Te Reo Tātaki is TVNZ’s Māori name and means “the leading voice”. Te Reo Tātaki recognises Māori as indigenous peoples and as partners to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
TVNZ has a legislative requirement to reflect Māori perspectives and our internal rautaki Māori ensures we continue working toward that in an authentic way.
For news and current affairs (NCA) audiences this will be brought to life in several key areas of our work.
We will do our best to represent and reflect Māori perspectives in our reporting and not only in stories covering Māori-specific issues. This is enabled by te reo training for correct pronunciation along with greetings, terms of address, relevant protocols and basic cultural awareness.
This is also true for other cultural perspectives in New Zealand and TVNZ celebrates the rich diversity of our people and communities in partnership with tangata whenua.
Te reo Māori is an official language of New Zealand and Te Reo Tātaki is a workplace where te reo Māori use is normal. NCA staff are encouraged and supported to use te reo Māori on air where they feel comfortable and can demonstrate proficiency.
To ensure our audience can understand our reporting, regardless of the amount of te reo used, our style is a te reo word or phrase followed by the English translation. Eg. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. However, as these words or phrases become more and more normalised, we will look for opportunities to use the te reo word or phrase without the English language translation to confirm what te reo is saying.
This strategy does not apply to Te Karere, a dedicated Māori language news programme.
There is no requirement to use te reo in our broadcasts but we do encourage our NCA team to participate in the lessons on offer so they are accurate with usage and pronunciation.
NOTE: The Broadcasting Standards Authority does not determine complaints about Te Reo use and TVNZ is not expected to respond formally to these complaints. More information can be found at bsa.govt.nz.
As an organisation Te Reo Tātaki is committed to building our cultural competence and developing new Māori journalists and operational staff. Within NCA we strive to ensure our kaimahi (staff) can operate in a culturally safe environment.
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