June 15, 2020
Māori media shift on wrong track for iwi radio
The chair of Māori radio umbrella group Te Whakaruruhau says Māori Broadcasting Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s Māori media shift proposal fails to appreciate the role of iwi radio in language revival.
Peter-Lucas Jones says sector members are keen for change, but it’s important iwi have a real voice in what happens, rather than solutions being imposed to meet government objectives.
He’s unimpressed with proposals for a national Māori radio station or a single Māori newsroom, and he feels the proposal is taking the wrong approach to collaboration.
"Forced collaboration, internationally the research says it fails. So we must be mindful when we talk about collaboration because we need to collaborate not just based on whakapapa, which is geographical collaboration. People call it clustering. Some people call it rationalisation. True collaboration would be based on needs and interests," Mr Jones says.
He says any reform of the sector should take into account the need at the hau kainga level to grow high value jobs not just in radio and television but in the development of digital technologies.
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