Now the story really begins for Maori TV

Launched with a hiss and a roar, Maori Television is now into the routine grind of producing material every day, week in and week out. DIANA McCURDY reports


As our interview draws to a close, Maori Television news editor Te Anga Nathan glances at his watch. He grimaces theatrically when he sees the time. "Now I've lost 50 minutes."

When you're putting together a daily news bulletin, taking almost an hour out of your schedule is a big deal.

For Nathan, it is particularly critical. He has seven young reporters working on stories for the evening news show, Te Kaea. They're keen and diligent, but they've been in their jobs for only one month. Six have never worked in television before.

This is the daily reality of Maori Television. Now that the adrenalin rush of the launch last Sunday has died, the realisation is dawning: the hard work is just beginning.

Every day, Nathan has to organise his seven reporters and an assortment of cameramen and editing staff to produce 20 minutes of news in te reo for Te Kaea, Maori Television's flagship news programme.

He drives his team with infectious enthusiasm. At 10 o'clock each morning, he's banging on his desk calling for his reporters to bring him their story ideas.

"Where's today's news? What's the news of today?" he demands. "That's the difference between us and other Maori media. We tell today's news today."

Nathan knows he has to be vigilant. He's had just one month to get his team up to scratch.

Inevitably, there were mistakes: "The pictures were coming back blue, or when we interviewed people we couldn't hear the sound properly. All those little teething problems. Or we would go into edit and there weren't enough shots to cover the actual story we were trying to tell."

But as Nathan sees it, the more mistakes his team made in the first month, the fewer they will make now the channel is up and running.

To a large extent, he has been proved right. But in the news-media business, you can never predict what the day may throw at you.

DAY ONE - SUNDAY

For Nathan and his team, the first day on air is a trial by fire. The usual 20-minute bulletin is extended to an hour in honour of the launch day. "It's a long time to fill when you're just starting out, when you've only got seven cub reporters out there."

Nathan lives 120km out of Auckland in Ngaruawahia, so he and his family stay at a nearby hotel on the night before the launch. He gets to the opening ceremony at 6am.

By 9.30am, Nathan has already donned his news editor's hat for the first time. During the month leading up to the launch, his reporters have produced 33 minutes of material to use on the first day. The remaining 27 minutes are gathered at the launch.

He arrives home at 8pm, just in time to watch Te Kaea go to air for the first time.

"My mother-in-law was sitting there and she had been glued to the television all day and she said, 'It's just beautiful to hear this. The reo is beautiful and it didn't turn off ... '

"So everyone's on a high and I'm watching it go down and just fretting and thinking, 'Are we going to make a mistake?"'

The bulletin goes without a hitch.

DAY TWO - MONDAY

On Monday, everyone arrives at work exhausted. "We got to launch day and it was just, 'Phew, what a relief'."

Staff have a midday hui to discuss the launch and share experiences from the day before. For Nathan, it's an emotional time; a chance to sit down and reflect upon the achievement of getting Maori Television to air.

"It was more than a burden being lifted off your shoulders, mate, it was like 30 years of oppression were being lifted. The shackles which prevented Maori Television from going to air were broken that day. That was the feeling - a feeling of freedom."

Deadlines, however, leave little room for sentiment. After the hui disperses, Nathan and his staff have just seven hours to get Te Kaea to air.

The resulting bulletin is a good effort, Nathan says, but he knows it could be better. He stays at work till 10.15pm to debrief his staff and discuss what went wrong.

DAY THREE - TUESDAY

Today there is a buzz in the air. Nathan arrives early, fired up for the 10am editorial meeting.

The dumping of Project Aqua is announced, so Nathan sends his reporters to find the Maori perspective.

"We rang the rununga which objected to that thing going ahead. We got a spokesperson for it and he told us what it meant for them. And they celebrated it not going ahead ...

"Their river flow will stay the same - it won't be tampered with. The spirit of that river will stay the same."

Once again, Nathan doesn't get home until midnight. But this time he is elated.

"See it works," he says. "We're telling the same story, but we're telling the Maori side."

DAY FOUR - WEDNESDAY

On paper, Wednesday begins with a bulletin that looks even better than Tuesday's. By evening, however, much of it has fallen through - caused as much by inexperience as bad luck. One reporter fails to deliver his brief at all.

That evening, Nathan receives more bad news. His 6-month-old son has been hospitalised with bronchitis.

Nathan leaves "early" at 6.30pm (his official knock-off time) to go to the hospital.

When he gets home, there are professional ill tidings. Computer problems have prevented the channel's piece on the death of historian Michael King from running.

Nathan feels frustrated. Fortunes can change quickly in the world of television.

"I would have stayed till it goes to air because you don't want things to slip up. And I kick myself because I know I could still have saved things in there. We've got young editors there and they just need a bit of a steer."

DAY FIVE - THURSDAY

Nathan wakes at 5.30am, so he can squeeze in an early-morning hospital visit before starting work. His son is progressing well and is due to come home today.

The day flows well, with the last story (about Maori views on euthanasia) coming in just one minute before Te Kaea goes to air. The story on Michael King also goes to air, improved after a day's delay.

Nathan is pleased: "Every day we get stronger. We are making smaller mistakes."

It's been a tough week, but every day Maori Television has received more and more congratulatory letters and emails.

The response is proof to Nathan that he's doing his job well. "That's the thing: we're making all these mistakes, but no one is seeing this. No one is seeing this because when we go to air people are still saying: 'Whee ha, this is all good'. But they don't know that there's always a story behind a story."

As Nathan describes it, Maori Television is a flower which is slowly blooming. "It was an ugly flower and then it got turned around to this real pretty beautiful taonga that we have."

Herald Feature: Maori broadcasting

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