Margaret Moth

• Name — Margaret Gipsy Moth • Occupation — Photojournalist • Born — August 21, 1951 • Birthplace — Gisborne, New Zealand • Place of death — Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.

Margaret Wilson was born on August 21, 1951 in Gisborne, New Zealand. She studied at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, majoring in photography and film.

Wilson was the first news camerawoman in New Zealand or Australia. In the 1970s, she worked for the local DNTV2 station in Dunedin, during which time she discovered a passion for skydiving. She then began working for the national TVNZ channel. In 1976, she was hired by TV One as camerawoman on a major documentary series about issues facing New Zealand women, called Women. It was made with an all-female crew, and produced by Deidre McCartin. She changed her name "because there were too many Margarets and too many Wilsons", and wanted to be Margaret Tiger Moth, as her first parachute jump had been from a Tiger Moth aircraft, but officials refused permission, so she changed it to Margaret Gipsy Moth instead. In 1980, Moth moved to the United States and worked for KHOU in Houston, Texas, for about seven years before moving to CNN in 1990. Moth covered the 1990 Persian Gulf War, the rioting that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination, the civil war in Tbilisi, Georgia, the Bosnian War, and other conflict zones including Lebanon, Zaire, Somalia, and Chechnya. On 23 July 1992, Moth was shot and severely wounded while filming in Sniper Alley in Sarajevo. Her jaw was shattered, considerable damage was done to her body, and her speech became slurred. Despite her injuries, she returned to work in Sarajevo in 1994, having accepted that working in a warzone brings risks. In 2002, working with CNN presenter Stefan Kotsonis, she covered a large Israeli raid on the West Bank. When IDF troops completely surrounded Yasser Arafat's compound, Moth filmed a group of doctors protesting a curfew who walked towards the soldiers.

Moth never married and did not have children. She loved animals, and refused to do any filming that might harm one. At the time of her death, she had been looking after 25 stray cats in Istanbul.

In 2007, Moth was diagnosed with colon cancer. Two years later, she told a CNN documentary crew, "I would have liked to think I'd have gone out with a bit more flair... the important thing is to know that you've lived your life to the fullest... You could be a billionaire, and you couldn't pay to do the things we've done." After her diagnosis she moved back to the US from Istanbul. She entered a hospice in Rochester, Minnesota, where she died on March 21, 2010, at the age of 58. A belated obituary appeared in The New York Times on April 11, 2026, as part of Overlooked, a series of obituaries about remarkable people whose deaths had gone unreported in the newspaper.

Margaret Moth was recorded at birth as Margaret Wilson. She also worked under the name Margaret Gipsy Moth. The authorities additionally record the headings Margaret Gipsy Moth and Margaret Wilson.

Margaret Moth is recorded as having received Courage in Journalism Award.