Mass media representations of indigenous peoples

Nursing in media-saturated societies: Implications for cultural safety

Mass media news practices distort social and health policy development, particularly two media discourses common in White settler societies, primarily Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. The first discourse masks the dominant culture, ensuring it is not readily recognised as a culture, naturalising the dominant values, practices and institutions, and rendering their cultural foundations invisible. The second discourse represents indigenous

The association of crime stories and Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand print media

Māori were prominently associated with crime in a large representative sample of newspaper NZ items. Māori were frequently labelled as possible or actual perpetrators of crime on superficial judgements, often by victims. This practice associates Māori with all accounts of crime and embeds crime as a background for all other items about Māori. This embedding, the pervasive but unacknowledged Pākehā norm, and media positioning of Māori as a threat in non-crime stories are central to common sense themes about Māori-Pākehā relations.

Colonial coverage - Media reporting of a bicultural health research partnership

Media coverage of a 1998 health research project on inherited stomach cancer mostly represented the discoveries as the achievement of a Pākehā genetics research team, downplaying the major contribution made by Māori researchers who were members of families affected by the cancer. Instead of celebrating a major Māori contribution to international scientific knowledge, news media delivered another example of colonial coverage - White men saving the poor natives - of a bicultural partnership.

Media, racism and public health psychology

This article focuses on New Zealand media representations of Māori and the contributions media make to the ongoing processes of colonisation. It explains how media, by accepting colonial relationships and treating colonial practices and institutions as normal, marginalises Māori, who become foreigners in their own land.

‘Media surveillance of the natives’: A New Zealand case study - Lake Taupo air space

A 2005 news story claiming that Ngāti Tuwharetoa was going to exploit its rights to airspace above Lake Taupo appeared as the iwi was entering a new round of settlement negotiations. The story, as published in eight newspapers and five TV news bulletins, represented the iwi as an immediate threat to the ability of ‘New Zealanders’ to enjoy the lake. Headlines that said ‘Māori’ or a ‘tribe’ was demanding money for air rights, represented all Māori as threatening. The stories provided no basis for the claim, and said the iwi already benefited from existing licence fees.

Intentional use of te reo Māori in New Zealand newspapers in 2007

Newspapers provided very little support for our endangered indigenous official language. They used a very small number of intentional words in te reo (those with English alternatives, such as whanau) - an average of just over two per article. Almost half (45%) of articles included none. There were no regular Māori language promotion items.

Māori sport and Māori in sport: Mass media representations and Pākehā discourse

Newspaper articles about Māori participation in sport made up less than one percent of sports stories overall in a representative sample of newspaper articles. This tiny proportion was divided between two types. Articles about Māori codes and competitions presented them as exotic and marginal to sporting life, with no background provided about why these competitions existed. The second type assimilated Māori within monocultural sporting codes, sometimes stereotyping them as instinctive or naturally gifted players, implying that they didn’t work for their skills.

Suburban Newspapers’ reporting of Māori news

Māori and non-Māori readers were poorly served by Suburban Newspapers coverage of the Treaty and Māori issues in their Auckland and Northland community papers. Māori stories made up less than three percent of all stories, despite high proportions of Māori residents in many of the newspaper areas. Suburban Newspaper items had a higher proportion of what appeared to be news releases, and used fewer sources representing iwi and hapu than other community newspapers.

Reading news about Māori: responses from non-Māori media audiences

Pākehā and ethnic minority media users thought that mass media news coverage was unbalanced, lacked context, was negative and often portrayed Māori as extreme or threatening. They thought that mass media news implicitly promoted Pākehā world views.

Treaty Resource Centre – He Puna Mātauranga o Te Tiriti

Academic article