New Zealand's first female television news camera operator and
internationally renowned photojournalist Margaret Moth has died of
cancer, aged 59. Born Margaret Wilson in Gisborne, Moth worked as a
camerawoman for Television New Zealand in Dunedin in the 1970s,
after studying at the University of Canterbury, where she
specialised in film and photography. Moth later moved to the
United States and began working for CNN in 1990. After
covering the Persian Gulf War, the rioting that followed Indira
Gandhi's assassination and the civil war in Georgia, Moth came to
prominence when she was shot in the face covering the war in
Sarajevo in 1992. After multiple reconstructive surgeries,
Moth returned to Sarajevo and continued working for CNN. Moth
was diagnosed with cancer more than three years ago and passed away
in a hospice in Minnesota last week. CNN colleagues and
friends of Margaret Moth have written
this report about the 'tremendous life journey' of a woman they
describe as fearless.