Patrick Gower

Early life

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.

Journalism career

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:

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:

Library incident

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." Gower later tweeted "Thug Life", and an edited "Thug Life" remix of the video later went viral. The incident received praise from viewers, who considered it comical and praised Gower's unexpected and deadpan delivery. The incident was actually part of a law school revue skit.

Personal life

Gower lives in Wellington and is the father of two children.