Barbara Dreaver

May 8, 2024 Off By Chloe Lee

Barbara Dreaver is a Kiribati-born New Zealand broadcaster. She is best known for working as TVNZ’s Pacific correspondent for over 18 years.

With many years of covering Pacific issues, Barbara Dreaver has reported on innumerable stories from islands. She has always been passionate about the Pacific Islands.

Barbara Dreaver
As a Journalist of over 30 years, Barbara Dreaver has covered thousands of stories from islands in every corner of the South Pacific.
Quick Facts
Name:	Barbara Helen Dreaver
Born:	Banaba, Kiribati
Parents:	Peter, Lavinia
Nationality:	New Zealander
Alma mater:	University of Auckland Manukau Institute of Technology
Occupation:	Journalist
Employer:	TVNZ

Table of Contents

Early Life

Dreaver’s story starts in Banaba, a coral atoll in Kiribati, where she was born. She grew up on the island of Tarawa. Her father, Peter, is from New Zealand and was a schoolteacher, while her mother, Lavinia, is from Banaba.

With her family, Barbara relocated to the Kiribati capital of Tarawa and then later to New Zealand when she was about 10 or 11.

Education

Barbara majored in education at the University of Auckland. She found work as a cleaner to pay her way through university. Initially, she had no “real desire” to become a teacher.

Dreaver enrolled in a Pacific Island journalism course at the Manukau Institute of Technology.

Career

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Dreaver headed to Rarotonga in 1990. She worked as a reporter for Cook Islands News. She eventually became an editor and co-owner of Cook Islands Press, a weekly newspaper.

Having her fair share of run-ins with authority, Dreaver clashed with Sir Geoffrey Henry on several occasions. She was accused of breaking into his office to steal documents.

Barbara returned to New Zealand in the late ’90s. She worked as a business columnist and freelance feature writer for the NZ Listener, National Business Review, Radio New Zealand, and others.

In 2002, she joined TVNZ and became Pacific correspondent in 2003. She has won several awards following her career at TVNZ.

Her work has made the police detain her in Fiji and Nauru. In December 2008, she was detained in Fiji, then deported and banned from returning for eight years after her reporting offended Frank Bainimarama.

Dreaver was arrested in Nauru in September 2018 and stripped of her media accreditation for the Pacific Island Forum meeting after interviewing refugees at the Nauru Regional Processing Center.

The journalist launched a two-year training program through the Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Ltd in 2020. It aims to support new Pacific journalists across the Pacific region.

Dreaver became a member of the Establishment Board for the Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media body in 2022.

Awards

Barbara Dreaver holding flowers — Barbara says working in the Cook Islands made her the journalist she is today. Her career in journalism includes co-owning a newspaper in the Cook Islands, working at Radio New Zealand, and carving out a space for herself at TVNZ.

With over thirty years in the broadcast industry, Dreaver has several experiences in print and radio. She has bagged many awards for her input.

Dreaver received two awards – Best TV/Video News Item and Best Coverage of a Major News Event – at the 2019 Voyager Media Awards for covering the 2019 Samoa measles outbreak.

In 2020, she was honored with best news coverage and best TV story for the Samoa measles crisis at the Voyager Media Awards. She was named Reporter of the Year at the 2022 New Zealand Television Awards.

Dreaver was appointed Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit at the 2024 New Year Honours in the New Years Honours list, for services to investigative journalism and Pacific issues.