BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary  

[This summary does not form part of the decision.] 

The Authority has not upheld an accuracy complaint about a statement by TVNZ’s Seven Sharp reporter that a film was set ‘amid a nationwide confiscation of Māori land’ during an interview with actor Temuera Morrison. The complainant alleged confiscations were not nationwide, and that Māori land dispossession can be attributed in part to legitimate land sales to the Crown. The Authority found the alleged inaccuracy was not material in the context of a segment focusing on Morrison’s acting career and promotion of a film, and that, in any case, it was not misleading to refer to ‘nationwide confiscation’ considering the extent of contested Māori land dispossession which occurred in the relevant period.

Not Upheld: Accuracy

The broadcast

[1]  During a segment on Seven Sharp, the reporter interviewed actor Temuera Morrison about his most recent film release Ka Whawhai Tonu. As part of the interview, the reporter questioned Morrison about his experience making the film and his personal connection to his character:

Reporter: …on this side of town, you were doing a project entirely in te reo Māori.

Morrison: That’s where the buzz is now, getting our language out there, getting them used to hearing it. And so, it really warms my heart to do those kind of roles and to play Māori.

Reporter: Not just any Māori, your ancestor.

Morrison: Yes

Reporter: Rewi Maniapoto.

Morrison: …that was enough to… get me fired up enough to match [her performance]. Cause people died, really. We lost all our, our ancestors over those land issues that we’re having at the time.

[2]  Following Morrison’s comments, clips are shown of the filmmaking process and scenes from the film, with the following narration:

Reporter: Ka Whawhai Tonu, ‘Struggle Without End’, shares a fictional retelling of the pivotal battle of O-Rākau, led by Rewi Maniapoto… a battle that took place in the Waikato 160 years ago amid nationwide confiscation of Māori land.

[3]  The segment also includes interviews with the director of the film and two of Morrison’s co-stars.

The complaint

[4]  Shane O’Driscoll complained the broadcast breached the accuracy standard of the Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand on the basis referring to the ‘nationwide confiscation of Māori land’ was factually inaccurate, inflammatory, and divisive. They added:

• References to ‘nationwide confiscation’ were inconsistent with other [New Zealand Heritage books] accounts of New Zealand history, which are ‘unadulterated information without modern influence or distortion’
• TVNZ conflates land dispossession with confiscation, as large parcels of land were sold to the Crown by various iwi in legitimate purchases.
• Most of the South Island ‘was sold off in 8 or 10 independent transactions with different chiefs over a period of 3 decades’ and the 1926 Royal Commission of Inquiry ‘was established to investigate land confiscations in Waikato, Taranaki and [Ōpōtiki]’.

The broadcaster’s response

[5]  TVNZ did not uphold O’Driscoll’s complaint for the following reasons:

• Reporting by Stuff notes Te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Treaty of Waitangi gave the Crown ‘exclusive rights to buy Māori land. This was known as pre-emption… Treaty breaches have been identified by the Crown in the process of these purchases… In some cases, iwi were made promises that helped convince them to sell, but the promises were often broken or simply ignored’.¹
• Historical resources show the significant loss of Māori land in the period following the New Zealand Wars, during which this film is set.²
• In any case, the comment about land confiscation ‘would not mislead viewers about this issue and was not material to the discussion of Temuera Morrison’s acting career’.

The standard

[6]  The purpose of the accuracy standard³ is to protect the public from being significantly misinformed.⁴ It states broadcasters should make reasonable efforts to ensure news, current affairs or factual content is accurate in relation to all material points of fact and does not mislead. Where a material error of fact has occurred, broadcasters should correct it within a reasonable period after they have been put on notice.

Our analysis

[7]  We have watched the broadcast and read the correspondence listed in the Appendix.

[8]  As a starting point, we considered the right to freedom of expression. It is our role to weigh up the right to freedom of expression against any harm potentially caused by the broadcast. We may only intervene when the limitation on the right to freedom of expression is demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.⁵

[9]  The harm the complainant is concerned about is that the broadcast paints a misleading, and potentially divisive, narrative in asserting there were ‘nationwide’ land confiscations from Māori.

[10]  In our view, the alleged inaccuracy concerns a technical or unimportant point that is unlikely to significantly affect viewers’ understanding of the programme as a whole.⁶ In coming to this conclusion, we have considered the following factors:

• Seven Sharp is a current affairs programme that applies a non-traditional, light-hearted treatment to news stories. It frequently features human interest stories and opinions.
• The focus of the segment was to interview Temuera Morrison in promotion of his most recent film, and to discuss his acting career. We do not consider the brief reference to ‘nationwide confiscation’, in the context of describing the setting of the film, was material to the discussion of the film and Morrison’s career.
• Most viewers would not have appreciated the technical distinctions on which the complaint is based.

[11]  In any case, we do not consider it misleading, or divisive, to refer to a ‘nationwide confiscation of Māori land’, considering the extent of contested Māori land dispossession which occurred in the relevant period⁷:

• Large areas of Māori land were confiscated by the Crown under the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863.⁸
• The Crown has acknowledged and apologised for these confiscations on multiple occasions.⁹
• While the complaint draws a distinction between ‘confiscations’ and ‘legitimate purchases’, land purchases occurring under Crown ‘pre-emption’ rights were also the subject of disputes. For example, the Crown was described by the Waitangi Tribunal as having ‘acted unconscionably and in repeated breach of the Treaty of Waitangi’ in significant purchases from Ngāi Tahu in the South Island which involved disputes regarding relevant boundaries, the fairness of the price and the Crown’s failure to deliver on commitments made to Ngāi Tahu upon sale.¹⁰

[12]  Having found the programme was not misleading, it is not necessary to determine whether or not the broadcaster made reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of the programme.

[13]  Accordingly, we do not uphold this complaint.

For the above reasons the Authority does not uphold the complaint.

Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Susie Staley
Chair
24 October 2024    

Appendix

The correspondence listed below was received and considered by the Authority when it determined this complaint:

1  Shane O’Driscoll’s formal complaint – 22 June 2024

2  TVNZ’s response to the complaint – 18 July 2024

3  O’Driscoll’s referral to the Authority – 11 August 2024

4  TVNZ’s further submissions – 06 September 2024

5  O’Driscoll’s comments in response – 08 September 2024

¹ Andy Fyers “Treaty of Waitangi: What was lost” Stuff (online ed, 02 August 2018)
² Richard Boast “Te tango whenua – Māori land alienation – Land tenure and alienation” Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (online ed, 01 July 2015)
³ Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand 
⁴ Commentary, Standard 6, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 16
⁵ Introduction, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 4
⁶ Guideline 6.2
⁷ Richard Boast “Te tango whenua – Māori land alienation – Land tenure and alienation” Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand (online ed, 01 July 2015)
⁸ History of Māori Land Tupu.nz
⁹ See, for example: Te Arawhiti | Office for Māori Crown Relations “Te Whakatauna O Nā Tohe Raupatu Tawhito | Tuhoe Deed of Settlement of Historical Claims” (03 June 2013), Te Arawhiti | Office for Māori Crown Relations “Deed of Settlement to Settle Ngāti Awa Historical Claims” (27 March 2003), Te Arawhiti | Office for Māori Crown Relations “Deed of Settlement of Historical Claim [Ngāti Porou]” (22 December 2010), Te Arawhiti | Office for Māori Crown Relations “Ngāti Toa Rangatira Deed of Settlement” (07 December 2012), Deed of Settlement between Her Majesty the Queen and Waikato Tainui (22 May 1995), Te Arawhiti | Office for Māori Crown Relations “Te Atiawa Deed of Settlement” (09 August 2014), Te Arawhiti | Office for Māori Crown Relations “Taranaki Iwi Deed of Settlement” (05 September 2016)
¹⁰ Te Rōpū Whakamana I te Tiriti o Waitangi | The Waitangi Tribunal “The Ngai Tahu Report 1991 – Volume Three” at para 24.1