The Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) has often been called a Labour government bribe to ensure that issues relating to Maori and the Treaty are reported in the mainstream media in a way that advances the Maori view of the Treaty and its consequences.
It is funded by NZ On Air formerly the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission operates largely separate from government policy but must follow directions from the Minister of Broadcasting.
The Minister of Broadcasting and Media is Willie Jackson.
The details of the PIJF and its guidelines are set out below and indented. Readers can form their own conclusions.
Public Interest Journalism Fund; General Guidelineshttps://d3r9t6niqlb7tz.cloudfront.net/media/documents/220221_PIJF_General_Guidelines_updated.pdf
Below are extracts from the guidelines:
Background
On 26 January 2021, the Cabinet Business Committee agreed to allocate $55 million to provide targeted, short to medium-term protection of public interest journalism and jobs. The funding is to be allocated over three years: $10 million in the remainder of 2020/21; $25 million in 2021/22; and $20 million in 2022/23. The principles set out in the Cabinet paper state that the initiative will protect journalistic jobs, and preserve and enhance public interest journalism across local, regional and national newsrooms.
3. Goals of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
The Public Interest Journalism Fund must achieve all of these things:
3. Actively promote the principles of Partnership, Participation and Active Protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi acknowledging Māori as a Te Tiriti partner.
6. Eligibility to Apply
All general eligibility criteria below must be met for applications to be assessed.
Commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to Māori as a Te Tiriti partner.
Applicants can show a clear and obvious commitment or intent for commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, including a commitment to te reo Māori. This commitment will enhance public interest journalism, resulting in stronger Māori representation and greater bi-cultural collaboration within the wider journalism sector. In response to requests for more information, NZ On Air has commissioned research that provides a resource for those wanting to develop their own Te Tiriti strategy in ways that suit their contexts. Expert group Kupu Taea have developed a framework of questions applicants may use to help focus a Te Tiriti response. The framework can be accessed here*. The full report can be found here*. The Framework is offered for guidance but is not prescriptive and applicants are free to articulate their own Te Tiriti response in their applications. (* See Te Tiriti o Waitangi Framework for News Media below.)
Te Tiriti Framework for News Media
https://d3r9t6niqlb7tz.cloudfront.net/media/documents/2022_03_Irirangi_te_Motu_NZ_on_Air_Te_Tiriti_framework_only_for_News_Media.pdf
Introduction
This document presents a te Tiriti framework for news media as a starting point for news producers to develop their own te Tiriti strategy in ways that suit their contexts. While this framework is grounded in te Tiriti o Waitangi and mass media obligations to Māori as tangata whenua, it may be relevant for other groups who face racism in our society.
Rationale
As tangata whenua o Aotearoa, Māori have never ceded sovereignty to Britain or any other State. He Whakaputanga/Declaration of Independence (1835) and te Tiriti o Waitangi (1840) asserted and continue to assert Māori sovereignty, and were signed by hapū and the Crown. Te Tiriti carries rights and obligations for both parties, with implications for social justice. Despite te Tiriti, colonial constitutional practices have entrenched Pākehā systems of governance that continue today. This means our society has a foundation of institutional racism, where organisations, agencies and institutions continue to benefit Pākehā, and routinely produce policies and practices that result in avoidable inequalities between Pākehā and Māori.
Mass news media have a concerning history from the beginning of colonisation to the present, of reproducing and promoting negative media representations of Māori. Research over decades has identified the ways in which mass news media contribute to and help maintain the marginalisation of Māori, but such outcomes are not inevitable or wanted by most news media workers. On 30 November 30 2020, the national news organisation Stuff made a ground-breaking apology for its media constructions of Māori. It had evaluated its performance, referencing research on anti-Māori themes (see Evidence), found that it ranged from “blinkered to racist”, and acknowledged that Māori were not given an equitable voice. Stuff promised to improve its reporting on Māori and to make changes in the organisation that reflected a commitment to Māori audiences and te Tiriti o Waitangi.
News media organisations have an obligation to be accountable and responsible in the ways they represent Māori and decide what is newsworthy, as well as how they organise their own structures and processes to align with te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi responsibilities and accountabilities apply across the news media sector and extend into the community. Commitment to te Tiriti needs to be evident at the highest levels of an organisation, and in all areas of its activity. Media systems include the structures, culture, leadership, policy, practices, relationships, employment and training that determine the environments within which news is produced.
Societal Accountabilities
As a result of colonisation, we live in a society that perpetuates racism and inequities. In response, many Māori organisations and networks are decolonising, and Pākehā-led non-government organisations are restructuring themselves according to te Tiriti o Waitangi. For news media, it is not simply a matter of reporting ‘fairly’, but of constructively contributing to te Tiriti relations and social justice. Media organisations need to consider the colonial context of living in Aotearoa New Zealand, and identify structural causes – institutional racism, colonisation, inequities and Pākehā advantage – that influence their reporting, and the issues they report. This domain focuses on how news media construct and present issues, particularly whether broader accountabilities and systems are considered, and how Māori are represented. Two pages of detailed examples of alternative practice are provided in the Evidence document.
News Media Practices
News organisations need to consider their practices when producing news. Despite the value that mass news media place on objectivity, the Evidence document shows that mass media stories predominantly reflect and promote the worldviews, values and language of the dominant Pākehā group. Using a standard practice in everyday Pākehā talk, Pākehā are routinely constructed as ordinary, the normal citizens and culture of New Zealand, and rarely named as a group. Māori and other racialised groups are often positioned outside the norm, and referred to as “they” and “them” rather than “we” or “us”. This is sometimes expressed by the use of Māori as an adjective, as in Māori activist and Māori MP. The use of such direct (and more subtle) labels position Māori as disrupting the norm, outside the central group, culture and experience. Three sets of alternative examples are provided in the Evidence document.
Q&A
In the Eligibility Criteria, what does ‘Commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to Māori as a Te Tiriti partner’ mean?
Funding AgreementIn early 2021 during the stakeholder consultation, the Māori and iwi journalism sector provided guidance (outlined below) of what demonstrating a commitment or intent for commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi could look like in practice. Further to this and as a result of requests from applicants, in late 2021, we commissioned an independent report from Kupu Taea (an Auckland based Māori and Pākehā media research group). This document, Te Tiriti Framework for News Media, is provided as a resource for those organisations looking to develop their own commitment to Te Tiriti. It is not mandatory to use this.
https://d3r9t6niqlb7tz.cloudfront.net/media/documents/NZOA_PIJF_Project_Funding_Agreement_Final_plYmYOR.pdf
You will use best endeavours to ensure all Content reflects and develops New Zealand identity and culture. In addition, where appropriate, you will use your best endeavours to ensure the Project and all Content:
- reflects Māori issues in a way relevant to all New Zealanders;
- reflects New Zealand’s ethnic and cultural diversity as well as the needs of other minorities and cultures in the community;
- actively promotes the principles of Partnership, Participation and Active Protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi acknowledging Māori as a Te Tiriti partner encourages a robust and sustainable media sector.
Who Has Received Public Interest Journalism Fund Money?
See all the details at: https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/pijf and
https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/funding/journalism-funding/#public-interest-journalism-fund-archive
A few relevant legal facts
- The Treaty and its Articles are not binding in New Zealand law because the rights and obligations under the Treaty have never been incorporated into New Zealand legislation. (Judgment of the New Zealand Court of Appeal (Lands case and the Privy Council.) See https://thetreatyfacts.blogspot.com/p/the-articles-of-treaty-are-not-binding.html
- Sovereignty was acquired by the Crown in 1840 either through cession in the Treaty or through the assertion of sovereignty by Captain Hobson. (Judgment of the Court of Appeal (Lands case) and the Waitangi Tribunal (Stage 2 of the Te Raki report)https://thetreatyfacts.blogspot.com/p/article-1-did-treaty-cede-sovereignty.html
- There is no legislation affecting NZ On Air that includes a Treaty clause requiring compliance with the principles of the Treaty. There are therefore no Treaty principles applicable to NZ On Air.
- The recipients of the PIJF are not bound by any principles of the Treaty. (They can only bind the Crown.)The obligations created by the contractual terms of the PIJF are therefore not a legal requirement but a political requirement by the Crown entity in return for money.
- The statements and conclusions in the various documents are of a biased and political nature.
Crimes Act 1991
https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM328753.html
105 Corruption and bribery of official
(2) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 7 years who corruptly gives or offers of agrees to give any bribe to any person with intent to influence any official in respect of any act or omission by him or her in his or her official capacity.Section 99: official means any person in the service of the Sovereign in right of New Zealand (whether that service is honorary or not, and whether it is within or outside New Zealand), or any member or employee of any local authority or public body, or any person employed in the education service within the meaning of section 10(7) of the Education and Training Act 2020.
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An opinion on the nature of the fund from Amy Brooke of the Australian Spectator can be seen here:
See also: https://commonroomnz.com/graham-adams-has-government-money-corrupted-journalism/
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