Pou korero: A Journalists' Guide to Maori and Current Affairs by Carol Archie. Published by New Zealand Journalists Training Organisation
KEY POINTS:
It has been 23 years since historian Michael King produced a slim volume, Kawe Korero, as a guide to reporting Maori activities.
In it he wrote that a generation earlier there would have been no need for such a booklet - "Maori and Pakeha lived largely separate livesin New Zealand".
But the intertwining of life and culture led the media to report more and more on Maori community affairs and confront the fact that, too often, they had only an imperfect understanding of what they reported on.
A generation later, Archie has taken Michael King's pioneering work and expanded it.
Her book is far more than a how-to guide for reporters, rather, it is a good primer for anyone who is non-Maori or any organisation wishing to speak to Maori effectively.
Her starting point is simple; the Pakeha way of thinking or doing is not the only perspective.
"There seems to be a widespread belief that what is normal and acceptable for Pakeha is what should determine how we live as New Zealanders - and that "others should fall into line", she writes.
"Such Pakeha have chosen to view the world from one perspective only. Some journalists do that, too."
Hence her advice to avoid phrases like "our history" or "our nursery rhymes" which assume a shared - largely Pakeha - heritage.
And, alternatively, for journalists to avoid the trap of writing stories that assume all Maori agree on something - "Maori yesterday called for ... " - when there could be significant differences between iwi and other groups.
Best of all is Archie's subtle exploration of the pressures on Maori in the media, especially on young Maori reporters, to take on the mantle of being an oracle on all things Maori, a requirement never asked of European journalists.
