Mōrena e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata. I tēnei wiki/this week we’re turning to great Māori arts, media, and events to level-up our understanding of Māori journalism.
What we found is not only helping us to partake in water-cooler kōrerorero/conversation about the industry’s current wobbles in the tari/office, but, of course, to explore a whole new corner of Māori culture and learn a little more about our country’s hītori/history as a whole.
That’s a reconnector and tangata tiriti win right there.
Also… Māori tūpuna/ancestors with ESP… more on that later. For now, what better way to kick things off than with a little talk of the tāone.
- Talking about Māori journalism… TVNZ has named Maiki Sherman as their new political editor (and the first wahine Māori to hold that position). The Spinoff is also looking for a new editor for Ātea.
- Māoriland Film Festival has been absolutely cranking in Ōtaki.
- Kiri Te Kanawa sang in public for the first time in eight years as parliament marked her 80th birthday. And e hika, does this woman make 80 look (and sound) good.
- Whakaata Māori celebrated their 20th huritau/birthday.
- Te Taitokerau and Te Whanganui a Tara results are in for Kapa Haka Regionals. Next up, Te Tai Rāwhiti.
- In pukapuka/book news, Hopurangi - Songcatcher: Poems from the Maramataka advance copies are officially available and Kete Books Māori catalogue for 2024 is out.
This kaupapa is an editor’s nightmare. As we started scratching the surface, about fifty million options exploded out at us.
We’ve got solidly fascinating yarns on the who’s who of Māori journalism, what happens behind the scenes, industry history & future, stuff apologies, and politics galore coming out ō mātou tāringa/our ears.
How could we possibly fit that into one pānui/newsletter?!
By cheating and including an extra rārangi/list of our tino/favourite people & places to keep up with Māori current affairs right here, that’s how: E-Tangata, Waatea News, Te Karere, Te Ao Māori, Te Aniwa Hurihanganui, Leonie Kapea Hayden, Whare Kōrero, Mihingarangi Forbes, Te ao with Moana.
Ok, now for those picks!
...on why journo legends Mihingarangi Forbes & Annabelle Lee-Mather broke off from Māori TV to launch their own collective in this RNZ podcast. No holds barred here.
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...online or at Auckland Art Gallery. He’s an award winning photo journalist whose work covers pivotal moments including the Springbok tour, Waitangi protests, and Bastion Point.
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...with common te reo Māori phrases used in the media via this quick and informative podcast by Stacey Morrison. Oh. So. Helpful.
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...you can’t go past ‘Kia Hiwa Rā’ a pukapuka by Huia Publishers covering the history of Māori journalism and elements making it what it is today.
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We’re open about it—we’re definitely not experts in te ao Māori. We’re just Ngāti Nerds with way too many pātai about it (our respective kaiako reo Māori/Māori language teachers are nodding right now) and time on our hands to research answers from legends in Māori arts, media, and events.
It won’t be a surprise then, that we had a few more pātai on this kaupapa.
Lucky for us there’s a whole ocean/moana of of archival materials (including an entire database of old Māori newspapers) academic journal entries, essays, artworks, and theses out there to explore it.
Lucky for you, we’re good at picking the most interesting bits and compiling them into short whakautu/answers for your scanning pleasure. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: these are just a few opinions from a few (smart) peeps, something to add to your mōhio, definitely not complete it.
I taka the kapa/the penny dropped for us in the intro of Atakohu Middleton’s essay on Māori language newspapers where she explains that (of course) whaikōrero/formal oratory was the main way that news was spread back in the rā/day.
Other than that, our stories were carved and drawn into our artworks, and handed down through karakia, waiata, and chants like oriori.
Like whaikōrero! Middleton goes on to talk about how the poetic and metaphorical styles of whaikōrero carried on into our first newspapers (it was so attractive, Pākehā newspapers started copying the style).
In fact, a traditionally Māori approach was evident from the front to back pages. The Feb 1, 1945 edition of ‘Aotearoa’, a Ngā Puhi newspaper, is a good example. The front page is laid out like a mihi/the start of a Māori speech which traditionally runs through structured sections before getting into things. It begins with death notices and community acknowledgements before the first story of the day; Hitler facing defeat.
Searching through the archives of Papers Past, we saw ads for all sorts of things. Many were advertising job opportunities in industries like nursing, forestry, and farming.
This bank ad for BNZ cracked us up. We also thought it was tino/very interesting to see a Pākehā institution deciding to use a Māori frame to advertise their services back in the day.
Middleton explains that one reason for the demise of Māori newspapers was the Māori way of consuming them which was, of course, communal.
Rather than everyone getting their own issue, groups would gather and listen to one person reading aloud. Then they would wānanga/discuss the issues together.
It was a great way for communities to keep up with important issues at a deep level, engari/however, not so great for sales.
It seems like the main reason most of the newspapers went under was the pressure on Māori to assimilate once the Pākehā population started shooting through the roof.
OK this isn’t our pātai but a seriously considered one by H. Beattie in his column from Railways Magazine, 1 August, 1939: ‘The Māori as a tracker and signaller’.
Warning, there are a lot of kupu like ‘savages’ and ‘uncivilised’ sprinkled throughout this one. Call it a sign of the times or call it racist, we’re pretty comfortable to go for both.
HEOI ANŌ/ANYWAY, at the end of his rant, he discusses pātai from readers asking how the ‘Maoris’ could disseminate news so quickly. It seems Māori often knew most of the goss before it even hit the Pākehā run newspapers, let alone most Pākehā ears.
Their whakautu? “A friend has suggested it was done by a system of thought transference unknown to pakeha.”
“Because you’re magic, you’re magic people to me,…” 😉
Hei ā tērā wiki/till next week!
