WAATEA NEWS COLUMN: 30% of Iwi stations could go under after 25% budget cuts

A 25% funding cut to iwi radio isn’t just a media story — it’s a warning. As climate emergencies increase and misinformation spreads, the potential collapse of up to 30% of stations raises a blunt question: who gets to be heard in Aotearoa, and who gets left in silence?

The shocking attack to cut 25% in budget to Iwi Radio stations could see as many as 30% go under say Iwi Radio insiders.

When cutting media funding becomes a public safety risk

At a time when climate emergencies are increasing, losing vital paths of communication during extreme weather events will put lives at risk.

It’s not just the importance of emergency broadcasting, this is an election year! Implementing budget cuts that could see 30% of the 21 Iwi Stations collapse is a slap in the face to what is the oldest Treaty Settlement outcome.

The first wave of Māori radio stations were established under the Broadcasting Amendment Act 1993 and as Peter-Lucas Jones the chief executive of far North iwi broadcaster Te Hiku Media says,  “Māori radio is a right under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, not a government handout.”

This isn’t just a cut — it’s a political choice

To attack some of the best flax-roots indigenous fourth estate journalism in an election year when anti-Māori and anti-Treaty rhetoric are the policy agenda is a political move as much as it is a budgetary measure.

We need more funding for Media, including Māori media, not less!

The need to have journalism that best journalistic standards in an age of social media disinformation and misinformation is not a ‘nice to have’ it is the basic pillar of a democracy.

Silencing critical voices may not be the stated aim — but it will be the outcome.

There is much to be genuinely angry at with this terrible Government but cutting the funding for critical media while putting communities already on the front line of climate change in more danger must be near the top of that list.