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Maori tv news spreads net

Initial worries about the Maori news on televison not being able to be picked up the large Maori population on the East Coast and the far north have not been realised. Because the news is broadcast on TV2, which has no reception on the East Coast, it was felt Maori viewers would miss out. However a switching arrangement at Whakapunake transmitter will mean at 5.30 pm the TV2 signal will be put onto the TVI line and the TVI signal put onto the TV2 line. This will mean viewers on the Coast will receive the Maori news by staying tuned to TVI. At 6.30 pm the channels will be switched back again. And in the north a new transmitter has been turned on serving the area meaning the Maori News will be picked up on the normal TV2 signal. Maori News editor Derek Fox says it’s still only tinkering with the system and it would be better to put the Maori news in the 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm space on TVI with the main news.

The Maori news on Televison New Zealand is news specifically gathered for Maori viewers and is not just a translation of the top stories of the day.

That’s the kaupapa of the Maori news according to programme editor, Derek Fox.

The television news in Maori commenced on February 21 on TV2 and goes Monday to Friday at the end of a news package at 5.45 p.m. Normal length of the Maori language news is three to five minutes.

Tu Tangata magazine spoke to Derek Fox about the Maori news.

TT: How will the news be presented?

“It’s news specifically aimed at Maoris. I don’t see myself translating the top stories, say from Lebanon. I see that as being a waste of time. Our Maori viewers will be able to get that news by looking at the pakeha news. I want to give them something they didn’t know or show them something from the main news with a Maori perspective.” TT: Given that perspective, how will the news be gathered?

“I have a staff of three, Whai Ngata formerly from Te Reo O Aotearoa Broadcasting Unit in Auckland, myself and one yet to be selected at time of interview. In terms of gathering that puts a very heavy load on us and so what we require is for people having major hui and whatnot to get in touch with us well in advance to let us know what the takes are. The Box Number is 3819 Auckland c/-Television New Zealand.

“I’m also writing to the Secretary of Maori Affairs to see if he can get his community officers, who after all penetrate through the country in Maori areas, to keep us posted as to what’s going on. We won’t be able to cover everything, but we will be able to pick newsworthy themes. For example rapu mahi, kohanga reo, the involvement of Maoris at University.”

TT: Does the Maori news presentation have a different style to what is normally seen and heard in the media.

“Our presentation will be slightly different in treatment of stories and of course use of Maori language. Our stories need to run a little bit longer than normal ones. I don’t see us running a succession of thirty second clips, I see

us dealing with a subject for two or three minutes in accordance with the more deliberate pace of things I know my people prefer to see.”

TT: What link-up is there between your team of Maori journalists and other television journalists?

“What is probably not appreciated here is what we will be capable of doing, is what a far higher percentage of N.Z. journalists should be doing. I mean this is really breaking new ground in that we will be able to report in both languages. Where we come across a story which has got strong Maori implications but also has implications for the rest of New Zealand society, we would also do a story in english for the pakeha news. You see that is a very modest beginning, completely new ground. Some of the pakeha reporters have said to me, ‘but how will this work?’ And I say, from time to time I’d expect pakeha reporters to do likewise. If they’re going to some event or some place where something of Maori news importance is happening and they’re filming it, then it is equally easy for them to gather the relevant details in english and for us to translate. That’s how obviously we’re going to cover chunks of the country that we can’t get to, like the South Island.

It means that pakeha reporters in Television New Zealand will have their eyes opened to a new dimension, but on the other hand it means that because for the first time there will be reporters working in Maori and attending Maori

functions, all that information that pakeha reporters had no access to, will now, if it’s of sufficient importance, be reported.

TT: How do you think the Maori community will react to the Maori news?

“I would expect that if they don’t like some of the things we’re doing they’ll say so, and that’s healthy. You see for the first time from a news point of view there will be somebody that the Maori community will be able to aim at, either bouquets or brickbats.

In the past where they've seen something done on television, and it’s been done badly, probably mainly through the ignorance of the reporter not knowing any better, the Maori community has been very annoyed about it. But they’ve not known what to do about it, so they’ve just borne a grudge, and sort of nohopuku’ed about it and been fed up about it. So the next time television has come around they’ve said ‘to hell with you’.

Now I would hope that we would give greater access to that sort of thing because we do know better.

TT: What other specific Maori resources apart from the community and the Department of Maori Affairs, will be tapped.

“I would hope that we would always be comparing notes with Koha, Tu Tangata and Te Reo O Aotearoa. You see we’re too thin on the ground not to hold hands and help each other out where we can.”

TT: What provision is there for adequate facilities and staffing now and as the Maori News function grows?

“We will compete like other television staff for facilities and I think it’s quite healthy that we do. I wouldn't like to be seen as a separate unit tucked away somewhere. Based in the Auckland television newsroom we can abuse them about their bad pronunciation, and being around everyday can help them improve.

“Obviously in time with an increase in workload there has to be an increase in input, to begin with, what we can do is determined by staff and facilities we have access to.

“But one thing to come out of this that has been agreed by TVNZ is the

Maori news will be an entry point for young Maoris into television. If there are young Maoris who say want to be a journalist and their taha Maori is OK, then we are able to take on a trainee. After a time of training that person is able to be transferred to one of the other news or current affairs programmes.”

TT: Is TVNZ aware of the spinoffs in presenting news in the Maori language on prime time television?

“Well let me put it this way. I don’t think they were aware of the clamour that would ensue from putting on a trial programme of Maori news last year, and indeed the response from the Maori community wanting regular television news in Maori. I’m picking that the response will continue.

“I hope that people don’t just say ‘we’ve got five minutes of news now’. Part of my job here is to make sure it grows and that the Maori people get what they’re entitled to in terms of being 12.1% of the population, according to last census. Twelve cents in every advertising dollar is spent trying to attract our custom. Twelve present of the licence fee is paid by our people. We aren’t getting twelve per

cent of the resources.”

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/TUTANG19830301.2.6

Bibliographic details

Tu Tangata, Issue 10, 1 March 1983, Page 2

Word Count
1,387

Maori tv news spreads net Tu Tangata, Issue 10, 1 March 1983, Page 2

Maori tv news spreads net Tu Tangata, Issue 10, 1 March 1983, Page 2

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