Whakaata Māori has proposed a major shake-up of its internal structure, with major ramifications in the content department as well as the probable axing of its daily television news bulletin.
The news, delivered to staff across multiple wānanga on Thursday morning, has ended three months of internal speculation.
One kaimahi described the mood in a 9:15 am wānanga as “sombre”, with many sharing hugs upon walking out.
The likely total number of job cuts, as well as the overall headcount reduction, were not immediately made available this morning while the changes remain a ‘proposal’.
The national indigenous broadcaster is proposing to cancel its only daily news bulletin, moving Te Ao Māori News to a digital format.
In a short statement this morning, kaihautū Shane Taurima called the changes, “a crucial step in addressing the financial challenges we anticipate over the coming years, with a projected funding reduction of over $10 million by 2027″.
“The proposal will enable us to continue sharing authentic Māori stories that revitalise te reo me ngā tikanga Māori across digital platforms, ensuring they thrive for future generations in Aotearoa and globally.”
Taurima’s office said today’s proposal “builds on changes made in Phase One, which included reducing the senior leadership team from seven to four roles, refocusing content investment on high-impact projects, and transitioning the Te Reo Channel to an online-only platform by March 2025 to enhance digital engagement”.
The phase one changes saw the ejection of Hinurewa Poutu and Blake Ihimaera from the kaiurungi level, preceded only days earlier by the sudden resignation of Maramena Roderick.
Three months of uncertainty
The three-month lead time did little to cushion the news, with some kaimahi visibly dismayed in Whakaata Māori’s East Tāmaki offices, Hawaikirangi and Hawaikitangata.
The morning after the announcement that further cuts were to come, Aotearoa woke to the news Kiingi Tuheitia, the seventh Māori monarch, had died.
The event thrust kaimahi across the business into the biggest story in te ao Māori off the back of learning their jobs were at risk.
Cross-department wānanga have been held, intended to source ideas from staff, as the quest to cut a quarter of costs shrunk seven departments to four.
The cuts are borne out of an expected loss of $10 million in the coming year as funding time-locked by the previous Labour government expires.
Last week, National MP Dan Bidois acknowledged the organisation had received no baseline funding increase in over a decade before the time-locked funding.
Bidois, who serves as chair of the Māori Affairs select committee, heard kaihautū Shane Taurima call the act governing Whakaata Māori “not fit for purpose”.
In particular, Taurima singled out the lack of focus on “digital” in the Māori Television Service Act 2003, which only features the word six times, always regarding the transmission of linear television channels.
He said the act had no mention of its digital delivery priorities or strategy, or indeed any wider emerging technology.
The changes signal a rapid speed-up in the Māori broadcaster’s transition to a digital future its leadership insists it isn’t funded for, particularly in news.
Leadership changes
Poutu will stay on in a rescoped role within the future state of ranga reo, which has been absorbed with another ranga.
Meanwhile, Ihimaera will play a role in the newsroom handover, and after that, the wider Wai Whakaata review.
A new intermediary will be appointed to operate between the Head of Content, Maria Barlow, and the newsroom.
Reo Māori translations
Wānanga = Meeting. Kaimahi = Staff. Kaihautū = Chief Executive (in this context). Ranga = Department (in this context).
Note: Te Ao Māori News is the news division of Whakaata Māori.