Making meaning: Media, health and wellbeing in Aotearoa

1. Kupu Taea PHA conference Dunedin 2009 Making meaning: Media, health and wellbeing in Aotearoa

2. Kupu Taea • Projects 1 and 2 on Treaty Resource Centre website (www.trc.org.nz) • HRC Media study project 2007-10 • Bi-cultural multi-disciplinary team • Multi-method design

3. PHA StrategyValues / Media values • PHA Priority tasks and practices Emphasise the importance of te Tiriti o Waitangi • Racism is a social determinant of health/ Population health gains • Media values undermine Treaty-based social justice • Audience values are critical of media performance

4. Focus group research • Audience meanings around media items • 4 Maori, 4 non-Maori, 1 mixed group • To meet three times over two years • Non-Maori groups, two Treaty/media active, three not active • Findings and thematic analyses

5. Data – Media, Treaty and relationships Tina (Tauiwi woman 50s): If you had just come here or hadn’t been living here for a long time and you relied on media explanations you wouldn’t understand much about the Treaty (Group T) April (Pakeha woman 60s): I think we all know it’s about crime and stuff. If you have no contact with Maori, all you get in the media is the crime rates – all those sort of statistics are always in the paper. You never hear any good stories. …I just think we judge Māori from the papers, from the news media and we get a very negative view. (Group O)

6. Analysis - Media, Treaty and relationships • Treaty coverage - negative, absent, diminished or dismissed • Representation of Maori negative, absence of positive stories • Creates division, suspicion of Maori, social exclusion

7. Data - Pakeha privilege Mandi: So what impact do you think that the reporting as it is at the moment has on Pakeha? Harry (young Pakeha male): Positive. Fred (young Maori man): I wouldn’t say positive, I’d say its just go normal views, no one really takes any notice of it. … Mandi: So do you think in some ways that Pakeha don’t notice? Harry: Yeah. Exactly. Jason (young Maori man): They’re so conditioned to it happening that it doesn’t really stand out of the ordinary things. (Group M)

8. Data - Pakeha privilege Mary (Pakeha female 30s): I just wonder if journalists don’t go and do those Maori stories because they think nobody wants to know anyway. … People have to open up and want to know the other side, if you want to call it that. (Group O)

9. Analysis - Pakeha privilege • Pakeha assumed to be the audience • Media assumes and projects Pakeha world view • Pakeha treated better/ have more beneficial relationship with media • Pakeha don’t notice/ don’t care so it remains unchallenged, naturalised.

10. Data – Impact of coverage Carin(Pakeha woman 50s) : Yes, I think its seeding alienation, mistrust, hurt, pain, fear and hatred and that’s pretty much what’s happening under the radar and then occasionally you get really good stuff happening as well that cuts across and builds bridges …I mean we have awesome experiences but it wasn’t because the media helped … I think what’s happening in this country is we now have Maori media with lots of good news stories and lots of positive stories and so people can choose to watch that but lot of people don’t even know its on or don’t watch it because they wouldn’t, or can’t get it and wouldn’t identify with it and yet that’s where you get all this very positive different view. (Group G)

11. Analysis – Impact of coverage • Undermines Maori identity, confidence, and aspirations • Detrimental to Maori development • Affirms Pakeha prejudices • Causes Pakeha fear, suspicion and confusion • Encourages Pakeha avoidance of Maori • Diminishes empathy towards settlement claims and affirmative action

12. Implications • Participants critical of mass media representations of Maori • Mass media is not a valid source of Pakeha cultural competence • Mass media does not reflect potential positive future • Wider access to alternative representations (i.e. Maori Television) is urgent.