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New Zealand’s first MP and regional development minister Shane Jones are calling for resignations at Te Māngai Pāho, the Maori broadcasting funding agency for funding a series of social media videos in English, after a The video generated controversy for its poor tone.
Te Māngai Pāho funded a series of videos from producer Hahana, which used influencers on social media to create youth-oriented content for young Maori.
The group created a satirical video for Maori Language Week, featuring influential people calling for an end to the Maori tea. The call was a joke, but it was received badly.
The video caused widespread outrage over what was deemed a poor tone, prompting the video’s creators to apologize after admitting they were wrong.
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But Jones wants to go further, says there was a lack of supervision by Te Māngai Pāho and is asking the organization’s executive to resign.
He says it is inappropriate for Te Māngai Pāho to be funding English programs that do not respect the Māori te reo at a time when regional iwi radio stations, which are also dependent on Te Māngai Pāho funding, were struggling.
“This is Maori language week, and I have been advised that the Maori broadcaster has spent $ 1 million on these English-language shows where there are cultural grasshoppers trying to get smarter by faking the Maori language,” Jones said. .
“I would rather see this crowd go to the Ratana church marching band,” he said.
Kavinda Herath / Things
Shane Jones has joined the outrage against a tacky video.
Jones said that as New Zealand’s first MP, he, like its leader Winston Peters, pays particular attention to the network of iwi radio stations across the country. Peters and Jones talk to Radio Waatea weekly and he tries to talk to three iwi radio stations a week.
He said that these iwi radio stations are being deliberately underfunded, which is why the decision to fund Hahana was so disrespectful.
“Maori-language radio is starving, it is being deliberately underfed,” Jones said.
“There is an absence of a clear and comprehensive plan,” he said.
But Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta backed Te Māngai Pāho’s decision to fund the program.
She told TVNZ’s Te Karere that she did not agree that the producers of the videos had disrespected the language.
“I do not agree that they have disrespected our language,” he said.
“In my opinion, it was risky, however, it is for Rangatahi to challenge Rangatahi on hot topics for Maori,” he said.
“And the challenge was that if we want to keep the language, we have to speak it,” he said.
Larry Parr, the chief executive of Te Māngai Pāho, said the video had “missed the mark,” but said he would be more concerned if producers fear pushing the boundaries.
“Did you miss him very much? No, I don’t think so,” Parr said.
“Our biggest concern would be that they stop pushing the boundaries,” Parr said.
“Our key responsibility at this time is to ensure that your creativity and your readiness to push the boundaries are not affected by this incident,” he said.
Parr said the organization was under pressure to fund both Maori language content and media told from Maori perspectives, which could be in both Maori te reo and English. This pressure could be particularly acute when other parts of the media did not always do their part to reflect Maori perspectives.
“I would be very happy if we were confined to the Reo Maori, but that is not the case and I don’t think it should be that way,” he said.
“Somewhere we have to find the right balance between who finances te reo Māori and who finances a Maori perspective in English,” he said.
Hahana was contacted for comment.
