October 05, 2016
Experience readies Parr for new broadcast reality
The chair of Te Mangai Paho, Piri Sciasia, says the organisation’s new chief executive is going to be working in a radically different environment than his prdecessor.
Veteran producer Larry Parr, who has been managing the Maori broadcast funding agency's television and new media programmes, was picked to replace John Bishara.
Mr Sciasia says he stood out for his knowledge and engagement with the industry, his commitment to te reo Maori and his understanding of the changes brought on by the new Maori Language Act.
That means the agency will have to work more closely with iwi, other crown agencies and with the new body Te Matawai, rather than just being an agency on its own.
"In the meantime the broadcasting sector has its own functionality, its own programme of keeping viable and new technology, there are a range of things happeing in the industry, and it is good to have a leader positioned well enough to engage with that, and certainly Larry showed that his experience counted for a lot," Mr Sciascia says.
Larry Parr starts the job next week.
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