The Non-Person Some Rambling Thoughts on TV In New Zealand by Alan Armstrong Let us imagine that you live in Tasmania or somewhere else overseas. By some freak of atmospherics you manage every night to pick up NZBC TV. You have never been to New Zealand. You know little about the country. What would your impressions be at the end of a year? ‘It's just like Australia,’ you might say. ‘New Zealand is a multi-racial country,’ I answer. ‘Something like one-tenth or more of our population has “dark” blood to some degree. Inter-racial marriage is increasing. Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world. We are trying to build up a distinctive local culture, a fusion of two races, two traditions….’ You raise your eyebrows in surprise—‘I would never have believed it!’ Indeed… ! What do New Zealanders see on their television screens which tells it like it is as far as the Maori scene is concerned? There was a brief storm in a teacup over the ‘Storm Troopers’ on ‘Gallery’. (The Maori problem! There must be a Maori ‘problem’). Occasionally Marama Martin brings her special brand of quiet humour to programme continuity if you can tune in to WN TV. There is Ernie Leonard on ‘Personality Squares’. Once they even allowed him for five minutes to stand in for the quiz master. Now there is real progress. They even let him say ‘Tena koutou’ a couple of times before the quizmaster said, ‘One day I must find out what that means’. Once a year (Christmas Day 1970, wasn't it?) there is a real programme of Maori music. I must not look a gift horse in the mouth. This programme was a good attempt in an irrelevant setting. In colour on a big screen it would have been magnificent. In black and white on a 16 inch screen it was almost a disaster. The performers were all mixed up with fern fronds and tree trunks — dark people against a darker background. How about commercials? Oh yes. There's the chap who says ‘Ka pai’ or something fatuous when asked what he thinks of the sponsor's products. (It is a wonder NZBC didn't put subtitles in English under that scene to help people as ignorant of Maori as the quizmaster mentioned above). There is another Maori who says he likes pipis with a well known brand of biscuits. That about exhausts the numbers of Maoris starring in commercials. There was the programme about the Theatre Trust in Moscow. Good programme that. Produced by the Russians of course, not the NZBC. I nearly forgot the Royal visit. That was a first class coverage of the Maori welcome to the Queen. Credit where credit is due. We always get the Maoris out of their showcase for royalty, don't we? There was a bit more but not much. When you look back on it all you cannot blame our Tasmanian friend getting a wrong impression. Let's face it. If you are a Maori you are almost a non-person as far as NZBC TV is concerned. How often are Maoris interviewed in those street-side confrontations with the public on some burning issue of the day? As fill-ins between programmes, we get vapid crooners aplenty and there was even a run of film clips featuring Fijian music and dancing. but how often do we see an action song or a haka or a tasteful poi dance to bridge a gap in the evening's continuity? When is ‘Survey’ going to examine something in depth, not necessarily about Maori people but of special interest to Maori people? There are just so many topics which cry out for treatment. Why do we see Maoris on discussion panels on only the very rare occasions when specifically Maori matters (or All Black tours) are dealt with. Why are Maori opinions not important or of interest on non-Maori matters? Why don't we see Maoris amongst