, that I thought, ‘oh, I actually might enjoy this’. So I went back to uni and started Communications at AUT.”
Stewart reflects now that the decision was something of a return to the natural skillset she’d demonstrated throughout her childhood.
“I think I was actually always supposed to be a storyteller. From a very young age, I always had the tea on what was happening in the neighbourhood… I remember my Dad saying, ‘You'll be a very good news reporter, you’re good at gossiping’.
“When I was 15, Tagata Pasifika auditioned high school kids to report on the ASB Polynesian Festival, and I did the events for a couple of years and loved it. But because I'd never seen a Tongan woman like myself on a mainstream platform, it was never even an idea that it could be a career for me.”
'Reasons that were bigger than myself'
While returning to university was the right decision, Stewart told re_covering making it work on a practical level was “very, very hard”.
“I had two kids, I was on a benefit. Even just affording bus money to get to uni classes was a huge sacrifice. It’d be either milk and nappies, or catch a bus and go to class.
“There were very many days that you were hungry, and some days my dinner was whatever my kids had left over. That's just what the reality was, but I am so proud to have got through that.
“I think the thing that always drove me was that I had reasons that were bigger than myself, which were my kids… This might sound a bit weird to people, but I probably wouldn't be here today if I just thought about myself. My kids were such a huge motivation to be someone better.”
Despite her success in journalism in the years since then, Stewart hasn’t forgotten her roots and has regularly used her platform to give a voice to Pasifika people and marginalised groups, whose stories too often go unheard.
Last year, her story about high school students who were at school full-time, but also working the equivalent of full-time hours to support their families, sent shockwaves through the country and infused humanity into election cycle debates about poverty.
Asked about her hopes for the future of journalism, Stewart told Rev Ritchie she wanted to do her bit helping repair public trust in media, which is now “well below” the global average, according to a 2024 report by the AUT Research Centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy.
'Diversity of perspectives'
Stewart says while there are arguments to be made about why media is more trustworthy than it’s perceived to be, she doesn’t “discredit anyone feeling the way that they do” about it. She says growing up, she too didn’t trust the media herself because she saw harmful narratives about brown people being perpetuated.
“But there are also reasons many of us came to work in this industry: because we believe in the diversity of voices, the diversity of perspectives, and we believe in the truth being told,” she said.
Stewart says the values instilled in her through her strong Christian faith has heavily shaped her reporting.
“Growing up, I was always told about Isaiah 61. It talks about being anointed to preach the good news to the poor, to set the captives free, to bind the brokenhearted. And that's always been a huge value for me, not just in my life, but in journalism.
“When we talk about preaching the good news, the good news to us is the gospel, and we were told the gospel of truth. When I take that scripture and apply it to my career, I think I'm called to preach the truth… and the truth sets people free.”
“When I've thought about the young kids who have told me truths – whether it's having to work long hours, or suffering from some horrific abuse – that's the kind of truth that has set so many other people free.”
Stewart says there are risks associated with truth-telling, but believes it’s the most effective way for news outlets to win back the public’s trust.
“The truth is hard to hear, not everyone likes it. Some of the stories I've done, I've had major backlash with people not wanting those abuse stories to be told, people threatening my safety,” she said.
“But if I let fear drive my career and drive the stories that I told, 85% of my career would be out the door. You have to be courageous to tell the truth.”
In a wide-ranging interview, Stewart discusses her determination to be a role model to the next generation of Pasifika women, presenting the last ever 1News Midday bulletin, and reflects on her upbringing.
You can listen to the full re_covering interview with Indira Stewart here.
Re_covering sees Rev Frank Ritchie sit down with some of New Zealand's top journalists to unpack the one story from their career that has most impacted them, personally and professionally.
SHARE ME