Two Te Arawa journalists are spearheading the launch of the first Maori newspaper in the country.
Editors Kereama Wright and Marisa Balle have been working in collaboration with the Rotorua Daily Post to produce the monthly newspaper, which is set to increase to a weekly frequency in the verynear future. They say the support has been overwhelming.
"We are really excited about the opportunity to give our whanau, hapu, and iwi a voice within NZ's largest mainstream media organisation. It's been a long journey and we are pleased to be finally getting it off the ground. It is our intention to be able to provide Te Arawa the vehicle in which our stories can be shared." said Kereama.
David Mackenzie, General Manager Bay of Plenty & Waikato for NZME. is excited about the opportunity to provide Te Arawa with a voice within the Rotorua Daily Post.
"We are delighted with the opportunity to work with Marisa and Kereama, two talented journalists who are well respected within local iwi and Maori media. We are looking forward to bringing our current and new readers a fresh and culturally sensitive perspective on Maori issues and successes that affect all New Zealanders locally and nationally."
The newspaper, aptly named Maangai Nui, will enable Te Arawa to have an independent voice which is currently non-existent. It serves as a regular opportunity for those who whakapapa to Te Arawa or who reside within the Te Arawa rohe and are actively supporting or impacting on Te Arawa whanau, to have a voice.
"Currently there is no Te Arawa mechanism to tell our stories. With so much going on within our iwi or affecting our iwi, we felt it was time to work in partnership with the local newspaper where we could capitalise on their readership of 10's of thousands daily, and share our stories with our iwi as well as the general public. It is important that our whole community knows about what Te Arawa is doing," says Marisa.
The collaboration between the Rotorua Daily Post and Maangai Nui co-editors, Kereama and Marisa, enables an independent Te Arawa voice.
M?ngai Nui will be launched on Thursday 30 October at Mitai in Rotorua and the first issue will be available on Monday 3 November inside your Rotorua Daily Post.
