The real Tova I'M INCREDIBLY SENSITIVE & EMOTIONAL

The hottest name in current affairs, Tova O'Brien has gone from delivering the news to becoming one of the most talked-about journalists in the country. She opens up to writer Cath Bennett about tears, trolls and walking tightropes.

-  Cath Bennett

It's a curious image. Tova O'Brien, the doyenne of the hard-line interview, curled up on the couch with tears running down her face over... a schmaltzy television commercial?

"I'm an absolute sook!" admits the award-winning broadcaster, who has been lauded as "a true political muckraker" by her colleagues. Blushing, she admits, "I cry over New Zealand Post ads. I'm an incredibly sensitive and emotional person."

Until now, it's not been a side of her character the journalist has cared to publicly reveal. Best known as the woman who lambasted shamed MP Jami-Lee Ross on live television, she is generally a portrait of composure her direct, articulate reporting is as sharp as her sense of style.

However, as she hits her stride as the biggest drawcard on MediaWorks' new talk radio station Today FM, the 39-year-old's inner personality is being thrust into the spotlight.

"There's a dawning recognition that there will probably have to be a bit more of me out there than before," says Tova, looking far from enthralled at the prospect. "As journalists, you resile from having yourself in any of that.

"As a political editor, I had views, but it was fact-based opinion, whereas now my editorials are my own personal opinions. That's been quite confronting, but also liberating. It's going to be an evolving tightrope how much of me goes out there in the future."

A high wire she is contemplating with extreme caution. Yes, she will admit to tears. She will confide how much she'd love to get a dog - wondering aloud whether the landlord of her beautiful old Auckland villa would allow it. She will even share a charming vignette of time spent with her seven-year-old niece, having a "cheerio picnic" on the lounge floor while making collages from magazines.

But there are places she won't go and she's intensely protective of her private life.