June 16, 2020
Fox backing Maori media purge
Māori media veteran Derek Fox is applauding a proposal to have just one Māori news service for television, radio and digital platforms.
The proposal is contained in Māori Broadcasting Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s Māori media shift discussion document, which is out for consultation.
Ms Mahuta says it’s not sustainable for Māori broadcast funding agency Te Mangai Paho to keep funding a multitude of Māori news and current affairs outlets, and she wants a single service located in Māori Television.
Derek Fox, who was Māori Televisions’ first chair, says there is not enough money to pay for multiple competing systems, so it makes sense to aggregate resources into one good news and current affairs service that can cover any issues affecting Māori, in English and te reo Māori.
"All these people who say 'we've got the best, we don't want to work for a Māori outfit, we want to work for this outlet' – good, go and work for that outlet but let that outlet fund it. leave the Māori pūtea to grow not just television but the others. There's no reason we can't have people who are covering the world daily from a Māori point of view and broadcasting it on radio, on television and the internet," he says.
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