Whakaata Māori

The name Whakaata Māori has been official since 2022, but has been used as a de facto Māori name for the channel since its inception. Until 2022, Māori Television, the English name, was the de jure official name of the channel.

The word "Whakaata" means "to mirror", "to reflect" and "to display". "Whakaata" is also used as part of the compound "pouata whakaata", which literally means "display box", in turn, "television".^[2][3]

In the early days of television in New Zealand, Māori-language programming was scarce. Suggestions were made as far back as 1976 by the New Zealand Māori Council to create a Māori and Polynesian current affairs programme, followed by a second petition in 1978 to create a Māori production unit within the BCNZ, with the aim of adding "a Māori dimension to regular viewing". There was significant process in the decade, such as the 1974 documentary series Tangata Whenua. In 1980, the newly created Television New Zealand started a Māori production unit, its first production being the current affairs magazine Koha, followed in Māori Language Week 1982 by a four-minute bulletin which eventually became Te Karere the following year.^[4]

While TVNZ's Koha and Te Karere were showing signs of progress, there was heavy hostility at the time. Pākehā staff at TVNZ believed that Māori programmes "were of high nuisance value and minimal importance", as well as fears of a takeover by Māoris.^[4]

In the mid-1980s, there were projects for a dedicated Māori television channel. When the Māori Council, in 1985, after the 1984 neoliberal reforms that facilitated the creation of a third national network, made a pitch for a service named Aotearoa Broadcasting Systems, both the government and the BCNZ rejected ABS's proposal, losing the opportunity for a national Māori television service.^[4]

By the early 90s, Iwi radio stations emerged as well as a dedicated funding agency, Te Reo Whakapuaki Irirangi, which in 1993 was renamed Te Māngai Pāho and spun-off from New Zealand On Air in 1995.^[4] In 1996, a joint Māori-Crown Working Group on Broadcasting Policy was set up, and in the same year, the Aotearoa Television Network launched as a pilot service in the Auckland area for thirteen weeks. ATN was plagued by lack of planning and government funding, which ultimately led to its closure, as well as hostile media coverage.^[4]

The Māori Broadcasting Advisory Committee was set up in 2000 by Derek Fox with the aim of creating a television network where the Māori language would become commonplace in prime time slots.^[4] In the period ahead of its launch, controversies emerged, such as the sacking of Canadian CEO John Davy, the first CEO of the channel, fired after six weeks due to false qualifications, as well as concerns that the new service was a "waste of taxpayers' money" and was destined to be a failure.^[4]

As early as 2002, independent production companies were beginning mass production of programmes for the new service, which were funded by Te Māngai Pāho. The channel would broadcast on average for eight hours a day, and by year-end 2004, would have acquired 2,020 hours of programmes, of which 1,122 were homemade. 60 to 70 percent of the output was going to be in Māori.^[4]

The Māori Television Service Act 2003 (Te Aratuku Whakaata Irirangi Māori) was passed in May 2003, establishing MTS as a statutory corporation.^[4]

 

Test broadcasts started on 1 March 2004 on UHF frequencies previously used by Sky to relay CNN International. The decision was taken in January as CNN was not a priority for the UHF service of 100,000 subscribers, of which only 1.5% of subscribers regularly watched the channel. In addition, the channel was to be carried on channel 33 of its digital satellite service. At the time, construction and refit of its Newmarket facilities were nearing completion.^[5]

Māori Television was launched on 28 March 2004 with a special dawn ceremony attended by 2000 people at the Newmarket headquarters of the channel.^[6] The newly launched channel attracted 300,000 viewers in its second month of operation.^[7] The main channel attracts 1.5 million viewers each month, including half of all Māori aged five or more, and one-third of all New Zealanders.^[8] Te Reo, a second channel from Māori Television, was launched on 28 March 2008.^[9] In contrast with the main channel, it is ad-free and completely in the Māori language (without subtitles). Te Reo features special tribal programming with a particular focus on new programming for the fluent members of its audience.

In March 2013, Māori TV switched over from analogue television to digital television as part of a nationwide transition to digital television broadcasting between September 2012 and November 2013.^[10]

In 2021, Māori TV launched a news service called Te Ao Māori News and a streaming app called MĀORI+ to extend their audience and make their content more accessible to viewers.^[2]

 

On 23 May 2022, the channel announced that it was going to change its official name to Whakaata Māori, the name being used in the Māori since the channel's inception, but until then not at an official scale. The new name took effect on June 9 with a special dawn ceremony.^[2][3]

Whakaata Māori celebrated its 20th anniversary on 28 March 2024. During its 20th anniversary celebration, Whakaata Māori kaihautū (leader) Shane Taurima reiterated the station's commitment to providing an "unabashed" Māori voice in the New Zealand media landscape. While acknowledging budgetary difficulties facing the channel, Taurima stated that the Whakaata Māori had built a "dedicated audience" and was shifting to become a "digital-first" audience in order to engage with social media users.^[11][12]

In March 2024, Whakaata Māori (formerly Māori Television) became the latest media group to sign a commercial deal with Google. The deal meant the channel would receive money to curate Te Ao Māori stories to be published on Google's News Showcase platform.^[13]

In late September 2024, Whakaata Māori proposed a major internal restructure including axing its daily news television bulletin due to a projected NZ$10 million funding reduction by 2027. Kaihautū Shane Taurima also announced plans to shift Te Ao Māori News from a linear television to a digital format.^[14]

The channel operates under the stewardship of the New Zealand government, and the Māori Television Electoral College (Te Putahi Paoho). As of 2021 it had a budget of NZ$19.24 million.^[15]

In July 2015, Māori Television's seven-member board of directors decided that Hamilton or Rotorua could be a new home for the broadcaster.^[16][17]

Since 2021, the channel has a news app called Te Ao Māori News and a video streaming platform called MĀORI+.^[2][3] By late March 2024, Shane Taurima said that the MĀORI+ app had 144,000 viewers daily.^[11]

A survey in 2009 by Business and Economic Research Limited found that 84% of the general New Zealand population think Māori Television should be a permanent part of New Zealand broadcasting.^[8]

Whakaata Māori continues to attract an increasingly broad audience across ages, genders and ethnicities. More than two-thirds of its audience are non-Māori. They are drawn by the channel's local programming, such as Kai Time on the Road, Kete Aronui and Ask Your Auntie; New Zealand movies and documentaries; and the diverse range of international features not seen on other NZ networks.^{[citation needed]}

The channel aims to revitalise Māori language and culture through its programming. The relevant legislation says "The principal function of the Service is to promote te reo Māori me nga tikanga Māori (Māori language and culture) through the provision of a high quality, cost-effective Māori television service, in both Māori and English, that informs, educates, and entertains a broad viewing audience, and, in doing so, enriches New Zealand's society, culture, and heritage".

Canadian John Davy was appointed chief executive of Māori Television in 2002. However, it was found that his qualifications were false — he claimed to hold a degree from "Denver State University" which did not exist — and he was fired.^[19] In 2005, newsreader Julian Wilcox was fired (and reinstated) after he contributed to information provided to other media that led to negative coverage of the channel. That same year, Te Kāea presenter Ngarimu Daniels was banned from taking part in protests, and her partner was referred to as a "dyke" by a senior channel manager. She was awarded $16,000 compensation,^[20] and her partner, Leonie Pihama, a leading Māori academic and film-maker, resigned from the channel's board, citing a conflict of interest.

In 2015, the channel's star broadcaster, Mihingarangi Forbes, resigned after complaints arose that senior management (including CEO Paora Maxwell) were attempting to shut down a story critical of the Kohanga Reo National Trust Board to be broadcast on her show Native Affairs.^[21] An external consultant recommended to the channel's board that reporting "not challenge and critique one another", leading some (including commentator Morgan Godfery) to question whether journalists at Māori Television had the necessary freedom to report on the failures of elders in Māoridom. Native Affairs and other current affairs programming was later cut back or cancelled altogether, a decision criticised by Green MP Marama Davidson.^[22]

In 2019, the channel offered candidates for the 2019 Auckland mayoral election the opportunity to pay $500 to be interviewed and to have that interview broadcast on its TV and digital platforms, an offer one candidate described as close to "extortion".^[23]

• Official website