Melissa Lee
Wellington, July 23, 2021
I am constantly surprised by the Government’s failure to properly support ethnic media and in particular Asian voices as we look to the long term future of public media funding. I sit as an Honorary Advisor for the Asia New Zealand Foundation on behalf of the Opposition and earlier this month read CEO Simon Draper’s article about how Asian voices are being left out of mainstream media.
I agree with much of what Simon has written and concur with his assessment that “In New Zealand, we should be able to turn on the TV or radio and get content that reflects Asia’s importance to New Zealand. That also signifies that Asian New Zealanders matter as an audience – and helps all of us get out of our information bubbles.” I believe we simply don’t do enough to reach out past our South Pacific mind-set to the wider world of media engagement and support now required for New Zealand’s varied ethnic communities from all parts of the globe.
Asian Kiwis, who already number over 20% of our population and are now on track to outgrow New Zealand’s Maori Population in the next 2-3 years, are definitively under-supported for their public media needs in a disproportionate way affecting their cultural identity. When I put the question to the Broadcasting Minister in the House a few weeks ago that ethnic voices were being left out of our public media funding when NZ on Air announced targeted Maori political media funding, he laughed off my concerns saying there were plenty of other avenues.
He pointed to my now decade old Asia Down Under programme as an example. The fact the Minister had to point to a show that has been off air since 2011 is perfect proof that the Government has so far neglected to rectify its failure to find a real means to get public media support to ethnic communities in New Zealand.
As I have said repeatedly, ethnic communities in New Zealand rarely get a look in for public funding despite platitudes from the Minister and Public Agencies saying the funds are open to all. The Government’s latest solution seems to be to fund over $200,000 in programming to air on Maori TV and Stuff presumably as a follow-up to an article they wrote in February discussing how migrants and people from ethnic backgrounds can be seen as ‘forever foreigners’. I can honestly say while Maori TV make some innovative and compelling programming for their viewers, if the goal of NZ on Air was to reach Asian audiences in New Zealand it is not a platform of first call.
I should note though a recent publicly funded survey on ethnic media use in Auckland may address this but, rather problematically, this survey may have some flaws. I got personally called (how they got my number I’m still working out as it seems bizarre a random selection would have captured the Opposition Spokesperson for Broadcasting and Media particularly after I directly questioned the Minister about the survey at their Budget hearings!
I should also note the Minister passed the buck and frankly it sounded like they didn’t even have a clue the survey was happening! For the record, I am quite happy to give the Minister and her new Ministry my views but I would appreciate her contacting me directly – after all we work in the same building!
Asian New Zealanders come from a variety of faiths, cultures and community backgrounds. Some communities have been in New Zealand since the first days of colonial settlement while as others are newer migrants to our shores.
All Asian New Zealanders though want to access their stories, want to see their content on the stage, screen and online. Our public media needs to be more representative of them if it is to continue to tell stories on the taxpayers dollar because the stories of New Zealand are not just of the Treaty and Crown-Maori relations, they are also stories of migration, economy and innovation across our country.
They are the stories of Appo Hocton and the Gock Family; they are the stories of split migrant families waiting for a chance to re-unite, or the terrible stories of those semi-forcibly returning to their home shores because of our bitter approach to MIQ spacing and indeed the ever constant issue of racism and discrimination in our nation.
Public Media funding needs to do better in acknowledging Asian New Zealanders and their stories and not just providing token content on their platforms with the occasional ethnic lecturer or opinion piece.
New Zealand media needs to do better for all New Zealanders from all backgrounds.
It shouldn’t be this hard to tell our stories.
Melissa Lee is a Member of Parliament on National List and the Party’s Spokesperson for Broadcasting & Media| Digital Economy and Communications and Ethnic Communities. She has decades of experience in the media industry.
