How crime news harms us all
“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.
Media
The real racist tools were in media not health
“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.
He maimai aroha: Anaru Robb
“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.
What is spectrum, and why should Māori care?
“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.
The spectrum — the battle to reclaim a taonga
“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.
Susana Lei’ataua: Spreading her wings
“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.
Reforming Māori media
"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.
Breaking the circuit
“There are unhealthy consequences for our society if the mainstream media doesn’t become much more accomplished at looking beyond Pākehā interests.” — Gary Wilson.
The Māori voice comes in English as well as te reo
“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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Balancing tikanga and journalism
“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.
Indira Stewart: When one of us wins, all of us win
“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.
This is not the time for white voices
“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
Conversations: Lifting our voices
Our stories create the lens through which we see ourselves and our neighbours and the world around us.
Conversations: It’s about serving our communities
“Our women look at people as if everyone is important and everyone belongs to one of the communities they serve.”
Our future is in collaboration
“Let’s put aside those old battle tactics of divide and conquer, a tool that has pitted us against each other."
Māori media revamp: Where’s the focus on quality journalism?
Being a good reo speaker doesn’t necessarily qualify you as a good reporter.
Brown were in town. We were on a high. Hope was in the air.
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.
Māori media: Is an axe about to drop on iwi radio?
“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.”
Māori media: Inconvenient truths
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.
Māori media: We’ll need to make tough calls
A one-stop shop of Māori news won’t mean less diversity of voices. —Mike Rehu, media consultant and broadcaster.
Māori media: Broadcasting can’t save te reo
"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."
Māori media: Work hard, but fight hard too
“We need well-trained troops, adequate supplies, and a clear and comprehensive strategy to win through.”
Māori media: Where are our Māori print journalists?
“We’re in the danger zone if Māori print journalism relies on mainstream organisations for its survival (and let’s be honest — it does).”
Nevak Rogers: Windows into other worlds
“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.”
Heartened and humbled
To all of you who warmed our hearts and boosted our bank account, a big, big thank you.
We need your help
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.
The wharenui of New Zealand literature remains a gated community
"It’s not enough for Pākehā readers and publishers to 'love' Pasifika or Māori or 'other' writers, while barely giving them space in print."
Moana Jackson: No one’s exercise of free speech should make another feel less free
"The bliss of freedom enjoyed by those who have power should never mean the right to cause pain to those who are comparatively powerless."
‘I was joking’: the all-purpose humour defence
Bob Jones’s column on Māori was “mean, malicious and infantile”, but it gets a Press Council pass under the humour defence.
Keith Ikin: Steering Māori Television along new paths
Keith Ikin, the new man at the helm of the Māori Television Service, is bringing a fresh...
Moana Maniapoto: Every day is Waitangi Day
I love a good debate. When I was at St Joseph’s Māori Girls’ College, I was in the school debating...
Wena Harawira — a lifetime of achievement in Māori media
There’s not much that Wena Harawira can’t do or hasn’t done in radio or...
Yet another story where Māori get to be violent, badly dressed criminals
I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline — as I am wont to do when faced with rapidly...
Is there still hope for Mana magazine?
The news that Mana magazine is having an indefinite (and perhaps permanent) breather is neither...
After 30 years, the struggle goes on for Māori radio
It’s just over 30 years since Te Reo Irirangi o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika first took to the airwaves in...
Māmari Stephens: What some bloody awful cartoons can tell us about ourselves
I don’t get personally offended easily. I learned a while ago not to buy too much into the...
The e-Tangata book: Our stories, our voices
This week, a collection of some of e-Tangata’s best stories from our first two years is being...
Larry Parr: Applying the platinum standard to te reo TV
Larry Parr has carved out a novel career after showing great promise as a little squirt at Raetihi...
Sefita Hao’uli: Ignorance makes you exploitable
The media can give you power by seeing that you’re well informed
Māori bashers and the morality of the media who empower them
They’re back. There I was, a fortnight ago, strapped into a plane bound for Whangarei,...
Whai Ngata: A pioneer of Māori television
Tanara Whairiri-ki-tawhiti Ngata — or Whai, as he was known — didn’t really like me, and...
Mike Hosking’s Tribunal Tribulations
My brief this week was to write a column on the Waitangi Tribunal. Now, I often need to feel a bit...
‘How many brown faces are there in your reporting team?’
Taylor Swift. Who could’ve imagined that an innocuous, mainstream, tween popstar from Pennsylvania...
Waitangi and the virtue of uncertainty
It’s never very far from my memory. The time, in 1988, I took a taxi to Jupiter’s Casino on...
Dividing a nation – or healing the past?
Just over a year ago, the Mana Trust set this e-Tangata website in motion. Three of us are...
Small-town rugby doco gets it wrong?
“The Ground We Won” is a documentary now winning praise from New Zealand audiences and critics...
Still swimming to catch up
Julian Wilcox is pressed for a little more detail about his pathway into broadcasting. ...
In defence of John Campbell
Yes, I’m a disciple of JC. Call me old-fashioned but I’d rather watch a man with his heart...
It’s all to do with television ratings
The trouble with most music reality shows is that they have little to do with the music and...
Spinning Discs
I came into the media thinking it would be all about spinning discs. I’d been in a vocal...
Too girly for the job?
In my early days as a Sky TV journo, I was assigned to interview Justin Marshall who was...