Patrick Gower

Patrick Gower (born 1976/1977) is a New Zealand journalist and National Correspondent for Newshub (formerly called 3 News). Prior to his current role he was Newshub's political editor.

Gower grew up in New Plymouth where his father was a fitter and turner at a power station, and his mother was a doctor's receptionist. He had a Roman Catholic upbringing and schooling, having attended St Joseph's Catholic School and Francis Douglas Memorial College.

He has a BA with honours in politics from Victoria University of Wellington, choosing the university because it was near Parliament. While he attended Victoria University he got involved in Salient magazine. After finishing his politics degree, he studied journalism at Auckland University of Technology.

Gower started his journalism career working the graveyard shift (6pm–1:30am) at The New Zealand Herald, later becoming police reporter. He subsequently moved overseas and worked at Jane's Police Review. Once back in New Zealand he worked again at the Herald, covering politics and working under Audrey Young.

Later he made the move to television journalism and began working at 3 News, where he was initially a political reporter. He has said that the transition involved a big change in reporting styles:

I always said that in print it's like working with a scalpel, because you can really get into the nitty-gritty, and you can be really specialised and direct. And you can work with complex issues really easily. In TV you've got to drop the scalpel, and they hand you an axe. It can be really effective to use, but it's nowhere near as delicate as working in print.

He took over as political editor of 3 News from Duncan Garner in November 2012.

Despite controversy about political bias on social networking sites, Gower claims to be a non-voter on the grounds of impartiality, stating:

People ask all the time do I vote, and I just don't, because I like to be independent as possible. I understand a lot of other journalists here can vote and personally I think that's fine. And being fair to both sides is important, and always giving a fair go to everyone and letting them have their say is absolutely crucial. Ultimately the best guard against bias is just by doing the best stories in the best way that you can. If you’re following the news then you never have to worry about being biased.

In 2018, after five years as Newshub's political editor, he shifted roles to become its national correspondent.

Viral skit

In December 2014, a clip of Gower swearing on what appeared to be live television went viral. In the video, a library-goer stands up and says, "This is a fucking library!", to which Gower replies, "This is the fuckin' news." A remix of the video later went viral. The incident was part of a law school revue skit.

Cannabis documentary

In 2019, Gower featured in a two part documentary series Patrick Gower: On Weed where he explored issues related to medicinal and recreational cannabis in advance of the 2020 New Zealand cannabis referendum. The documentary, produced by Three and funded by NZ on Air, was filmed in New Zealand and the United States. A third episode is planned for release 2020.

Gower lives in Wellington and has two children.