English-language captions were rejected

Press, 4 March 1983, Page 15

English-language captions were rejected

A suggestion that Television New Zealand should put English-language captions on “Te Karere" (the news in Maori) was considi ered and rejected before the , programme was first broadcast.

Viewers have suggested that captions would enable those who do not know Maori to understand the news, some of which is not shown on other bulletins, and also perhaps to pick up a little of the language themselves. "Te Karere” (“messenger” according to the Maori dictionary) began 11 days ago and is a five-minute programme broadcast at 5.55 p.m. on TV2 in most parts of the country (TVI on the east coast of the North Island.)

Mr Graeme Wilson, the editor for television news, said from Auckland yesterday: “The English-language caption idea was looked at before we went to air. We decided, in line with other alternative-language pro-

grammes overseas, that the best service to people who spoke the language was a programme broadcast unalloyed in that language. "The programme is aimed at a target audience of Maori-speakers and people learning Maori. Our aim is to provide that target audience with the best possible service. Captions would detract from the quality of the picture.

“We could try to broaden the appeal of the programme but that would lessen the service for the target audience, and there are already plenty of other news bulletins for the general audience.” Mr Wilson also said that it would be a huge job to provide captions for a daily programme. “News Review, ” the news programme for the deaf, has captions but it is a weekly programme and, of course, the captions are there for the obvious compelling reason.