The business of reporting

As Business Editor of the Bay of Plenty Times, Graham Skellern plays an influential role in shaping and communicating local and national business news. In the past decade, he has profiled  more than 500 companies and business leaders in the Western Bay, but he himself remains something of an enigma. Over the next two weeks, the Tauranga Chamber of Commerce chief executive Max Mason turns the tables and shines the interview spotlight on Graham Skellern, revealing a rich career of journalistic achievement.
It was a natural  progression in his career when Graham Skellern decided to specialise in business journalism more than 20 years ago. He believed there was a dearth of good business reporters in New Zealand.
Journalists, he says, generally have an aversion to figures and business jargon, which has led to a gap in business writing and qualifications.
Skellern gains considerable professional satisfaction in being able to break down business jargon and complexity into easily understood language. He hates pomp and pretension, and there are several words and phrases that he particularly loathes -
"strategy" and "going forward". "Strategy", for example, is always  changed  to plain old "plan".
Skellern's days often stretch to 10 hours and when other people are in front of the television after  work, he is  at his laptop in the dining room. "At least I can have a glass of wine at my side," he says.
Skellern, 58, was born in Inglewood near New Plymouth to a bus company-owning family. He has four brothers and a sister, and two of them have joined him in the Bay.
He is married to Philippa, a microbiologist, and they have two children - one a psychologist with Te Pou (New Zealand's National Centre of Mental Health Research, Information and Workforce Development), and the other a planner with Environment Bay of Plenty.
Skellern's entry into journalism was via Wellington Polytechnic where he gained the Commonwealth Press Union Certificate in 1970, along with classmates such as Judy Bailey and Kevin Milne.
While working for the Sunday Times in Wellington, he completed a Bachelor of Arts with majors in economics and political science at Victoria University - one of his classmates was former National Party president Michelle Boag.
Skellern remained a full-time  journalist while completing his degree in three years, illustrating his capacity for focused, hard work.
He was helped by cross-crediting a year's study at London School of Economics (LSE) in 1978-79 after becoming the first New Zealand journalist to win a Rotary International Foundation Award for Journalism.
His first job was agricultural reporter at the Christchurch Star in 1971 and three years later he was in the UK working as a general reporter for Thompson Regional Newspapers in Hertfordshire.

He returned home to take up a role as parliamentary reporter in the Press Gallery for the South Pacific News Agency. After his studies at LSE, he became press secretary for Duncan MacIntyre, who was then Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, in the Muldoon Government.
After nearly a year,  he followed his great love of sport and spent  five years as sports editor for the Sunday Times in Wellington.
In that role and others, he has reported four Commonwealth Games: 1974 in Christchurch, 1978 in Edmonton, 1982 in Brisbane and 1990 Auckland; as well as British Open golf, Wimbledon tennis, Davis Cup tennis, and numerous other international events.
Skellern accepted  deputy business editorship at the Auckland Star in 1985.
These were the heady days of the sharemarket boom, and in 1986 he became founding editor of the NZ Investor Magazine - the first New Zealand publication of its kind.
In 1987 he returned to academia and was the third Kiwi to win the Wolfson College Scholarship sponsored by the Nuffield Foundation to study at Cambridge University.
His project there was to compare Rogernomics to the Thatcher economic policies, and while on his leave of absence, the NZ Investor  was sold.

He joined The New Zealand Herald  for 10 years, including  stints as deputy business editor and acting business editor.
As a student, he had had read courses in criminology and white-collar crime, and this knowledge came in very useful when reporting the aftermath of the 1987 sharemarket crash.
He was in the thick of many of the big name business trials such as Equiticorp and Rada.
So what, according to Skellern, are the qualities of a good journalist?
You  must harbour a deep curiosity and interest in the community. You need to get to know the movers and shakers, and build good contacts based on trust.
Researching the subject  is  indispensable  and you must know how the dynamics of an interview work to get the best from it.
He usually knows a lot more about the subject than he lets on, and starts by asking about more superficial topics, before moving on to questions designed to really get underneath the issue.
Listening and working off people's reactions is important, and judging their responses gives an indication of the person's thoughts and motivations.
"Skelly", as his friends know him, also has  impressive  sporting achievements.  He was junior tennis champion in Taranaki, and has played cricket and
been down to a nine handicap golf, but has starred in  bowls.
He first became interested in 1982 when covering the Brisbane Commonwealth Games, and reckoned he could play just as well.
He has represented  Auckland, Counties Manukau and  Bay of Plenty, and  was twice a semifinalist in the national championships.
If he had his time again, he would have enjoyed being a professional golfer or caddie. Or, perhaps a lawyer - he always had a hankering for the bar after shining at that subject at university.

So why does he remain a journalist?  He enjoys informing people about something they didn't know about - just delivering the news to readers.
His favourite books would be by John Grisham (there's the law again), and  his favourite movie is Slumdog Millionaire.
When asked about formative role models, he  declares thoughtfully that he can't think of anyone.

Next week, we examine Graham Skellern's business editorship of the Bay of Plenty Times, his interest in politics, and his take on the future of the local business scene.