Te Māngai Pāho has committed to increasing quality Māori content on radio and aims to bring Māori content to audiences across all distribution platforms.
Te Māngai Pāho tabled its 2016-2021 Statement of Intent and 2016/17 Statement of Performance Expectations in Parliament this week, reconfirming its commitment to positively impact on Māori language and cultural outcomes.
Te Māngai Pāho Board Chair Piri Sciascia says the documents respond to the Government’s - and New Zealand’s - expectations on what the agency should be delivering in a rapidly evolving environment.
He says, “In a changing operating landscape, particularly with the enactment of the Māori Language Act 2016 and in an increasingly digital environment, Te Māngai Pāho has worked to ensure it is well placed to work with Crown agencies and Māori partners to play an important role in revitalising te reo Māori.”
In the agency’s Statement of Performance Expectations, Te Māngai Pāho promises New Zealanders more Māori language and music in the year ahead with a 30% increase in the level of Māori content on iwi radio; from 8 hours per day to 10.5 hours each day.
Sciascia says, “Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori, the Māori radio network, has been an important part of making the increase in Māori content possible and we look forward to working closely with the network to deliver on this target.
Last year Te Māngai Pāho funded 63,000 hours of Māori language broadcasting across television and iwi radio. To put that in perspective, if the radio content alone was channelled through a single station it would be the equivalent of just over 7 years of around the clock reo Māori broadcasting.”