Martin van Beynen


Martin van Beynen is a New Zealand writer, print journalist, and columnist for The Press in Christchurch.

Early life and personal

Of Dutch extraction, van Beynen was born in Christchurch. He lived in west Auckland from the age of 11. He was educated at St Peter's College, Auckland where he played rugby union and was taught Art by Vic Urlich. Van Beynen attended the University of Auckland, where he studied law, graduating in 1981. He gained an M.A. in 1982. Van Beynen is married with three children, and lives in Diamond Harbour, Banks Peninsula.

Career

After "a number of diversions", including working overseas, van Beynen completed a Diploma of Journalism at the University of Otago in 1989, and began working with the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin. Van Beynen joined The Press in Christchurch in 1991 and, after several roles, was appointed Senior Writer in 2004. He is now a Senior journalist and a leading columnist on The Press.
His views have occasionally been controversial. An example was his opinion piece relating to "Breakfast for Canterbury" which was broadcast by TVNZ following the 2010 Canterbury earthquake. The piece began: "As dawn broke over the ruined city, God decided to punish the urbanites one more time. He sent them Paul Henry and his Breakfast television team. Billed as Breakfast for Canterbury, the Auckland TV people came down once more to feast on the already well-gnawed bones of injured Christchurch."
He also made trenchant comment on, and took a controversial position in relation to, aspects of the David Bain retrial. Van Beynen was accused of approaching a juror, which led to criticism of him by an official of the High Court and media outlets.
In 2012, van Beynen published Trapped, an account of experiences of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake.
Van Beynen wrote and narrated a ten-episode podcast covering the Bain murder case, "Black Hands". The podcast was launched on 20 July 2017. He also wrote and narrated a one-episode sequel podcast, released on 17 September 2017, in response to a radio interview of former judge Ian Binnie.

Awards

Van Beynen has won journalism awards in New Zealand. In 2010, as well as other awards, he won a Qantas Media Award for "Story of the Year" for a feature after the trial and acquittal of David Bain. He was also announced "Fairfax Media Journalist of the Year 2010-2011". In the individual categories of the 2012 Canon Media Awards Van Beynen was named Senior Reporter of the Year and Senior Newspaper Feature Writer of the Year. Additionally, he received a Wolfson Fellowship to Cambridge University, enabling him to study at the university in 2013.

Publications