Deborah Coddington

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Deborah Coddington
Born	5 February 1953 (1953-02-05) (age 55)
Birth place	Waipukurau
Circumstances
Occupation	Journalist, formerly Member of Parliament
Spouse	Colin Carruthers
Ethnicity	New Zealand European, Pākehā
Notable credit(s)

The New Zealand journalist and former politician Deborah Coddington (born 5 February 1953 - ) holds membership of ACT New Zealand.

Contents 1 Pre-political career 2 Entry into politics 3 Member of Parliament 4 Return to journalism 4.1 Controversy 5 References 6 Further reading

[edit] Pre-political career

Coddington, born in Waipukurau, worked from 1973 to 1984 as a magazine journalist, but in 1985 moved to Russell, a town in the Bay of Islands, where she owned and operated a café and restaurant. In 1989 she returned to journalism, writing for the Metro and North & South magazines. In 1993 she became a broadcaster, working for the BBC World Service's New Zealand operation. She then returned to magazines, becoming senior feature writer for North & South. In 2002, she won the Qantas Senior Feature Writer of the Year Award for her work.

[edit] Entry into politics

Coddington first became involved in politics in the context of the Libertarianz party, and in the 1996 elections and the 1999 elections the Libertarianz ranked her second and third, respectively, on their party list. The party won insufficient votes to enter Parliament.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Later, however, Coddington transferred her support to the ACT New Zealand party, which ranked her sixth on their list in the 2002 elections, high enough to enter Parliament as a list MP.

Coddington achieved a relatively high public profile. Many New Zealanders know her as the compiler of a register of sex-offenders which aims to publicly identify those convicted of sex-crimes. This register, first published in 1996, generated considerable criticism from those who alleged it breached the rights of those named in it. Coddington has also had an unusually high amount of media interest in her personal life — early in 2004 journalists widely canvassed the financial problems of Alister Taylor, her partner (and her subsequent split from him), and later the same year, the media reported Coddington's distress about attention received from Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable. Coddington described the media's portrayal of events as "wildly overblown".

On 15 April 2005, Coddington announced that she would not seek re-election in 2005. In the announcement, she said that she did not regret entering politics, but said that she was no longer as eager to fight political battles: "I find it difficult coming into the House and attacking people. I'm not angry any more. And I don't see things in black and white." Coddington attributed her change in perspective primarily to her recent marriage to Wellington lawyer, Colin Carruthers.

[edit] Return to journalism

Coddington has since returned to journalism, writing for the Herald on Sunday and North & South.

[edit] Controversy

In May 2007 Coddington published an article questioning immigration in North & South and referencing the high profile of "Asian" crime. Victoria University's student magazine Salient,^[1] the Asia NZ Foundation, and other groups and individuals condemned it as subjective and poorly researched, while reinforcing unfair stereotypes. The following month the New Zealand Press Council condemned the article in question and ordered North & South to print an apology.^[2][3] The Press Council found the language of the article "misleading" and "emotionally loaded". The Council stated that even though journalists are "entitled to take a strong position on issues they address ... that does not legitimise gratuitous emphasis on dehumanising racial stereotypes and fear-mongering and, of course, the need for accuracy always remains." Ms Coddington called the New Zealand Press Council's decision "pathetic".^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading