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OPINION: Since 2001, I have worked in both the mainstream media and the Maori media. I love journalism, but being a Maori reporter is hard work.
In the mainstream news, Maori reporters are a minority, Maori stories and voices are not given a similar priority to other stories unless they are contradictory.
This is problematic because it creates inequity for Maori.
We do not provide a counterweight to contradictory stories because we do not inform enough about other aspects of Maori society. This distorts the narrative about Maori by portraying them negatively and as outside the perspective of the media.
The example of the Maori can be used for any minority culture in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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LAWRENCE SMITH
Things from the national correspondent Carmen Parahi. She believes that the media should work harder to better represent all people in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The media system, its organizations, and its staff are supposed to represent everyone. They don’t and never have historically.
The first items appeared in the middle of the 19th century. They were instruments of the Crown and represented the perspectives of settlers on settlement issues, including land disputes with the Maori.
Like many other colonial systems such as education, the media were created to support and promote Western European ideologies and practices. For Maori to be included in any of these structures, they must adopt English and Pakeha cultural norms. If they don’t, they are excluded.
The public voices and perspectives of Maori were sidelined by the media at the time and although it has improved over time, Maori are still not well represented now.
The main newsrooms across the country are filled mainly with Pākehā. This is neither good nor bad, it is a fact. What this means is that, if we are not aware of it, the lens used to generate news and influence our communities is monocultural.
As journalists, we are accountable to public opinion, a set of industry principles, defamation laws, and editorial codes of conduct. We are supposed to be independent, without prejudice or favoritism. This is difficult to achieve when the news system and newsrooms are not constantly monitored to ensure that they are not biased or favoring Pākehā’s perspectives.
Felix Desmarais / THINGS
The new data shows that Kiwis are increasingly interested in books on te reo Māori and te ao Māori.
In my early years as a reporter, I let some aspects of my Māoritanga to fit in. This is not the case for me now because I am a senior reporter, but it may be the case for younger minority journalists.
My independence, important to journalism, is often questioned by other reporters and the public. I am considered biased because I am a Maori and I focus on Maori perspectives. I have a file full of emailed complaints, some of them racist, about the stories I write.
For example, a guy called me “f ….. b …. and said:” The reason there is racism in this country is because you are a racist against New Zealand Europeans who open your racist mouth and spread your racism. words.”
It can be a bit lonely being the only Maori voice in a newsroom. I have a Stuff whānau that supports me. I could stop focusing on the Maori, but who else will? It is my way of supporting the community even though the Maori have left me crying by questioning who I am and why I am reporting on them.
When i backtracked Stuff campaign to make Matariki a holiday, a Maori reader called me kūare, an insulting term.
I like it when colleagues ask me for advice on all things Maori, I don’t care because the consultation has a purpose. But sometimes, cultural differences can cause conflict in the newsroom.
I remember years ago I printed a report and my co-worker said to me: “Could you hurry with the impression that Maori …?” Another colleague from that time asked me to stop pronouncing Maori place names correctly because no one knew what he was talking about. I was about to have a physical fight with a journalist who called my cultural practices, politically correct bulls …
Obviously, I wouldn’t be in the industry yet if I didn’t think there’s something good about it, including all the people I’ve worked with over the years, despite our differences. Newsrooms try to be more inclusive in everything they do. We have come a long way from our ancestors of yore.
TO Stuff, we no longer pluralize Maori words, just an apostrophe ‘s’ in possessive nouns. In 2017, Stuff introduced macrons during te wiki o te reo Māori, the week of the Maori language. This weekend, we launched plans to bring back Maori tea and culture in support of Maori language week. All of our headers will carry Maori reo names backed by local iwi.
We have been purposefully creating projects and stories to raise the voices of the Maori and all cultures of Aotearoa New Zealand, such as Nā Niu Tīreni and our new series, Aotearoa in 20.
I think the news system can be better and more inclusive. Our younger generation of reporters tend to be less monocultural in their views and thinking. But if we don’t change our representation of all cultures now, they can carry the same practices of marginalization from the past into the future.
Seniors like me know it is time to do more if we are to truly represent the bicultural foundations of Aotearoa New Zealand and its multicultural society.
