Star Maori TV broadcaster Mihingarangi Forbes quits

Journalist and television presenter Mihingarangi Forbes. Photo / Sarah Ivey, NZ Herald

Maori Television's star broadcaster Mihingarangi Forbes has quit the company after complaining of management interference in the popular Native Affairs current affairs show.

Forbes resignation came as a shock to many at Maori Television today but was the result of long-running tensions between the news team at Native Affairs and chief executive Paora Maxwell, appointed after a tumultuous process.

Forbes was unavailable for comment but confirmed the resignation on Twitter, saying: "I've resigned. Thank you those who shared stories."

I've resigned. Thank you those who shared stories. Thank you to the @N8TVAFFAIRSTV team and @TeKaeaOfficial. E kore e mutu aku mihi.

— 🌺Mihingarangi Forbes (@Mihi_Forbes) June 4, 2015

The Herald has been told Forbes' resignation came after the Native Affairs team were told they were not to run a story on Te Kohanga Reo National Trust, planned for Monday.

It was a return to the current affairs show's most controversial stories for which it had won praise and criticism.

The Native Affairs team's investigation into management and spending at the Kohangareo trust was considered by Maoridom's old guard as a disrespectful way to probe an establishment organisation led by matriarch Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi.

But there were also those who championed the team for having the courage to raise questions about powerful establishment figures.

Forbes was praised in the latest Metro magazine as "almost single-handedly for setting the Maori journalism agenda".

A piece celebrating the most influential Aucklanders said:

"Forbes is unafraid to hold the powerful figures in Maori society to account: just as the Kohanga Reo National Trust.

"Yet her influence also comes the collective behind her. It's not her office that enhances her mana so much as the quality of her colleagues."