Enough with Pākehā Media Deciding Who's Māori and Who's Not

EDITORIAL: Pākehā media's audacity in gatekeeping Māoridom is not just insulting; it's a stark display of ignorance. By cherry-picking which Māori voices qualify—Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, yes; Winston Peters, no; David Seymour, a national threat; and Karen Chhour, silenced before she can even speak—the media crafts a divisive narrative that serves no one but themselves. This isn't about representation; it's about sensationalism and a perverse form of tokenism that does more harm than good.

In their ivory towers, Pākehā journalists and editors play a dangerous game, casting Māori as a monolithic entity aligned with the last government, completely ignoring individual thought and political diversity within Te Ao Māori. In lieu of a wounded, regrouping opposition 'Māori', have been dreamt up as a collective opposition to the incumbent government (two-thirds of which boast actual Māori leaders).

The notion that all Māori stood with the Labour-Te Pāti Māori-Greens coalition is laughable, a fantasy peddled by those more interested in stoking Te Tiriti wars than portraying reality. Te Pāti Māori's sub-3% vote share in October clashes sharply with the narrative of unified Māori as the political whipping boy of the incumbent government.

John Campbell is probably the biggest hoha. But RNZ is right up there with their white saviour complexes.

The media's obsession with framing Māori through the lens of volatile clashes and political activism—like the scenes at Waitangi—doesn't reflect the true New Zealand. It's a disservice to Māori who span the political spectrum, from those who find value in Seymour, to those disillusioned by a Labour government that, despite its rhetoric, many believe only served iwi elite.

It’s time Pākehā media stopped using Māori as pawns in their cultural and political games. Today's Māori do not sit as one for you to atone for the wrongs of your ancestors by masquerading as political robinhoods, for a collective Māori too weak to have our own views.

Your white-saviour complex is not was differentiates you from your ancestors. It's what ties you to them.

Māori are not a prop for Pākehā guilt or a monolithic group waiting to be saved by the likes of Debbie and Rawiri. We are diverse, with a range of views and aspirations that go beyond the narrow confines of what Pākehā media might find useful to row their waka.

So, Pākehā media, listen up: Stop casting all te ao Māori as a mouthpiece for a political agenda that many don't subscribe to.