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July 05, 2023
International acclaim for newsroom diversity push
Peter Verschaffelt
Posted On July 5, 2023
An initiative to address the shortage of Māori, Pasifika and diverse journalists in the newsrooms of Aotearoa has won Best Innovation in Newsroom Transformation at this year’s INMA Global Media Awards in New York.
Te Rito Journalism Project tutor Lois Turei says the award acknowledged the importance of the Public Interest Journalism Fund ensuring trainees could be paid.
She says putting young people with cultural awareness into mainstream newsrooms has been significant.
“I will die arguing in a ditch that the best way to effect change in mainstream newsrooms is to have more of us in that space to help change whakaaro. It’s incremental change. It won’t happen straight way and it’s tough going into that space,” Ms Turei says.
The first cohort of 23 Te Rito cadets graduated in February and the second cohort has just begun the 12-month programme.
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