March 09, 2021
Te reo no cause for complaint
The Broadcasting Standards Authority says it won’t accept any complaints about the use of te reo Māori in broadcasts.
The authority says it has received 27 enquiries about the language’s use since June last year – five times as many in the same period the year before – and two formal complaints.
One viewer complained greetings in te reo in news and current affairs programmes on TVNZ were discriminatory toward non-Māori speaking New Zealanders and divisive.
The authority said te reo Māori was an official New Zealand language and its use was protected and promoted by existing law.
The complaint did not raise an issue of harm as envisaged by the standards, and the use of te reo Māori is an editorial decision for broadcasters.
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