May 15, 2019
Media review leaves Māori money stuck in past
The chair of Māori screen industry organisation Ngā Aho Whakaari says the Māori Media Shift Review has failed to paint a picture for the future and failed to address the racist funding imbalance.
The first report of the review being conducted by Te Puni Kōkiri was released this week, and Hineani Melbourne says it describes current conditions rather than sets out how the sector could respond to the changes being driven by new technology.
She says the acknowledgement Māori media was underfunded compared with other public sector broadcasters was welcomed, but rather than address the problem in the Budget the sector is expected to limp along.
"Every Pākehā organisation has got a major boost and without a major review, but we haven’t, and it always happens to Māori. I mean if I was doing one job and next door is a Pākehā doing exactly the same job but they’re getting 40 to 60 percent more, wouldn’t you say that was racism?" Ms Melbourne says.
The review team seems to have ignored the voices of practitioners.
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