In summary it notes:

• The repeal of the TVNZ Charter could lead to fewer programmes reflecting New Zealand’s diverse society. With the Charter gone, TVNZ no longer has a statutory requirement to reflect local culture, with its purpose confined to commercial performance.
• The demise of Asia Downunder was regretted as one of the only places on mainstream media where Asian faces and stories were broadcast. New Zealand on Air will support a replacement programme aimed at all ethnic New Zealanders. The new programme, while welcome could have been in addition to Asia Downunder rather than its replacement.
• Funding pressures also saw free-to-air channel Stratos end broadcasting in December.
• The use of online media to vent discriminatory sentiment was an increasing trend in 2011. In one example, the personalised plate ‘Māori’ was put up for sale on Trade Me attracting hundreds of comments, some of them highly negative and racist. The anonymity of online media allows people to vent opinions they may not otherwise voice. It is unclear how many people are represented by these comments. Research by the Centre for Applied Cross-cultural Research examined this issue, analysing online responses to comments by broadcaster Paul Henry and Hone Harawira, MP. The researchers suggested the need for more vigilant enforcement of acceptable use policies and civics education to raise public awareness of racism and discrimination.

The review contains more details on these issues, and also reviews complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority, NZ Press Council and Advertising Standards Authority on race-related matters in 2011. 

The review highlights two priorities for 2012:

• Improve representation of diverse communities in the media, in particular Asian communities
• Respond to the Law Commission’s report on new media

The full race relations report will be released in early March to promote discussion in advance of Race Relations Day, 21 March. The report will be launched at a function at the Auckland Town Hall, 9-10 am on 8 March with Mayor Len Brown and Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres. Please RSVP by 24 February to Josie Maskell at or DDI (09) 306 2655.

 To view the review, and reviews of other areas released to date, visit the Commission's website.

The column attracted more than 390 comments before the Herald website turned off the comments function and it has led to formal complaints to the newspaper and complaints to the Human Rights Commission.

The Commission’s Enquiries and Complaints Service will respond to each complainant. The Commission advises complainants to first seek redress from the editor of the Weekend Herald. If they remain dissatisfied at the response, they can approach the Press Council, the complaints body for the newspaper and magazine industry.

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres was dismayed at the language used. “The column was crudely expressed and included stereotypes many would have found offensive.”

He said the column lacked judgment and failed to show the benefit of experience one would expect of a seasoned broadcaster. “For better or worse Paul Holmes is a key influencer of public opinion. I would hope that Mr Holmes realises that this uncommon privilege comes with the responsibility to not denigrate a whole sector of society.”

Many would agree that the sentiments appeared to be directed at all Māori. In his column Paul Holmes wrote: “Never mind the child stats, never mind the national truancy stats, never mind the hopeless failure of Māori to educate their children and stop them bashing their babies. No, it's all the Pakeha's fault. It's all about hating whitey. Believe me, that's what it looked like the other day.”

Mr de Bres said Paul Holmes was presumably aware of the impact his column would have. “Paul Holmes has a platform, a voice and a constituency, but I would hope that fair-minded readers would agree that the column would offend many people, not just Māori. It cannot be accurate to suggest that fully 15 per cent of the population is as he characterised.”

Mr de Bres was surprised that Paul Holmes did not appear to be aware of the governance and partnership principles of the Treaty of Waitangi derived from court decisions over several decades. These included the need for the Crown’s duty to consult with Māori as Treaty partner, and the need to act in good faith and to be reasonable.

“The origins of bodies such as the Waitangi Tribunal date back to 1975 and its function to address and remedy breaches of the Treaty is something schoolchildren learn.”

In the column Paul Holmes wrote:” This, we will have to address and somehow apply these never-defined principles of the Treaty of Waitangi because it is, apparently, the next big resentment. There'll be lengthy discussion, we'll end up paying the usual millions into the hands of the Māori aristocracy and God knows where it'll go from there.”

The Weekend Herald editor David Hastings has responded to readers making formal complaints with a letter. He defends the column, allowing it was “provocative” but clearly aimed at the behaviour and attitudes of Waitangi Day protesters at Waitangi itself.”

Stratos provided news and programming in six languages through international partnerships with Al-Jazeera, DW-TV, France 24, Euro News in Europe, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Australia Network and CCTV, CQTV, NHK and YTN in Asia. 

In partnership with its sister station, Auckland broadcaster Triangle, Stratos had built a relationship with more than 30 distinct ethnic and cultural communities. In Auckland 25 individuals and organizations were involved in funding and creating special interest programmes for screening on Triangle for rebroadcast on Stratos in 2011. Triangle continues to broadcast.

It’s relevant to the majority of the country as the changing media environment means that anyone who writes on-line news sites, blogs, tweets or even posts comments on Facebook can be considered media.  Currently these are exempt from complaints to the Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Press Council.  The Law Commission review questions whether these are included in the ‘media’ and it proposes a new regulator for all news media that would replace existing regulatory bodies.  It would be independent of both government and the news media, and include industry and non-industry representatives appointed by an independent panel.  A code of ethics would be developed and penalties for those who breach standards.  It also proposes law changes to deal more effectively with cyber-bullying, harassment, privacy invasions, defamation and online impersonations.  Another option is to establish a Communications Commissioner to try and prevent or resolve media issues.  Submissions can be sent to the Commission via its website, email or mail by 12 March 2012.

Ms Forbes is an experienced reporter who has won several Qantas media awards for her work including producing ‘The Lillybing story’ for 20/20.  Ms Forbes has spent about 17 years in the industry where she has worked as a reporter and producer for TV3 and TVNZ in Auckland and Wellington.  She started her career on TVNZ’s Te Karere. Māori Television general manager of news and current affairs Te Anga Nathan says he is delighted Forbes will join the channel, “Mihingarangi brings with her a wealth of news and current affairs reporting experience and has a reputation for breaking stories. We’re delighted to have her producing our daily news bulletin Te Kaea and being part of our team.  Te Kaea is keen to replicate the feats of our current affairs show, Native Affairs, which won an AFTA for best overall current affairs programme in 2011. Te Kaea viewers can expect a new look and approach in the months to come as we strive to continue our solid coverage of news reporting.”

They will go to China and Indonesia for their internships next year.  Postgraduate journalism diploma journalists Sarah Robson and Christopher Chang have been awarded the two three-month internships with the China Daily.com.cn in Beijing as part of an exchange programme with AUT University.

Sarah Robson, 23, began her journalism at Salient, the student magazine at Victoria University of Wellington. She was named junior magazine feature writer of the year at the 2010 Qantas Media Awards, for a portfolio of features published in Salient throughout 2009.

Christopher Chang, 24, graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies (Journalism) at AUT in December. He studied law and English literature at the University of Victoria in Wellington.

Chang has a strong interest in Asia-Pacific affairs and completed the Asia-Pacific Journalism course. He lived in south-east Asia for six years and is involved with the Asia New Zealand Foundation Young Leaders Network. Krissy Dwyer, 26, will go to the Jakarta Globe in Jakarta for six weeks.

After working for several different media organisations in Germany and travelling the world, Dwyer graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts in Film, Television and Media Studies and Spanish in 2010.

“We are delighted by the high calibre and international focus of our graduates going on these internships,” said PMC director Professor David Robie. “They are good ambassadors for emerging New Zealand journalism.”

He also paid a tribute to a China Daily deputy online mobile news editor, Chen Bei, who was with AUT on a staff exchange and “boosted our insights and understanding on global social media”.

Asia New Zealand Foundation media adviser Rebecca Palmer described the selected young journalists as “impressive”.

Ms Sakita says she was inspired to make the film by an experience at the work shop.  “We would see this particular lady… all dressed up wearing her high heel shoes.  Some of the participants would talk about her in a negative way in the way she dressed. However, I wanted to make a point that women had rights as well.”  A UNICEF Pacific Representative Dr Isiye Ndombi says it is great recognition of Pacific youth as creative and effective advocates on issues important to youth in the region.  

‘It is a powerful film with an important message and shows that Pacific youth are very capable of producing films that meet international standards. I encourage all young people in the region to keep pursuing their dreams.’

The OneMinutesJr. is a youth arts initiative that teaches young people how to capture their viewpoints on video. The project, run by UNICEF and its partner, The One Minutes Foundation, has been producing one-minute videos since 2002.

Both channels wanted to commemorate the anniversary with all people in New Zealand as well as those in Canterbury who suffered the devastation of the earthquake first-hand.  Maori Television stepped up to provide support for the special broadcast by contributing to the costs associated with the broadcast, and CTV staff and affected families were most grateful for their support.  Maori Television’s chief executive Jim Mather says the decision to broadcast the memorial live for all New Zealanders was “the right thing to do” given CTV’s tragic loss of 16 staff on 22 February last year.  “Māori Television was proud to continue its support of CTV following our successful Rise Up Christchurch Telethon and the transmission support we gave CTV to get back on air in the aftermath of the earthquake.”

The website was designed by specialist Oceania publisher Tony Murrow and Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie.  “The journal, the only journalism-based research publication in New Zealand and the Pacific, has come a long way since it was founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994,” said Dr Robie, who is also the editor.The journal was later published by the University of the South Pacific before finding a permanent home in New Zealand and being relaunched at AUT in 2003. Pacific Journalism Review encouraged the careers of several young Pacific political cartoonists such as Campion Ohasio of the Solomon Islands. It has also published investigative journalism over the years and in the latest October edition published two major special reports on Pacific media freedom and New Zealand globalised media ownership.