The launch of Māori Television in 2004.
The launch of Māori Television in 2004.

MediaMay 7, 2016

I’m a huge fan of Māori TV. Which is why I’m hugely worried about what’s going on there

The launch of Māori Television in 2004.
The launch of Māori Television in 2004.

Opinion: Changes at Māori TV give great cause for concern. The chief executive should be encouraging coverage critical of the establishment, not shutting it down, writes Green Party MP Marama Davidson

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of hearing bad news about Māori TV. Whenever Māori TV is mentioned in the media, it’s usually followed by a lot of WTFs, a bunch of SMHing and an annoying amount of LOLing. And that’s a problem for me, because I am a fan of Māori TV. Like, a really big fan.

Whenever I have a bit of down time, I love flicking on Māori TV. I can watch pretty much anything on there, but my kids and I especially love bundling up and watching Kairākau together. If you haven’t seen it, this is the most kickass history of Aotearoa that’s ever been made. Forget those Kardashians – you should be keeping up with Kairākau! And that’s not the only good thing on there. My husband tapes all of the kickboxing shows, while all of my kids get into the Dora reo programmes. Plus, as an added bonus, all of our reo is getting better by watching it.

The Maori Television launch ceremony in 2004.
The Māori Television launch ceremony in 2004

The channel has worked hard to be a vehicle for the promotion of te ao Māori – whether that is our reo, our tikanga, our creativity or our politics. So given all the things that are great about the channel, why are staff now leaving Māori TV in droves? And is Chief Executive Paora Maxwell taking a leaf out of former MediaWorks CEO Mark Weldon’s playbook?

When Paora Maxwell came to the Māori Affairs Select Committee in Parliament this week, I put it to him that out of 162 FTE staff, more than 45 people that I know of have resigned or been “moved on” since his appointment in 2014. Mr Maxwell flat out denied that amount of people leaving and puts it at 20 in the past two years.

The exodus of staff from Māori TV is a huge concern, particularly when some of those people were foundation staff of over 10 years, and have included high profile, highly respected and fluent reo speakers. These are top class journalists, who established Māori TV as a media organisation that asks the tough questions on issues such as Kōhanga Reo funding (questions which many grassroots Māori wanted answers for), and human rights breaches in West Papua.

I am never one to deny a Māori a good pay packet, but something smells fishy when staff at the top are getting more, while other parts of the organisation are haemorrhaging people – and good people at that. According to Māori TV’s Annual Report 2015, costs for the Executive Group have increased significantly, while the number of staff earning more than $100,000 has shot up from 19 to 25 in the last year.

At the Select Committee, I also raised concerns about Mr Maxwell’s editorial micromanagement. He claims full and final editorial rights, but I would argue that management should exercise restraint in using those powers. The absolute gutting of Native Affairs, and the stripping back of investigative journalism, in my view, is not exercising restraint, and weakens te ao Māori. Paora Maxwell should be encouraging, not shutting down, current affairs content that’s critical of Māori establishment figures and institutions.

I am hearing of staff dissatisfaction but understandably people are reluctant to speak out – so that job falls to those of us who can. I note there was a staff survey done in 2013 during the previous CEO’s time. I would be interested in a follow-up staff satisfaction survey under Paora Maxwell’s leadership. The survey would need to be accessible for all, and allow for frank responses without repercussions.

Māori TV belongs to the people. It’s a taonga and should be protected. We fought so hard for its creation and we need to hold on to it. We need to accept the challenges that are arising, and work through them with a view to the future. Challenging authority is a good thing, and Māoridom has a long history of it. The Chief Executive of Māori TV doesn’t have to do it, but he does need to allow his staff to.

Keep going!
_mark_weldon_hilary_barry_001

MediaMay 7, 2016

The best of The Spinoff this week: Sunday 8 May edition

_mark_weldon_hilary_barry_001

Compiling the best reading of the week from your friendly local website.

Hayden Donnell and Duncan Greive: Coup on at MediaWorks

“There is a threat of mass resignations across TV and Radio, not just news,” said a senior Mediaworks source. “If there are no actions by the Board in the next 48 hours then resignations at the executive level – and throughout the rest of the company – are expected within days.”

"Our company is gonna be thiiiis big": Mark Weldon on stage in Auckland on October 30, 2014.
“Our company is gonna be thiiiis big”: Mark Weldon on stage in Auckland on October 30, 2014.

Steve Braunias: Ockham national book awards: Steve Braunias interviews Patrick Evans

All week this week we focus on books and authors nominated for next Tuesday’s Ockham national book awards. Today: a goddamned epic interview (6000 words!) with fiction finalist Patrick Evans, conducted by Spinoff Review of Books literary editor Steve Braunias.

Josh Drummond: You Will Not Make Australia Home: Watching ‘Journey’, Australia’s terrible anti-asylum-seeker propaganda film

“Most of the core cast are portrayed as comfortable, middle-class types. We do hear lines like ‘things have been so bad lately,’ but there’s little evidence of it. Nadim is a guitar-toting troubadour who longs for adventure. Sera doesn’t want to leave but feels pressured into it by her brother. These characters just kind of feel like undertaking an impossibly arduous, expensive and dangerous journey to a mysterious country far from home.”

Matt Lowrie: Electric cars are terrific. Putting them in bus lanes is bonkers

“Bus lanes are often considered cycle lanes, too. Allowing electric vehicles into those lanes could increase the risk for people on bikes. We also know from the recent Grafton Bridge trial (that has now ended) that many drivers simply don’t follow the rules. This would be no different with electric cars.”

Graeme Edgeler: Why the censor’s ban on Wicked Campers is ridiculous

“Something being declared objectionable is a pretty big deal. The maximum penalty for dealing with objectionable publications is now 14 years’ imprisonment. That’s the same as the maximum penalty for attempted murder, and more than the maximum penalty for possession of nuclear weapons.”

wkdcampersclass

Holly Walker: Ockham national book awards: Holly Walker interviews Patricia Grace

“All through history, laws have been changed in order to take Māori land. You know, bring in a law that says “this land’s going to be used for a road” or “this land’s going to be used for recreation” and just taken. It’s as though the same thing is still happening with the Public Works Act. And much more Māori land has been taken under the Public Works Act than general land as well.”

Duncan Greive: What Mark Weldon never understood about TV3

“This then, was Weldon’s chief failing: that he didn’t understand either the value of news to TV3, or the importance of relationships within the whole organisation. The channel was always the plucky upstart, its culture the stuff of legend. But as waves of those who had made it so departed, at every level of the business, so that culture eroded even as flash new studios were built and new brands pioneered.”

Joseph Harper: The hottest hunks competing in sexy cycle romp Giro D’Italia

“This isn’t a Jorgen Leth documentary so I’ll save it and instead dish on the top ten all-time hottest guys in the 2016 Giro lineup. I’ve also included pics of what they probably look like at the very pinnacle of sex.”

giro

Calum Henderson: All the names the NRL Bunker has been called by angry league fans on Twitter

“The arrival of the state-of-the-art, $2 million NRL Bunker this year has changed everything. Not by eliminating bad decisions from the game – definitely not that – but by starting a Twitter account people can shout at as if it was an actual ref and they were at the actual game.”

Madeleine Chapman: What happens when a comedian invites his trolls to his show? Guy Williams found out

“A self-described ‘lurker of Reddit’, Guy Williams instead considers himself to be of their ilk with the r/NewZealand community. Being a white, successful millennial man – a subject his current show plays on – he is both exactly the type of person who hangs out on Reddit and exactly the type of person that people on Reddit would hate.”