New Zealand human rights commissioner, Jeremy Pope.

Pacific Scoop:
Opinion – By Thakur Ranjit Singh.

The Minister of Maori Affairs and the Co-Leader of the Maori Party marked the Race Relations Day last week at a Marae with some sadness. He expressed his concerns at the way New Zealanders treated their migrant communities, especially Asians who were not made to feel at home or welcomed here.

As Race Relations Conciliator, Jeremy Pope, said at the Trusts Stadium during Holi festival:, “people are not born with the ideas of discrimination – they are taught this at home or by their community.”

One of the culprits that has been inculcating racism has been our media and the way it projects and stereotype certain people and communities. In this respect I took exception, in fact offense, to a Radio Live news item which borders on racism and is perhaps the reason why the migrant community may not feel welcome here.

A sex case news story on the radio station on Thursday March 25 2010, gave the name of an offender as well as saying that he was of Fijian Indian descent. I took offense because not only am I also an Indo Fijian but because the good that we do as a racial group in New Zealand never reaches the radar of the mainstream media here.

Whatever the excuse, in this instance, the race of the offender had no bearing or importance to the story. Race –tagging and racism in the newsroom, in general, and in news discourse, in particular, have been an interest to me and I have done a paper titled “White Media and Brown Aotearoa”, where lack of diversity in newsrooms and racism and stereotypes projected by New Zealand mainstream media have been a matter of concern.

I have attended and covered media stories in various Department of Ethnic Affairs media workshops and they are doing a commendable job in promoting the awareness and importance of diversity in media. It was disappointing to see a community being degenerated in this way by the media. What is sad is that such name calling or tagging only happens with minorities while the Anglo Saxon criminals never get mention of their extraction, which may be of, a Pakeha, Irish, German, English, or Italian descent. It always has to be those who look different to the mainstream population of New Zealand, and they are all those who are not Anglo Saxons. This also includes the branding of Asians, Polynesians and Maori when naming people who have done something bad. It would be interesting to obtain the European extraction of the mega–criminal who swindled some $18m from the ASB Bank!

When the ethnic communities do something good, it rarely gets publicised. Just two weeks ago the Waitakere Indian Association celebrated the Holi festival with a theme of unity in diversity and also celebrated Race Relations Day. Prime Minister John Key, Auckland Mayor John Banks, Minister Paula Bennett, Labour MP Chris Carter and Race Relations Conciliator Jeremy Pope were also present, among other dignitaries, MPs and community leaders. In their respective presentations, they praised the efforts of the volunteers and contributions of the Indian community in adding colour and strength to the cultural and economic landscape of Aotearoa. This was not reported by either mainstream media, side-stream newspapers, nor Television. Not even the local Fairfax-owned community paper, the Western Leader, which is based a stone’s throw away from the venue of Trusts Stadium, saw fit to report on this. Is the absence of ethnic reportage caused by a lack of diversity in New Zealand’s newsrooms?

What I find laughable is that in 2007, the Waitakere Indian Association held a very successful Diwali festival where about 20,000 people took part, and, people of all communities participated. There was a massive fireworks display. The mainstream media chose not to report this. Even the community paper, the Western Leader, did not mention the success of the event. Rather, its headline and lead article, published a few days later, reported that a pony got frightened by fireworks and broke its leg. What was a huge community event was reported through focussing on an animal story and the Indian community was left to sneer at the horsing around of its so called community paper.

Next time Radio Live, the New Zealand Herald, or other media orgnaisations wish to tag Governor General Anand Satyanand as Indo Fijian or Indian, they should also then tag Prime Minister John Key as Jewish. Next time they wish to call List MP Dr Rajen Prasad as Indian or Indo Fijian, they should also be prepared to conduct an heritage investigation of other Anglo Saxon MPs and Ministers and let us all know what European descent each of them came from. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

There is an urgent need for New Zealand journalists to change their attitude, and this cannot be taught in newsrooms. This has to be inculcated in classrooms of media schools. In that respect, I can say with experience and confidence that AUT’s Communication Studies, with emphasis from the Pacific Media Centre, the Pacifica Community and students at AUT, has been setting a trend by introducing diversity in its student numbers.

In addition, the focus on alternative viewpoints and appreciation of cross-cultural understanding and sensitivity are identified and nurtured in its lecture-rooms. It is coaching such as this that will prompt news writers to be more sensitive in reporting on ethnic issues, and this calibre is obviously missing at Radio Live and other news organisations that thrive in race-bashing.

Such stories may not have been raised had it not been for the initiative of the School of Communication Studies at AUT and Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) which collaborates to promote diversity in media education and grant post graduate scholarships to Pacific students.

Thakur Ranjit Singh is a post graduate student at AUT University.