News media

• This is concerning, given the negative framing of so much coverage, past and present.
• It pledged to change and improve to reflect a commitment to Māori audiences and the principles of te Tiriti.
• To date, no other media organisation has attempted to evaluate its reporting in this way – or, in fact, acknowledge this might be necessary.

Colonial and settler narratives

• It is constructed through the lenses of news teams – and particularly senior journalists and editors – who are predominantly Pākehā.
• The types of stories that are told, and the way people and subjects are represented, involve deliberate choices.
• But as we have argued previously, these “negative ‘stories’ and representations of Indigenous peoples are strategic; tactical necessities rather than aberrations”.
• Settler newspapers recycled these themes from 1840 onwards.

Fundamental questions

• Reporting of the 2020 Ihumātao occupation, for example, frequently reduced internal tensions to a clash between young and old.
• It provides detailed examples of more equitable news practices, and prompts news organisations to ask themselves several fundamental questions:




Read more:
Included, but still marginalised: Indigenous voices still missing in media stories on Indigenous affairs

Challenge and opportunity

• While this is challenging, it also offers an opportunity to transform journalism and improve newsroom practices.
• The Stuff and New Zealand on Air initiatives show how it’s possible to tackle harmful representations of Māori in mainstream news media.
• Angela Moewaka Barnes was contracted by New Zealand On Air to develop the Tiriti Framework For News Media.