Media Release
2 March 2004

Peters Pays Tribute To Top Journalist

Rt Hon Winston Peters has paid tribute to Warren Berryman, founding editor of “The Independent” who died in Auckland this morning, describing him as one of the few real investigative journalists in New Zealand.

Mr Peters today said that unlike the daily media, throughout the long years of the Winebox saga, Mr Berryman shone like a beacon in the darkness of corporate scandals and massive tax fraud.

“Warren was one of a handful of people prepared to take on the big boys who were taking the people of New Zealand to the cleaners. He did not buckle at the knees or run away when the going got tough like most of the other media– he told it like it was.

“Warren was a man who doggedly represented the interests of ordinary people, whatever their part in society. He was a fierce fighter for fair play and a fearsome enemy to bungling bureaucracy and corporate corruption wherever he found it.”

Mr Peters said that New Zealand journalism was poorer for the loss of Warren Berryman and young reporters could do well to look at his work to see how a master carried out his trade.

ENDS

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