Last year RNZ cut its last Maori dedicated news in prime time Manu Korihi from its airwaves and not a word of criticism was directed their way in the Pakeha media world. Politicians irresponsibly also said nothing and a station that gets 35 million in taxpayers funding now not only doesn’t have one Maori presenter in prime time but it doesn’t have any Maori news.
It’s a story I have tried to get on mainstream media particularly in the main National newspapers but none were interested in doing anything, not the Herald, Dominion or any of the Sunday weekend papers. Of course I knew the reluctance or resistance to support my request was probably based on the fact that all those outlets have virtually No Maori working for them.
So obviously they were not going to back my call for an examination of RNZ’s Maori policy when their situation is equally questionable. Still my campaign which is in fact a campaign that we initiated on Radio Waatea which I head and is supported by our iwi radio network has been going well. People are asking the question “HOW DOES RNZ GET AWAY WITH IT?”
My view is that they get away with it because no one bothers to challenge them, mainstream media don’t care and politicians do nothing apart from greenlight the racist strategies that they come up with. RNZ is one of the best examples of institutionalised racism in this country. There is no other way to describe how this organisation is operating, they have had generations of tax payers’ dollars and they are meant to be the voice for all New Zealanders yet the Maori voice is silent and to many of our peoples stories are untold.
Recently my team at Waatea carried out an audit of RNZ’s Maori stories over a 12 week period. The results were alarming but even more alarming was the way RNZ tried to defend themselves. Our evaluators determined that in the 12 week period only 0.1 percent of stories were Maori focussed. RNZ rubbished our audit and said we missed some stories which was true but when they calculated what we had missed it worked out to a mere one percent. That’s how stupid and sensitive the defenders of RNZ are they try to defend the indefensible.
Paul Thompson the RNZ CEO then decided to release their new Maori policy after reluctantly acknowledging that I might have had a point over their lack of Maori content. Instead of coming up with a plan that would see more Maori stories on RNZ, his main priority for the next few years will be to train his Pakeha journalists to speak Maori. It is the most stupid and insulting Maori strategy that I have ever seen. The strategy is born out of ignorance and the belief that anything is probably better than what they have now which is nothing.
RNZ seem to think simply hiring the odd Maori journalist and getting their Pakeha journalists to pronounce Te Reo properly is all they have to do to live up to their public broadcasting obligations under the treaty but they need to come up with a Proper Maori strategy that will see Maori news and programmes go from 2 percent to at least 15 percent and they need to throw away the silly strategy that CEO Thompson has come out with. They must go back to having Maori specific news, after all they have Pacific Island news, media news, political news and farming news. In fact it seems sometimes that even native birds might have a better chance of getting a news show before Maori, given how many bird sounds we hear daily.
Once upon a time they even had Maori language segments on National Radio, but that was cut five years ago, they probably thought their Pakeha announcers who try their best but sadly can’t speak Maori to save themselves were more than capable in the reo to honour their Maori language obligations. So getting te reo Maori back on air should be mandatory. And wouldn’t it be great to hear a Maori presenter on one of their frontline shows. It seems incredible that in the whole 91 year history that we have not had one person deemed good enough to present a daily National Radio show.
Think about all the top Maori radio and TV presenters you’ve heard and seen over the years. Here’s just a few of them – Henare Te Ua, Derek Fox, Selwyn Muru, Julian Wilcox, Wena Harawira, Scotty and Stacey Morrison, Shane Taurima , Miriama Kamo, Mihi Forbes who is now a reporter with RNZ and of course let’s not forget RNZ head of news Carol Hirschfeld has also been a TV presenter and producer.
Yet not one of those people have ever been given an opportunity to front a regular national daily show. RNZ has a colonialist BBC mind-set which discriminates against Maori presenters. Surely as we debate the merits of removing our colonial relics from the flag it’s time to do the same with RNZ. All people should be outraged by this shutout of Maori on our National network. I implore politicians to act, Maori are 15 percent of this country’s population and we currently get 2 percent of the action on our National station that purports to be the national voice that is not how the treaty partner should be treated.
If it’s not a breach of Radio New Zealand’s charter then it should be and if we get a zero response which is highly likely then Maori seriously need to consider a Waitangi Tribunal claim against RNZ and the government similar to the Te Reo Maori claim of 1986. I have spoken to Maori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell about this issue and he has asked the right questions. However Te Ururoa needs help and asking questions isn’t going to do it, this lot need to be given clear directions in terms of their Maori strategy or they will continue with the current nonsense.
The Minister of Broadcasting Amy Adams has to act, she must recognise the discrepancies here, talk with the RNZ board and demand that RNZ change their Maori strategy to one that will see Maori properly reflected in their programming, the aim has to be 15 percent. Anything less will mean that Maori stories and Maori announcers will remain tokenistic and an afterthought. Go to the RNZ National radio website right now if you don’t believe me and count how many Maori presenters they have. It is a disgrace but what will be even more shameful will be if our politicians and the RNZ Board do nothing, let’s see what happens.
“The Minister of Broadcasting Amy Adams has to act, she must recognise the discrepancies here, talk with the RNZ board and demand that RNZ change their Maori strategy to one that will see Maori properly reflected in their programming, the aim has to be 15 percent”…Hmmmm, and $40million, possibly more, of Tax payers $$$’s go to Maori TV, but we (as taxpayers) are not allowed to know the viewing figures of any of it’s programms. Te Manga Paho gets a fair few hundred million of tax payers $$$’s also. Iwi have been getting hundreds of millions in Treaty Settlements for decades, some again and again with ‘top ups’, is it blasphamy to think that Maori could pay for Maori radio station(s) or is that just fanciful science fiction thinking?
Yeah, I find it odd that we have both “new arrival” English & Irish voices on RNZ yet non that are obviously Maori or Pasifika. Talking about magazine shows here, you know, mainstream listening.
Have to agree. I often wonder at recent immigrants being on air in front of natives. Cultural cringe? Are we not confident enough to believe that our own are good enough? Nice guy as he seems I get pissed off listening to the Pom weatherman on TV news, why not a local?
To address Willies concerns about RNZ he is spot on. It gets worse, not only does it need Maori Pacifica and Asia voices, it also needs to get shot of faux “Lefties like Pagani and the resident RWNJs on commentary.
Willie Jackson should pull his head in, Speaking as someone who ended up with a wasted vote for Mana last election & not a racist bone in my body it sounds like he protests too much. Reading his observations & as a regular RNZ listener for over 30 years I am aware that the Maori content has decreased however I would want him to provide listener numbers (esp Maori listeners) for the programs that have been dropped before I would support any calls to reinstate them. I am not overly happy with recent RNZ changes but they are still better than commercial radio. Maori have 2 TV channels plus the ability to use the internet & thanks to treaty settlements a financial base to develop any communications system needed. I can think of lots of urgent needs to secure a prosperous future for disadvantaged Maori in NZ & RNZ is not one of them.
This NACT Government is anti-Maori and Pacifica as these people do not represent their core voting base, Key and Co want to hear less of Maori and Pacific content and more USA and Chinese rhetoric.
This is just more of Jackson’s racist rantings. He doesn’t acknowledge the substantial public resources already put into Maori broadcasting. Could we expect to see more white faces presenting on Maori TV then? No? I didn’t think so.
You’re right, it’s an absolute scandal, Willie. It’s nothing but wanton discrimination. What’s that you say? Maori broadcasting is funded with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars through Maori TV and Te Manga Paho? Oh no, I agree that’s totally irrelevant – Radio New Zealand should be ashamed!
I don’t see why the taxpayer should prop up a radio broadcast for which there are vanishingly few listeners. It’s hard enough to find Maori speakers amongst Maori, let alone the general public. In today’s NZ there are more Hindi speakers, Mandarin speakers and Afrikaans speakers.
Welcome to multicultural NZ!
It’s easy and inexpensive these days to set up an internet broadcasting channel. If you think you have a viable audience, I recommend you go this route.
Let’s practice for the slow learners:
We have a bi-cultural country (Thanks to the Treaty), and a multi-cultural society (due to immigration policy).
There is a difference.
National realised it couldn’t get rid of National Radio so decided just to put its own people in charge and remove as much liberal content as possible.
[…] Willie Jackson is a broadcaster and former politician. He is chief executive of Radio Waatea and chairman of the Māori Radio Network Te Whakaruruhau. This commentary was first published by The Daily Blog. […]
poking out his tongue wont do much
How does TVNZ get away with such a blatant spruiker for the national party as Hosking on prime time.
At least Radio NZ still asks some difficult questions of politicians, something that completely stopped at TVNZ about the time the National party came into power, they changed to promoting the nats at every opportunity.
@Quick Thinking as someone with lots of racist bones in my body I spend most of my life pausing to ensure that the words coming out reflect my head and heart not my bones. I did notice the removal of the Maori news at half past 6 there wasn’t much but it did leave me listening to Te Waonui on Sunday. Mind you I also listen to Tagata o te Moana and wish there were more news items that reflected where I live in the Asia Pacific region. I do not mind a variety of voices on my state broadcaster but it does annoy me that every new voice seems to have a UK twang. I would prefer to hear more Pacifica and maybe some Asian voices.
Perhaps I am a bit narrow-minded but i only understand English so that’s all I listen to, It has been a bit of a hassle when volunteering overseas but the groups have interpreters & when you are helping people the spoken language is not that important. I can see your point about news from different regions & would suggest there are many satellite channels available free to view (Optus D2 & D1) that might help you
Pakeha,eh,lets get the money,education,lets get the money.
Get another Billy T. Fantastic!
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