Reporting In Susie & Corin Team Up

It's a New Dawn for Radio's Morning Stars

- Julie Jacobson

March was one of the toughest months broadcaster Susie Ferguson has faced in her many years on radio.

Similarly, former TVNZ political journalist Corin Dann, who is set to take over co-hosting duties opposite Susie on Radio New Zealand’s flagship Morning Report, endured a harrowing few weeks.

Both were in Christchurch, but for very different reasons – Susie (41) to cover the unfolding tragedy of the mosque terror attack and Corin (44) back in his home town dealing with his own heartbreak, the death of his much-loved mother Marg.

As the duo – who despite being two of the country’s top broadcasters had never previously crossed paths – prepare for the Weekly’s photo shoot, Corin talks of walking past armed police at Christchurch Hospital in the days after the shootings to be with his mother who had been diagnosed just six weeks previously with an aggressive cancer.

Marg died on April 6, the last three weeks spent at home surrounded by her family.

At the same time, Scottish born Susie – whose six years reporting from war zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone is the stuff of media legend – was also in the city, close to tears on numerous occasions as she spoke to distraught relatives and emergency workers.

“You have to do your absolute best for the listeners, but at the same time you’re dealing with highly emotive and disturbing information,” she says. “It’s not like war reporting, but I suppose it’s the closest I’ve come since I arrived in New Zealand.

“The way I approach stuff like that is: you go, you give it your best shot, you’re in it heart, boots and all. There’s also an awareness that while you’re there you are living it, but you also have the privilege of being able to walk away from it.