June 07, 2015
What is happening at Maori TV?
Last week I wrote how in the wake of closing down Campbell Live, Native Affairs on Maori TV was the last bastion of real TV journalism in Aotearoa.
48 hours after I wrote that blog, Mihingarangi Forbes, the brilliant host of Native Affairs, had quit the show citing editorial interference.
The word shocked doesn't even begin to describe how we should all feel by this decision and what it says about Maori TV. Before I go on, it is important to note and pay tribute to Mihingarangi's tenacity, passion and ethical journalism. The team at Native Affairs have become the benchmark for quality journalism in a media landscape becoming less watch dog and more lap dog by the second. Their courage too ask hard questions should be celebrated, not punished.
Maori TV's CEO, Paora Maxwell, has had a short, turbulent history with the station. Board member, Georgina Te Heuheu, resigned when he was appointed, and Hone Harawira publicly warned Maxwell's appointment would weaken the current affairs and news department at Maori TV. Since his appointment, Carol Hirshfeld, Julian Wilcox and Mihingarangi Forbes have all quit.
Talent like that leaving should be of deep concern.
At stake are issues of how Maori should investigate and ask questions of those deemed beyond question within Maoridom. Conservative Maori were shocked when Native Affairs highlighted spending irregularities at the Te Kohanga Reo National Trust. Many felt the manner in which Native Affairs challenged and questioned the trust wasn't reverential enough and far too critical.
Personally I think the cultural concept of Tikanga and respect for one's Mana should not and can not eclipse asking hard questions when hard questions are required. Native Affairs showed courage in asking the hard questions and they did so in a very respectful manner, but this is an issue that Maori TV needs to decide for themselves which is why the allegation that Maxwell personally stepped in and shut down another investigation story into the Trust is so egregious.
Wanting to ask questions ins a respectful way that preserves a persons Mana is one thing, shutting down questions altogether is a completely other thing.
Maori TV is a national cultural treasure and Native Affairs one of their brightest jewels, but allegations of direct editorial interference is simply too grievous to allow go un-investigated.
Martyn Bradbury
Editor – TheDailyBlog.co.nz
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