We are delighted to announce that the inaugural NZUS Council Media Fellowship has been awarded to New Zealand freelance journalist Pete McKenzie. Peter will visit the USA for two weeks in late March and early April 2024 for research on trends and developments that are relevant for our bilateral relationship. He will be meeting with a wide range of contacts in the public and private sectors and will report back on his findings over the next few months.

Council Chair Rosemary Banks says “Peter is an excellent recipient of the Media Fellowship which is designed to encourage high quality reporting that supports informed discussion about the New Zealand – United States relationship. Peter impressed us with the depth and breadth of his writing and his familiarity with the USA including through having studied there.”

Peter McKenzie says “I’m thrilled to be the inaugural recipient of the NZUS Council’s fellowship to report on New Zealand’s relationship with the United States: an increasingly important one that often doesn’t get the attention it deserves. Through the Fellowship, I’ll be able to speak with the policymakers and analysts in America who are shaping US policy on our Indo-Pacific region. In an increasingly difficult media ecosystem and geopolitical landscape, I’m grateful for this unique opportunity to rigorously and independently assess the challenges and promises of that relationship going forward. I’m extremely excited to make full use of it.”

Peter McKenzie is a Fulbright Scholar who completed a Master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York. He has written extensively about the Pacific region for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New Zealand Geographic, North & South and The Listener.”