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Officials conducting a review of the Māori media sector have heard a call for more equitable funding.
Ngā Aho Whakaari president Hineani Melbourne says a hui at Rotorua yesterday draw a broad cross section of people in the industry keen to give Te Puni Kōkiri an insight into the challenges they face and the different standards they are held to by funding bodies.
She says while a normal production bid may only be 10 pages, Māori producers found they had to produce more than four times that, for a fraction of the money.
Actor and producer Cliff Curtis told the hui Māori in film and television punch well above their weight nationally and internationally.
"So they should be funded to reflect the value Māori identity and culture gives to New Zealand, and basically harks back to the lower funding levels and resources. People at the hui were saying this is institutional racism and it needs to be urgently addressed by the Government," Ms Melbourne says.
While other areas of state-funded media have had a boost from the Government, Māori media funding has been frozen for more than a decade.
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