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The head of Maori Television, Paora Maxwell, says the appointment of a Tumuaki Pumanawa Tangata or head of people, language and culture will help the station become truly bilingual.
Former Whakatane district councillor Pouroto Ngaropo from Ngati Awa and Te Arawa starts work next month.
He’s to develop an internal language strategy, as well as share the service’s strategic vision with iwi and Maori communities
Mr Maxwell says only a third of the 172 staff are Maori speakers.
"It’s all very well taking language and culture to the motu but we need to walk that talk ourselves so our goal is by 2020 to have a Maori language speaking workforce. We've got to make Maori language learning available to our staff and one of the responsibilities Pouroto will have is guiding us in reaching that strategic goal," he says.
Mr Maxwell says he’d be happy if 51 percent of Maori Television staff had conversational fluency by 2020.
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