Victoria honours the voice of the nation

17 November 2005

Victoria honours the voice of the nation

Geoff Robinson, a man whose voice generations of New Zealanders have woken up to each morning, will be awarded an honorary Doctor of Literature degree in Victoria University of Wellington’s December graduation ceremonies.

Mr Robinson is the co-host of Radio New Zealand’s flagship news programme, Morning Report.

“The University is pleased to be able to offer our top honorary award to Mr Robinson, in recognition of the enormous contribution he has made to broadcasting in New Zealand and the high standard of research-based inquiry that underpins his work,” says Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh.

“Mr Robinson has achieved national distinction in his role as co-host of Morning Report and has always displayed a high degree of professionalism and integrity. The extensive research and breadth of knowledge that lies behind the apparent ease with which he interviews and presents current affairs is testament to his commitment to quality broadcasting since the 1970s.”

Mr Robinson joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) in 1970 after beginning a career in banking that brought him to New Zealand from London in 1965.

He worked as an announcer in Dunedin until 1975, when the NZBC was dissolved, returning to Wellington to work on the new Report programmes, focusing solely on Morning Report from 1976. Mr Robinson also fronted Morning News from 1979-1982 on the commercial network of Radio New Zealand, and returned to Morning Report in 1983.

Since then, Mr Robinson has worked with more than 20 co-presenters and interviewed a multitude of international and national celebrities, personalities and politicians. Widely regarded by senior politicians for his calm, informative, non-hectoring and rigorous style of interviewing, he has also provided generations of political science and international relations students at Victoria with a host of material to study and learn from.

Professor Walsh says that many political and social commentators see Morning Report as the start of their professional day.

“In an age when the output of the electronic media is increasingly characterised by 10-second sound-bites and reality television, Geoff Robinson epitomises the heights to which public broadcasting should aspire. He ably role-models the classic attributes of a Victoria graduate through his leadership, communication skills and his creative and critical thinking.”

Mr Robinson will receive his honorary doctorate at 1.30pm on Wednesday 14 December at the Michael Fowler Centre. He is available for comment.

ENDS

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