GenevieveWestcott
- Journalist
- Presenter
Canadian-born journalist Genevieve Westcott arrived in New Zealand in 1983. She quickly made an on-screen impression with her accent, and a style that was more direct than Kiwi audiences were used to. She joined Eyewitness News before moving to Close Up, where she worked on a number of high profile stories. After fronting TV3’s short-lived A Current Affair, she won Qantas Awards for her work on 20/20 and 60 Minutes.
Biography
Canadian-born journalist Genevieve Westcott made a major impact on Kiwi television when she arrived in New Zealand in the mid 1980s. She had a directness that Kiwis weren’t used to in the pre-Holmes news era, and was criticised for being overly blunt and emotional. It didn’t help that she was a woman with a North American accent. Awards judges failed to share these reservations, and she won a host of journalism prizes.
Screenography
Awards
“I think I'm able to tell stories simply, which is really important in television and I resent it when that's called simplistic. I'm people's eyes and ears, going places they'll never go — I don't go there for me, I go there for them. When you turn off the television set, I like to say mine is the only story you'll remember that day. I don't apologise for that either.”