“One ongoing challenge Whakaata Māori faces is securing equitable funding and resources. Today’s financial pressures highlight the fragility of our position.” — Shane Taurima.
“Māori rights, like all Indigenous rights, have always been the strongest roadblock to corporate mineral and freshwater extraction, and that is why we are consistently attacked in the media.” — Tina Ngata.
“In wanting to play with the big boys, the state bureaucracy, coupled with a grasping political class, appears likely to drag New Zealand into a US-led Asia-Pacific conflict that serves none of our interests.” — Glen Johnson.
“Time to take stock. To remind the public, the people we serve, that we are worthy of their trust. To remind ourselves that lazy journalism can be dangerous even to those beyond the grave.” — Tiraroa Reweti.
“It overcame pessimism and doubt, political attacks, and a dearth of resources to find its stride. It told Māori stories, explored Māori issues, challenged Māori ways and thinking, and celebrated Māori in ways seldom seen before.” — Jamie Tahana on Māori Television.
“In a tribal society with an age-related hierarchy, reporters who push for answers or display scepticism at what they are told can be accused of a lack of manaakitanga.” — Atakohu Middleton.
“Not all crimes receive equal coverage. Nor are they framed in the same way, however violent they may be.” — Criminologist Sara Salman on the Auckland shooting last month.
“The central issue the story raises is one of media responsibility. Why was there no rush to demand that the people who kicked it off justify their angle, their selection of voices, and their framing?” — Connie Buchanan.
“Anaru’s ability to speak Māori committed him throughout his adult life to holding the government to task about its obligations to te reo Māori and Māori rights.” — Wena Harawira.
“Māori want to ‘own’ spectrum, not to set up their own separate network, but as an incentive for existing telcos to enter into commercial deals with Māori.” — Andrew Robb.
“It’s been a 30-year journey to get to this point, and the knowledge that has driven us is the knowledge that the spectrum is a taonga.” — Piripi Walker.
“Am I being truthful? Am I being respectful? Am I prepared? And am I responsible? Those are the four things that really guide me.” — Susana Lei’ataua, RNZ Pacific's News Editor.
"Sometimes I think we have too big an expectation of the reo Māori sector. Yes, broadcasting is part of the reo revitalisation plan. But it’s not the only mechanism." — Bailey Mackey.
“There are unhealthy consequences for our society if the mainstream media doesn’t become much more accomplished at looking beyond Pākehā interests.” — Gary Wilson.
“English is the language that reaches all the politicians and the voters, including the journalists and teachers and lawyers and doctors and nurses and academics and business leaders and all the others who play a part in shaping our society.”
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“Māori journalists see themselves as Māori first and journalists second.” — Atakohu Middleton on her PhD research into the influence of tikanga on reo-Māori journalism.
“When I think about the shortage of Pasifika journalists, I'm a bit surprised there aren't more of us, because we're powerful storytellers and we always have been.”—Indira Stewart, host of RNZ's new morning news show First Up.
“Everyone has their say in a democracy. But mostly the people who have their say in public life in New Zealand are white.”—Steve Braunias
Our stories create the lens through which we see ourselves and our neighbours and the world around us.
“Our women look at people as if everyone is important and everyone belongs to one of the communities they serve.”
“Let’s put aside those old battle tactics of divide and conquer, a tool that has pitted us against each other."
Being a good reo speaker doesn’t necessarily qualify you as a good reporter.
At the heart of the problem is the hare-brained notion that the primary goal for the Māori media is preserving and promoting the Māori language.
“God help the bureaucrat that decides to cut an iwi station. You’d not only have 21 station managers to deal with. You’d have their iwi as well.”
Te reo Māori isn’t just the Māori language. It’s also the voice of Māori, and that voice comes in English as well as Māori.
A one-stop shop of Māori news won’t mean less diversity of voices. —Mike Rehu, media consultant and broadcaster.
"The sad truth is our kids don’t really watch te reo Māori television. Or listen to te reo Māori radio. If they do, it’s not improving their ability to kōrero."
“We need well-trained troops, adequate supplies, and a clear and comprehensive strategy to win through.”
“We’re in the danger zone if Māori print journalism relies on mainstream organisations for its survival (and let’s be honest — it does).”
“I’d led such a privileged life, had copped so little overt racism, and learned so little history, that I was oblivious to much of what was going on in Aotearoa.”
To all of you who warmed our hearts and boosted our bank account, a big, big thank you.
If we’re to develop E-Tangata into an operation that can give Māori and Pasifika communities a strong, articulate media voice, we urgently need to find more funding.
"It’s not enough for Pākehā readers and publishers to 'love' Pasifika or Māori or 'other' writers, while barely giving them space in print."
"The bliss of freedom enjoyed by those who have power should never mean the right to cause pain to those who are comparatively powerless."
Bob Jones’s column on Māori was “mean, malicious and infantile”, but it gets a Press Council pass under the humour defence.
Keith Ikin, the new man at the helm of the Māori Television Service, is bringing a fresh...
I love a good debate. When I was at St Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College, I was in the school debating...
There’s not much that Wena Harawira can’t do or hasn’t done in radio or...
I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline — as I am wont to do when faced with rapidly...
The news that Mana magazine is having an indefinite (and perhaps permanent) breather is neither...
It’s just over 30 years since Te Reo Irirangi o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika first took to the airwaves in...
I don’t get personally offended easily. I learned a while ago not to buy too much into the...
This week, a collection of some of e-Tangata’s best stories from our first two years is being...
Larry Parr has carved out a novel career after showing great promise as a little squirt at Raetihi...
The media can give you power by seeing that you’re well informed
They’re back. There I was, a fortnight ago, strapped into a plane bound for Whangarei,...
Tanara Whairiri-ki-tawhiti Ngata — or Whai, as he was known — didn’t really like me, and...
My brief this week was to write a column on the Waitangi Tribunal. Now, I often need to feel a bit...
Taylor Swift. Who could’ve imagined that an innocuous, mainstream, tween popstar from Pennsylvania...
It’s never very far from my memory. The time, in 1988, I took a taxi to Jupiter’s Casino on...
Just over a year ago, the Mana Trust set this E-Tangata website in motion. Three of us are...
“The Ground We Won” is a documentary now winning praise from New Zealand audiences and critics...
Julian Wilcox is pressed for a little more detail about his pathway into broadcasting. ...
Yes, I’m a disciple of JC. Call me old-fashioned but I’d rather watch a man with his heart...
The trouble with most music reality shows is that they have little to do with the music and...
I came into the media thinking it would be all about spinning discs. I’d been in a vocal...
In my early days as a Sky TV journo, I was assigned to interview Justin Marshall who was...
E-Tangata is an online Sunday magazine specialising in stories that reflect the experiences of Māori and Pasifika in Aotearoa.
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