Why indigenous media is good for the media in general

Watching this week's episode of Native Affairs got me thinking of how journalistic programming on Maori Television, as well as indigenous journalism in general, compares with its mainstream media counterparts. Admittedly, I've had a pretty love-hate relationship with New Zealand news media ever since I started paying much attention to it. Also admittedly, and probably far less understandably, I've ever paid much attention to the news programs on Maori Television before.

Native Affairs had an in-depth discussion about the need for tourists to take driving tests when arriving in New Zealand, involving an interview with surviving family members of a pair of sisters killed by a tourist driver earlier this month. I noticed a clear contrast between this story and the myriad of mainstream news pieces about the same issue, which still tend to hype themselves up from time to time: There were no condescending remarks or negative implications made about foreign drivers whatsoever. The story focused entirely upon potential solutions to the tragic problem, and pointed out the effectiveness of several measures already taken since the aforementioned hype/hatred began around the same time last year. Looking at some of the news videos on the Maori Television website, it became obvious that they are almost entirely presented without noticeable bias or framing. Talking about issues specific to Maori, such as one Native Affairs story involving a Maori doctor championing traditional canoeing sports to help combat the high proportion of obesity, always involved public service information designed to educate viewers about overcoming such issues.  

One fortunate byproduct of having limited resources to work with when creating media content is that most of it tends to have an important purpose, there is little 'filler' material that doesn't assist the inherent aims of indigenous media. News programming is constructed with the kind of impartial quality which rarely results from chasing ratings and generating profits, and therefore does a much greater job at serving the public good. Even when entertainment programs are involved, Maori Television's content remains a step above most of what I've seen in mainstream media, which is constantly hindered by commercial considerations.

There are several unfortunate paradoxes in these efforts to counterbalance mainstream representations of Maori and celebrate racial diversity in ways we'd never see on Seven Sharp (for instance). Even without the dilemma of audience reception being ultimately the decider of what this material actually symbolizes, asserting cultural values this way will inevitably further the 'othering' process as it stands in complete contrast to mainstream media. Likewise, the hugely varying cultural differences within any ethnic group ensure accurate representation of the entire group, with all its different tribes, histories, ideologies and current status, is extremely difficult, if not impossible to achieve. Cultural flattening is bound to ensure certain groups within the indigenous group will feel marginalized or ignored, which is precisely what indigenous media as a whole is trying to prevent.

No matter, I am still hugely impressed with the journalistic content of Maori Television, I haven't really had a look at it before but it definitely rates up there with the Al Jazeera network. Needless to say, its far more in keeping with traditional journalistic values than most of New Zealand's mainstream news media. These values can have the most tantalizing effect upon deciding what content is presented as actual news, and to my utmost delight I could not find a single story about Max Key's new hairstyle anywhere on the Maori Television website.