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February 21, 2022
Te Karere celebrates 40 years making news
Adam Gifford
Posted On February 21, 2022
Download AudioTe Karere is marking 40 years of presenting the news of te ao Māori in te reo Māori on state television.
Tini Molyneux says it’s come a long way since the days when Whai Ngata, Purewa Biddle and Derek Fox, soon joined by Wena Harawira, would put together a short daily bulletin.
She remembers newsmakers like Tā Hemi Henare, Kingi Ihaka, John Rangihau and Dick Stirling who were extremely articulate in both te reo Māori and the queen’s English, as well as non-speakers like Hana Te Hemara and her Nga Tamatoa compatriots who had lobbied for the programme.
The Te Karere team had to work within a sceptical and sometimes hostile environment.
“The time allotted to them for te reo was very minimal. There was a bit of confusion within the newsroom as to why this programme was even considered, so fighting attitudes back them was not easy. A lot of people say it might have been racism but when I look back on it now I think a lot of it was ignorance,” Ms Molyneux says.
She says Te Karere has made a major contribution to today’s broadcast environment where there is a lot more Māori spoken, and Pākehā journalists make the attempt to pronounce kupu properly.
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