Māori Television: The First Ten Years

Māori Television: The First Ten Years

Jo Smith

21 November 2016

Paperback, 228 x 152 mm, 240 pages approx, colour and b/w illustrations

Māori Television was originally set up in 2004 to protect and promote te reo Māori me ngā tikanga Māori (Māori language and cultural practices), to inform, educate and entertain a broad viewing audience, and thus to ‘enrich New Zealand society, culture and heritage’. Over the following decade, it had a major impact on the New Zealand media landscape.

Based on kōrero with key stakeholders – staff, the Board, other media, academics, politicians, funders and viewers – this book shines light on the complex dynamics underpinning State-funded Māori media.

Jo Smith argues that today’s arguments must be understood within a broader context shaped by non-Māori interests. Can a Māori broadcaster follow both tikanga and the Broadcasting Standards Authority? Is it simply telling the news in Māori, or broadcasting the news with a Māori perspective? How can it support te reo Māori at the same time as appeal to all New Zealand? How does it function as the voice of its Māori stakeholders?

Offering five frameworks to help understand this Māori media organisation operating within a wider non-Māori context, this book is a deep account of Māori Television in its first ten years and its unique contribution to the media cultures of Aotearoa New Zealand.

About the author:
Jo Smith (Waitaha, Kati Māmoe and Kāi Tahu) is a senior lecturer in English, Film, Theatre and Media Studies at Victoria University. She is the author of book chapters as well as articles in a range of journals including Arena, Continuum, Transnational Cinemas, Settler Colonial Studies and AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples.

Published by Auckland University Press - RRP $45.00