The Racial Political Economy of Māori Television

Abstract

New Zealand’s indigenous television broadcaster, Māori Television, strives to develop an independent national Māori channel that is successful with an assured future. But what does ‘successful’ mean here, and who defines it? Why does Māori Television feel the need, after broadcasting for eight years and attracting more viewers every year, to concern itself with having ‘an assured future’? This article argues that these questions are related to issues of political economy, and that racial attitudes of the dominant Pākehā population have impacted on that political economy to the extent that the concept needs to be re-termed ‘racial political economy’.