I woke up early this morning, checked the latest RSS feeds on one of my monitors, and as usual around 5am, New Zealand newsrooms were busy rolling out their fresh scheduled headlines. One of them stood out: “Māori mum Nicole Retter’s app PAM tops Tinder, Hinge in New Zealand app lifestyle rankings.”
Honestly, good on Nicole Retter. That’s a fantastic achievement, and she should be proud of herself. But this isn’t about her, it’s about the New Zealand media, this time the NZ Herald.
I’ve written about this before, and I’ll write about it again. If the media truly wants to end division, why does it insist on putting ethnicity front and centre whenever it suits? If it were a white woman from Tauranga, the headline wouldn’t read “White mum from Tauranga releases app.” Yet, whenever a Māori person does something positive, their ethnicity is explicitly highlighted, often with their iwi included, even if their Māori heritage is a distant fraction.
The pattern becomes even more glaring when you look at how crime is reported. That same ethnic labelling almost never appears when someone commits a crime. It’s reserved for positive stories, as though the media is desperate to manufacture a feel-good cultural angle.
To highlight the inconsistency, I applied the approach across other headlines this morning by imagining what it would look like if every subject’s ethnicity was announced. Unsurprisingly, it looks absurd.
I’ve written about this before, and I’ll write about it again. If the media truly wants to end division, why does it insist on putting ethnicity front and centre whenever it suits? If it were a white woman from Tauranga, the headline wouldn’t read “White mum from Tauranga releases app.” Yet, whenever a Māori person does something positive, their ethnicity is explicitly highlighted, often with their iwi included, even if their Māori heritage is a distant fraction.
The pattern becomes even more glaring when you look at how crime is reported. That same ethnic labelling almost never appears when someone commits a crime. It’s reserved for positive stories, as though the media is desperate to manufacture a feel-good cultural angle.
To highlight the inconsistency, I applied the approach across other headlines this morning by imagining what it would look like if every subject’s ethnicity was announced. Unsurprisingly, it looks absurd.
Click to view
The media picks and chooses when ethnicity matters. If the person is Māori and the story is positive, their background is celebrated and magnified. If they’re Pākehā, Asian, or any other background, ethnicity is never mentioned, unless it’s in the context of racism.
This isn’t about taking away from Nicole Retter’s success. Creating an app that tops Tinder and Hinge in New Zealand is a major accomplishment for anyone, regardless of whether they are Māori, Pākehā, Asian or Pasifika. However, the media’s obsession with framing stories through the lens of Māori identity only fuels division, not unity.
If the Herald and others want to report fairly, they need to decide. Either ethnicity matters in every story, good or bad, or it doesn’t matter at all. Right now, the inconsistency tells us more about the media’s agenda than it does about the people they report on.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
The media picks and chooses when ethnicity matters. If the person is Māori and the story is positive, their background is celebrated and magnified. If they’re Pākehā, Asian, or any other background, ethnicity is never mentioned, unless it’s in the context of racism.
This isn’t about taking away from Nicole Retter’s success. Creating an app that tops Tinder and Hinge in New Zealand is a major accomplishment for anyone, regardless of whether they are Māori, Pākehā, Asian or Pasifika. However, the media’s obsession with framing stories through the lens of Māori identity only fuels division, not unity.
If the Herald and others want to report fairly, they need to decide. Either ethnicity matters in every story, good or bad, or it doesn’t matter at all. Right now, the inconsistency tells us more about the media’s agenda than it does about the people they report on.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
7 comments:
It is patronising to people who are Maori, in fact part-Maori and actually plays into the ''Look, a Maori achieves something" narratives of old that we do not want. It simply reinforces a negative view of part-Maori but msm can't or won't see that.I have part-Maori relatives and while being fairly staunch on some Maori matters they do not like being treated that way. If an ancestral connection is relevant, fine.
Again.... on and on and on this goes. Never corrected by the Coalition. They clearly want to lose in 2026.
Matua, it wouldn't matter as they cherry pick only positive stories that involve maori. There actually is much more important world news out there that affects us more than a particular ethnic person who has managed to make his bed and tie his shoelaces. But if that kid is maori it tops everything. Bizarre, and feeds in to why no one trusts our media. Where's the story that a European male didn't burn his toast this morning....because , I didn't!!
'If the Herald and others want to report fairly,' Dreams are free.
But, Matua - we recently had here in NZ a "raid on the shares of NZ Herald" by a 'politically correct' Canadian import, now a NZ domiciled resident, with financial clout, whose purpose was to "tackle" the Editorial stance of said newspaper and "force a change" by getting a share holders meeting to achieve this.
Oh and "dear" Don Brash brought shares to, thinking he could change advertising agendas at NZ Herald - Yea/ right/ Nah.
The NZ herald "ran" stories of this impending change, the Board of Directors flew to Australia to ask the biggest shareholder of NZ Herald (not named - strange that) to assist in fighting the forthcoming battle.
The Change - new Chair of Board - Allen Joyce (former MP Key Govt) - shuffling of chairs for Board members - which our 'beloved' Canadian become one, along with adding Phillip Crump (Lawyer, and occasional writer of opines on this website and other places) - so what changed well certainly not Editorial functions - that is obvious by the comments within this article.
Oh I do recall a comment by Mr. Crump, following this "drama" - that it takes time to amend Editorial comment - my response - b... s....!
Sorry -- leopards can "not" change spots - nor will NZ MSM change theirs when it comes to news an dhow it is presented.
Another point, if you think NZ MSM go out of their way to highlight one ethnicity - why do the NZ Police not state the ethnicity of the perpetrators of recent fire arms incidents - or would that be called racist??
Remember how the herald specifically reported the were ‘xx’ number of maoris in the NZ Olympics team to the most recent Olympics?
Una jagose, the solicitor-general’s handiwork behind this?
The man accused of causing a head-on collision near Taihape that killed three motorcyclists can now be identified.
Garth Temokina Thompson, 51, faces charges of being under the influence of methamphetamine and causing a fatal crash killing three people and seriously injuring another.
He was also charged with driving under the influence of a drug “to such an extent as to be incapable” of operating a motor vehicle on December 7.
Fittingly, the surviving victim who lost an arm and a leg asks: why no manslughter charge?
The offender being Garth temokina Thompson who 32 years ago, with another then gang prospect, Raymond Russell Green broke into elderly doctor Howard Teppett’s home in Foxton.
The 79-year-old was viciously beaten with an iron bar and died from severe injuries.
His 78-year-old sister, who was staying at the house, was also beaten and raped.
Thompson and Green were both charged with murder.
Green was later found guilty of manslaughter, while Thompson was acquitted on the murder charge.
But in 1995, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison on two charges of aggravated robbery; one on the Teppett home and another on one of the elderly man’s neighbour a few days before Teppett’s death.
In November 2012, he was convicted for possession for supply of methamphetamine and sentenced to serve two years and three months in prison.
This is New Zealand.
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