RESEARCH AND REPORTS NGĀ RANGAHAU ME NGĀ PŪRONGO

Research commissioned by the BSA and statutory publications including Annual Reports, SOIs and SPEs

Attitudes Towards Good Taste and Decency in Broadcasting among Māori, 2001

 


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Date published
:  2001

Research Company:  Colmar Brunton Research

Scope

  • Māori and Pacific peoples were interviewed on the attitudes towards language and the portrayal of sex and nudity
  • Methodology
  • Conducted between January and February 2001 with a margin of error of ±5.6%
  • Questionnaire contained the same questions used in a national survey of the general population conducted in 1999
  • Face-to-face interview in 310 Māori and 310 Pacific peoples’ homes

Results

  • Māori attitudes towards good taste and decency in broadcasting follow those observed in the general population
  • Ranking of 22 offensive words is similar to the ranking of the same words by 1,000 New Zealanders in the 1999 survey
  • ‘Cunt’, ‘motherfucker’, ‘nigger’, and ‘fuck’ were judged unacceptable by a majority of Māori
  • Māori women find the use of swear words and expletives more unacceptable than Māori men
  • The time when a television programme containing sex and nudity was broadcast – found to be the overriding consideration for Māori
  • Screening of sex and nudity before the 8:30pm watershed – judged unacceptable by Māori  
  • Portrayal of nudity in the medical context – overwhelmingly accepted
  • A man and woman passionately kissing also acceptable
  • Screening of homosexual sex was judged unacceptable by just under two-thirds of Māori participating in the research
  • Māori men found to be more accepting of portrayal of sex and nudity, than Māori women
  • Levels of unacceptability increased with the age of Maori respondents which was similar with the general population
  • Younger age groups found to be more permissive than older age groups
  • Gender and age breakdowns showed similar patterns to the 1999 survey of the general population