Mihingarangi Forbes, also known as Mihi Forbes and Joanne Forbes, is a New Zealand journalist, television presenter and radio broadcaster. She has worked on current affairs shows including Campbell Live, 20/20, and Native Affairs. In 2008, she won a Qantas award for 'Best Reporter for Daily Current Affairs'. Forbes is known for leading a 2013 investigation into alleged misspending by the Te Kōhanga Reo Trust Board.
Early life
Forbes was born as Joanne Forbes in and grew up with her mother in Feilding, New Zealand. Her father is a Māoribushman of Ngāti Paoa and Ngāti Maniapoto heritage, and her mother is Pākehā. Although Forbes' grandmother was fluent in the Māori language, she rarely spoke it at home and preferred to speak English to her granddaughter. As a child, Forbes was deeply interested in journalism and storytelling, using a tape recorder to deliver fictional news and weather bulletins for her family. Forbes graduated from Feilding High School in 1990. When she turned 19 or 20, she attended a Māori-language immersion college and became fluent in te reo. Despite originally being known as Joanne, Forbes changed her name to Mihingarangi after her immersion experience – she and her fellow students had translated their names into Māori during the programme, and the new name stuck.
Career
After finishing school, Forbes worked at a bar for a year before moving to Auckland. In 1993, she read community news for Tainui Radio. Despite her lack of formal journalism training, in the 1990s Forbes was offered an internship with TVNZ's Māori news programmeTe Karere. Following the birth of her first child in 2001, she worked briefly as a producer for Radio New Zealand. After that, Forbes worked as producer for the TV3 current affairs show 20/20. In 2008, Forbes was working at TV3's current affairs show Campbell Live, earning a Qantas award for 'Best Reporter for Daily Current Affairs'. During her time on the show, she conducted an infamous interview with businessman Alasdair Thompson, challenging his earlier comments about women earning less pay because of their menstruation cycles.
On 4 June 2015, Forbes announced her resignation from Māori TV on Twitter. Media reports suggested that her departure from Māori TV was related to increasing editorial pressure on her work – her followup story on the Kohanga Reo National Trust had been held back, delayed without a clear explanation why. Forbes stated that she had felt she was "losing control" of her stories. In 2016, it was revealed that Forbes was involved in a property dispute with Māori Television after her resignation, having been accused of taking several items of designer clothing from the company wardrobe without permission. Forbes denied any wrongdoing, telling reporters that the clothing had been promised to her as extra compensation by her former boss at the company.
Present-day
One day after her resignation from Māori TV, it was announced that Forbes was joining Radio New Zealand as a specialist correspondent for Māori affairs. Forbes is currently presenter of Māori-oriented current affairs show, The Hui, which airs on Three New Zealand on Sunday mornings.
Personal life
Forbes was in a relationship with Duncan Garner until 2008; they had two girls together. She then married Afa Rasmussen and they have had two boys. In an interview, Forbes has said that she supports bilingualism, and is raising her children to speak both English and Māori.
