Māaori Television, its Pākehā audience and issues of decolonialization

New Zealand's Indigenous broadcaster Māori Television's large and growing Pāakehā audience means that it has the potential to make a significant contribution to decolonialization of the dominant culture which is a necessary precondition to greater equity for Māori and to recognition of the rights promised under Te Tiriti o Waitangi signed by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs in 1840. The Pākehā audience is attracted to the channel by its inclusiveness, its art films and international documentaries, its free-to-air sport and its perceived ‘public service’ nature at a time of increasing commercialism in most of the other television broadcasters in New Zealand. Above all, audience research to date suggests that what Pākehā viewers particularly like about Māori Television is the way it portrays ‘New Zealandness’. An analysis of these responses reveals, however, that this ‘New Zealandness’ is one that elides the very obvious Māori nature of the programming these viewers refer to—in. content, in language, and in the ‘actors’ in the programming. This article considers the implications of this absence

Advertising · Business · Commercialism · Indigenous · Media studies · Political science · Precondition · Public broadcasting · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Computer Science · Law

• Doing Affect Around National Days

  Open Access•Tim Mccreanor, Emerald Muriwai et al.•Everyday Nationhood•2017

  Add to list

• Can an indigenous media model enrol wider non-Indigenous audiences in alternative perspectives to the ‘mainstream

  Open Access•Susan Nemec•Ethnicities•2021

  Add to list