Maori media
Makere Edwards, Senior Reporter, Native Affairs
Kia ora. My name’s Makere Edwards and I report for Native Affairs, a Maori television current affairs programme.It's stories are mainly in English but we also do stories in Maori.
Makere’s Top Tips
#1:The first 30 seconds is the time to hook the viewer
#2: Stories of unfairness resonate with the viewer
#3: Talk to your audience about how the issue affects them
#4: Stories of transformation and self-improvement work well
#5: There’s little time for research
#6: Have Maori experts ready to comment on issues
#7: Send information by email, and follow up with a phone call
#8: The role of extended family is important to the story
#9: Counter violent stereotypes using everyday spokespeople with mental illness experience
#10: Use everyday spokespeople with mental illness experience
Transcript
A good story for Native Affairs has got to be compelling. People will want to watch it if they can relate to something that’s being said in the story, or relate to a person, or relate to an event that’s happening. How they relate to that is how the interviewer talks to the people and how the talent come across.
#1:The first 30 seconds is the time to hook the viewer
They tell us that the first 20-30 seconds of a story on a current affairs show is the most crucial time to draw an audience in, so when we cut and edit our stories we try and have a high impact in that first, 30 seconds of our story so that people are really engaged.
#2: Stories of unfairness resonate with viewer
I think people can relate to, and respond to, some kind of unfairness; so i think if you were trying to sell a story to the media, talk to them about things, you know, why should people be interested in this story, because this person was treated unfairly, this person was discriminated against, this person was only 10 years old and this happened to them, or this person is 80 years old and this has been happening to them all of their life.
Some kind of element of unfairness, I think, certainly makes people sit up, and then you suddenly think, well, you know, i want to know more.
#3: Talk to your audience about how the issue affects them
It’s about talking to your audience, about how this issue will particularly affect them. Everyone probably has somebody that they know, or are related to, that may have suffered at some stage from some kind of mental illness and everyone’s got a story to tell.
Without wanting to use overly emotive language, or to exaggerate the situation, I think Native Affairs tries to portray the situation as it is, without over-sensationalising the particular issue.
#4: Stories of transformation and self-improvement work well
I like stories about people who manage to get themselves out of a situation and they’ve gone from bad to good. But not all good stories have happy endings, unfortunately, and we don’t necessarily just choose stories that have that happy ending.
I like to do stories about indigenous peoples and how they manage their lives, and how they improve their lives. I like to do stories, a bit of fun, someone who’s, you know, come from a small poor area and they’ve managed to achieve, you know, despite the odds. Those kind of stories almost have a like a kind of a heroism to them.
#5: There’s little time for research
The producers are only able to give you so much time to research a story, and if you have to do a lot of the background work to get there, then that story may not go to air.
We’re normally given two or three days to film a story, another two or three days at the maximum to actually watch our footage and start scripting, and another two days to sit down with an editor and actually cut that story.
Journalists often don’t have time to go and get the facts and figures that are required for a story. If an organisation’s able to provide us with that information, that’s great; if they’re able to provide us with experts on a particular area who are respected for their opinion and their knowledge, that’s great; and if they’re able to provide us with contacts of people who have maybe suffered from some kind of mental illness, that’s great, because for us that’s the hardest job - to get people who are happy to talk on camera about what’s happening to them, about their experiences.
Provide the facts, get the people.
#6: Have Maori experts ready to comment on issues
If comments are made in the media about people with mental illness, or some research comes out, it’s always good, for the organisation to have experts ready to make a comment on that, and those are the sorts of stories that daily news programmes would use.
For Maori television, and for Te Kaea, if you’ve got people who can speak in Maori, or people who’ve worked with Maori, or people who are Maori mental health experts, that’s even better for us.
Obviously the story will focus on how it particularly affects Maori people. Mental health is a huge issue for the Maori community, and we do need to be doing more stories on mental health.
#7: Send information by email, and follow up with a phone call
Well I think that journalists should have their cell phones on 24/7. I mean I know myself, if I'm in the middle of an interview, or driving, i don’t answer, but I’ll always get back to somebody. We need to be prepared to answer the phone and take a call on a story, you know, any time.
I mean emails work for us. If you’ve got some quite lengthy information that needs to be given out, emails followed by a phone call is probably the best way to, you know, to try and, you know, keep plugging away at journalists.
If you’re putting out press releases which are informative and provide journalists with an opportunity to talk to real people as well as to the experts, that certainly would make a journalist’s job a lot easier.
#8: The role of extended family is important to the story
A lot of our stories always reflect back on the role of the whanau, the extended family, the sub-tribe, the hapu, and the iwi – the tribe. For mental health, i guess, the extended family has always been considered of the upmost importance in helping people to get well again.
Certainly if you have an individual who’s quite happy to talk about their illness and they have support and help from their extended family, that’s great for us. If we’re going to interview someone we’d want to know how their extended family fits into the picture, and how the marae that they come from fits in if they affiliate strongly to a marae.
#9: Counter violent stereotypes using everyday spokespeople with mental illness experience
Ten to 15, 20 years ago, if Maoris were protesting or occupying a piece of land, all that would be reported would be the violence that occurred from it, the scuffle with the police, but they wouldn’t actually talk to the occupiers about why they were unhappy, why they were occupying the land.
The violent stories that come out of the media are stories that go through the police as well, and so that maybe a lot of the media are getting their stories through the criminal courts. People who are suffering from mental health issues who have not had any violence associated with their behaviour, if those are the people that you put up front of the media, if those are the people that are willing to talk, that will go a long way, I think, in reducing its stigmatisation. But also, you know, getting experts to talk about that as well; talk about there is not necessarily a correlation between violence and mental health.
#10: Use everyday spokespeople with mental illness experience
I think the more that mental illness is talked about in the community and via the media, the more likely it is that the negative stigma and stereotyping that’s associated with mental illness goes away. I would hope they would see Maori television as a good option to come and talk to us. I feel that we do our best to ensure that people’s viewpoints are fairly represented and that we don’t try and misuse what they say, or misinterpret what they say. Whether we agree with what they’re saying, or not, you know; everyone gets a fair hearing.
