August 03, 2023
Māori news hubs experiment in collaboration
Te Māngai Pāho boss Larry Parr says the Māori broadcast funding agency is treating the new regional news hubs as an experiment.
In partnership with Irirangi Te Motu-NZ On Air using money from the Public Interest Journalism Fund it has committed a further $3 million to four hubs providing collaborative news services across 11 Iwi radio stations in Ngāi Tahu, Tainui, Taranaki and Tairāwhiti.
They’re expected to provide a mix of news and current affairs content in both Te Reo Māori and English.
Mr Parr would like to see them contributing to national programmes like Paakiwaha, Hui and Marae.
“There’s a range of national programmes they could contribute to – some in English and some in te reo Māori. It’s still a little bit of an experiment and we don’t have all the answers so it would be silly for us to go out and try to be prescriptive but I think there is an opportunity for Māori news and current affairs right across the spectrum to be more collaborative and therefore more effective,” he says.
Te Māngai Pāho will ask for expressions of interest for a further two or three regional hubs.