1. MAORI 271/370 2016 Māori Journalism

2. The first Māori journalism
The origins lie in the grand tradition of storytelling: “before the arrival of the Pākehā, and for a good time after, iwi Māori received the news of their world and the stories of the times from orators. These kaikōrero were highly talented and rigorously trained in the arts of communication (Stephens, 2004: 107).
Tainui Stephens

3. Jenny Curnow has described three different phases in early newspapers
Newspapers as a tool of colonisation (1842 – 1877)
The flourishing Māori-owned and operated publications (1862 – 1913)
Then the rapid decrease in Māori-language papers.

4. The first phase (1842 – 1877)
Newspapers were published by the Pākehā administration in te reo for “the instruction of the natives”
BUT
scholars who have looked at these in recent times see their objective as the spread of Western culture and “quite transparently as propaganda organs with political, religious and cultural agenda” (Paterson, 2002:80).

5. The second phase (1862 – 1913)
Māori set up their own newspapers with their own agendas
Te Hokioi o Niu Tireni e Rere atu na (The War-bird of New Zealand in Flight to You)edited by Pātara Te Tuhi, a cousin of the first Māori King Pōtatau Te Wherowhero
Advocated for the Kīngitanga and the restriction of government influence over Māori.
Led Governor Grey to set up a rival newspaper, Te Pihoihoi Mokemoke I Runga I te Tuanui.

6. 1874 another Māori-owned newspaper, Te Wananga, established on the East Coast, in close association with what was known as the Repudiation movement – group which worked together with sympathetic Pākehāto question land sales that it believed had been undertaken fraudulently.
Te Wananga acted as an agitator for extension of the vote to Māori and increase of the number of Māori seats in Parliament.
Stated in an editorial that its purpose was “to put in plain words the afflictions oppressing to iwi Māori”.

7. What to make of this brief history?
Newspapers became the site of a struggle between Māori and the colonising powers for competing ideas and for power.
Wiremu Patara Te Tuhi
George Grey

8. And back to .....
“The media is a key site through which representations of knowledge, language and culture occurs, it is equally a site at which representations of knowledge of language and culture are suppressed”.
But note: at this stage in our history te reo was not suppressed. Both the colonisers’ media and Māori media used te reo to spread their messages

9. Māori-owned newspapers seem to have been not so concerned with using media directly to preserve “knowledge, language and culture” but rather they were about political agitation to save land and power.
Pātai/Question: Is this also about saving knowledge and culture?
Purpose:
- outlets for Māori to voice their own views in
opposition to Pākehā,
- to counterbalance a Pākehā world view
- attempt to stem rising Pākeha power in Aotearoa New
Zealand

10. Consider these newspapers in the context of .....
‘From print and radio to internet, Māori have a history of using media to preserve cultural practices and organise resistance to colonisation’.
(Hodgetts et al (2005). ‘Maori media production, civic journalism and the foreshore and seabed controversy in Aotearoa’. Pacific Journalism Review 11 (2).

11. Third phase – rapid decline
Funding – a constriction that will continue
1867 Native Schools Act = an increasingly accelerating loss of language so that the numbers of writers capable of writing in te reo reduced over the years.

12. Contemporary Māori Journalism

13. Questions we might ask about Māori Journalism
can we talk about a specifically Māori style of journalism?
if so, what might be its characteristics?
how is this different to a western style of journalism?
how is it similar to indigenous journalism from other countries?

14. And some more analytic questions
What do “fairness and balance” mean in the context of Māori journalism?
If, as most Māori (and indeed, indigenous) journalists say that “we want to tell our own stories”, where does that put issues of “objectivity” and “bias”?
Should, indeed can, Māori news be “neutral”?

15. Joanne Te Awa on Mana News, 1993
Looked at:
News values (the usually unconscious values which determine what is seen as newsworthy and what is rejected
Sources

16. “Frequency”
means that news is what happened that day. In mainstream news frequency tends to dictate an emphasis on a particular event, and not on the social and historical context of that event.
Te Awa found that Mana News was not as event orientated as mainstream media.
It also overwhelmingly gave background and context to the stories.
38% of Mana News stories were prompted by an issue, with the historical context given in 80% of these stories.

17. “Personalisation”
means that events are often seen as the actions of people as individuals. An institution and its functions may be ‘personalised’ by referring to a prominent individual who is associated with it.
But this can mask wider societal political, economic and structural factors which might be involved.
The greater focus on issues in Māori news can be seen as to some extent working against this but more specific research is needed here.

18. On the other hand …
TeAwa reported that Mana tended to have more people-focused stories.
This is in line with the famous whakatauki or proverb: “He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata”.
She also found that Mana News put more emphasis on the collective

19. Negativity
For Western journalists, ‘bad news’ is often good business for the newspapers and news programmes.
But Te Awa found that Mana News did not emphasise violence and negativity. It did, however, talk in terms of negative consequences.
In other words, bad news was bad news for Māori, rather than bad news about Māori.

20. A couple of general observations here
Where western journalism would highlight conflict, Māori journalism often doesn’t.
The Māori news bulletins are almost completely “crime-free”, and yet sometimes at least 25% of the stories on “mainstream” bulletins are about crime. (??)

21. Te Awa noted the longer length of Mana stories
She describes Mana as attempting to explain the abstract and explore the shades of grey

22. “Our style was to ask polite probing ques­tions rather than badgering interviewees, because we thought it more productive as well as respectful” (pxiv).
Carol Archie, ex-Mana News

23. considered it more disrespectful in a Māori setting than a Pākehā one to interrupt with a question when interviewing.
“However, I’ve developed ways of leaning forward slightly or using my eyes and a move­ment of the hands to indicate that I wish to ask a question and move on. This usually encourages the person to bring the answer to a close.”
Derek Fox, veteran broadcaster and co-owner of Mana News organisation

24. Archie again
“confrontational stories are avoided in Māori media … Opposing opinions are not positioned so that they will be perceived as putting another down”
reporters working in a Māori environment use different ways of reporting conflict, avoiding words like “battles” or “squabbles” and presenting different opinions “so they are not seen as contradicting other views but, rather, bring­ing another element to the topic”

25. When mass media talked of unity, they empha­sised a form of nationalism that silenced Māori rights and aspirations. When Māori news programmes did so, the unity was in diversity, focused on tino rangatiratanga and challenged the Government to honour te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Māori language news assumed that the fight for Māori rights and aspirations is a necessity and is not divisive or unjustified.
This perspective also challenged the familiar separation of us (the viewers) and them (Māori/Other) regularly seen on mass news programmes.

26. Kupu Taea on sources
The topics raised by sources in Māori language news on Waitangi Day were grounded in Māori world views and recognise the effects of colonisation, a context generally absent in mass media news and located within a quite different framework when it is included.
Te Kaea used fewer politicians as sources and they were given less airtime. Te Karere used predominantly Māori politicians in its Waitangi Day coverage. The Māori sources were often people rarely seen on mass TV news.
Mass programmes, in contrast, relied heavily on politicians and used Māori faces well-known to Pākehā audiences.

27. These concepts were generally absent on mass media.
Values, concepts and world views expressed on Māori language television included honouring tupuna, mokopuna and whānaungatanga;
These concepts were generally absent on mass media.
Māori language TV frequently expressed the importance of understanding te Tiriti and indigenous rights locally and globally.
Te Kaea and Te Karere showed a major differ­ence in how long they allowed sources to speak. Te Kaea averaged one and a half times as long per source as mass TV programmes, while Te Karere averaged three times as long
Kupu Taea (2007). Media and Te Tiriti o Waitangi

28. Maddy King’s MA on whiteness in Waitangi coverage
Te Kaea seemed to have moved more towards mainstream news values.
“Te Karere on the other hand seemed to remain grounded in Māori worldviews, express Māori perspectives, utilise kaupapa Māori newsmaking approaches and resemble te reo Māori news of the past, providing a strong contrast to mainstream newsmaking techniques”.

29. Folker Hanusch in your Reader
Interviewed 20 Māori journalists in 2011
Asks: What might a Māori journalism culture look like?
“journalism culture” = “a particular set of ideas and practices by which journalists legitimate their role in society and render their work meaningful”
Folker Hanusch, University of Queensland

30. Empowerment
Hanusch describes this as ‘“providing an alternative public space”, a space that enables Indigenous peoples access for discussion of their issues, on their terms’ .
I’d go beyond this and think in terms of empowering Māori to do something.
E.g. Pietikannen (who writes about the Sami): indigenous media are “means for political mobilization”.
This dimension is similar to that of the early newspapers.

31. Providing a counter-narrative
countering the negative representations, telling other stories which “articulate Indigenous cultural identities and futures”.
The early newspapers did not perhaps need to counter negative representations to the extent that Māori Journalism has had to in more recent years, but they were certainly a place where Māori writers “articulate[d] Indigenous cultural identities and futures” as colonial newspapers preached Western values.

32. Language Revitalisation
Language protection, let alone language revitalization, was not an issue for early Māori journalism as te reo was a taken for granted part of everyday life, and was also spoken by a considerable number of colonisers.
BUT in the present day, a large number of the journalists that Hanusch spoke to were committed to language revitalization.
BUT whether you can learn a language from the news seems to be a debated topic.

33. Culturally appropriate journalism – some examples
Iwi names given
Emphasis on collective rather than individual
Manaakitanga in regards to sources
Respect for older people
More “flaxroots” people, fewer “movers and shakers

34. Being a watchdog of Māori leaders
“I think this is a really important part of our job because no-one is above scrutiny. No Māori organization is above scrutiny and I absolutely believe that – just like the mainstream media in New Zealand do a very good job of holding their leadership, and their government departments, accountable, our Māori audience deserve exactly the same”.

35. BUT
Native Affairs investigates charges of mispent money by members of Te Kohanga Reo National Trust
Controversy as whether they had adopted Pākehā journalism methods

36. Hanusch: These dimensions are so similar to other indigenous journalisms that there would seem to be a distinctly Indigenous journalism culture across the globe

37. If we go back to the first level of questions …
can we talk about a specifically Māori style of journalism?
if so, what might be its characteristics?
how is this different to a western style of journalism?
how is it similar to indigenous journalism from other countries?

38. So on to …
What do “fairness and balance” mean in the context of Māori journalism?
If, as most Māori (and indeed, indigenous) journalists say that “we want to tell our own stories”, where does that put issues of “objectivity” and “bias”?
Should, indeed can, Māori news be “neutral”?

39. “Fairness”, “balance” and “objectivity”
highly prized qualities in Western journalism.
From Broadcasting Standards Authority:
Standard 4 Controversial Issues - Viewpoints
When discussing controversial issues of public importance in news, current affairs or factual programmes, broadcasters should make reasonable efforts, or give reasonable opportunities, to present significant points of view either in the same programme or in other programmes within the period of current interest.

40. BSA commissioned research
Media Research Team from Te Kawa a Maui at Victoria University used case study of broadcasting coverage of the foreshore and seabed issue
"The broadcasting standards were generally met, but this research project raises the view that the standards as currently framed do not adequately reflect Maori realities, concerns and interests".

41. Should Māori journalism be asked to meet requirements that western journalism does not itself meet?
“The Māori perspective can be defined as journalistic practice that explicitly focuses on news in the context of what it means for Māori society. It privileges a Māori point of view, but at the same time aims to do so according to the generally agreed reporting guidelines of fairness and balance” (Hanusch)
“guidelines” as the operative word?

42. “The difference between us and mainstream is that mainstream will try to make out in their journalism courses that there’s no such thing as a Pākehā perspective, that they’re neutral. But I would challenge them on that. They’re not neutral. They come from a Pākehā perspective and they don’t say that they come from a Pākehā perspective, but they do, or they have certainly done in the past. But we’re willing to admit that we write from a Māori perspective and how stories affect Māori and we’ll say that.” (quoted in Hanusch)

43. Advocacy journalism 
a type of journalism that intentionally and transparently adopts a non-objective viewpoint, usually for some social or political purpose. Because it is intended to be factual, it is different to propaganda. It is also distinct from instances of media bias and failures of objectivityin media outlets, which attempt to be—or which present themselves as—objective or neutral

44. There is a tension between providing a counter-narrative and contributing to empowerment on one hand, and performing an advocacy role on the other. While advocacy journalism is often rejected by Western journalists, it is quite openly welcomed by journalists in other societies, and even by journalistic sub-cultures, such as alternative journalism in the West
General opinion on the issue of whether journalists should perform an advocacy role was somewhat split among the respondents. While some believe there is a definite role to be advocates, others believe it has been resigned to the past, although some of the differences may be due to diverging understandings of what it means to be an advocate. (Hanusch)

45. APTN
Strong support among APTN journalists for “telling our own stories”
But at the same time…

46. APTN’s Journalistic Policy
““We do not take on the role of public relations facilitator for Aboriginal issues, leaders, organizations, governments, individuals and communities. We are an independent news service. We do, however, strive to reflect a real and balanced picture of the Aboriginal reality”. In other words, APTN’s newsroom does not see itself as an advocate for Aboriginal issues.” (Hafsteinsson, p. 60)

47. A Māori Television journalist on advocacy …
“Perhaps that doesn’t fit in with traditional ideals about what a journalist is supposed to be, which is completely impartial, but I am never impartial. They are my people, and they’ve been denied a voice for so long. I see it as my job to provide them with the platform and to advocate on their behalf and to give New Zealand a better understanding of the issues Māori face and the hardships endured.”

48. and a Television New Zealand Māori journalist
“We tell triumph stories, but those are more personal profile stories, or successful Māori business – those triumph stories – but we don’t go and advocate for a certain iwi, or a certain political group. You can’t do that.”

49. “Hopefully, their protest won’t fall on deaf ears”
“Hopefully the Prime Minister will take notice”

50. Eurocentric journalism scholarship?
BUT
communication methods and systems are based within cultures (Stuart Allen, 2002).
ideas about universal media ethics “are not cognizant of colonial history and unequal power relations between peoples and nations” (Rao and Wasserman, 2007, p. 39)

51. Barry Barclay ‘Talking in’ and ‘talking out’ (1990)
The mainstream want, even demand, that Māori talk out but …
“I believe we need to be talking to our own people first”.

52. “Hopefully, their protest won’t fall on deaf ears”
“Hopefully the Prime Minister will take notice”
Margaret Mutu

53. The communications marae
Anyone is welcome to come in, but they shouldn’t ask that the rules of the marae be changed.
Rather, “the way to keep the spirit of the young communications marae strong is to be absolutely rigid about operating it along marae lines. When you enter this space, you will hear our people talking in their own way to their own people” (Barclay, 1990, p. 77).