FRIDAY PRAYERS

This series pulls back the curtain on the people on the frontline - the often overlooked first responders. Hosted by Media Chaplain and radio broadcaster Reverend Frank Ritchie, this independent podcast infuses the reporters’ tales with his personal experience supporting journalists processing the intensity of the attacks. 

 

Within minutes of hearing of the attacks, Frank had booked a flight to Christchurch and was there only hours later to support journalists and media professionals working on the front lines.

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Newshub journalist Thomas Mead features in the podcast’s first episode, talking to Frank about what it was like working that day. He recounts how he walked the line between delivering the news and being empathic to the people of his city whose world had been turned upside down.

 

Rolled out across the week before the first anniversary of 15 March 2019, the podcast sheds light on what it was like to be a New Zealand journalist on such a historic day and the emotional and mental processing that followed. 

“All of us around the country knew what was going on within minutes of the attack because there were people who had rushed into the chaos, digesting and relaying information and stories as it all unfolded – journalists, most importantly, Christchurch journalists.” - Rev Frank Ritchie