Maori Television 2007 Waitangi Day Coverage

Maori Television Confirms 2007 Waitangi Day Coverage

New Zealand’s national indigenous broadcaster, Maori Television, will devote its entire broadcast schedule to New Zealand’s national day, Waitangi Day, on Tuesday February 6.

Waitangi 2007: Kotahi Te Ra – beginning at 12.00 PM and ending at 11.30 PM – will include reports from key Waitangi Day events at home and abroad as well as news, views, interviews, discussions, documentaries, entertainment and historical highlights.

Maori Television’s Julian Wilcox will anchor the live-to-air broadcast from commemorations at the birthplace of the Treaty of Waitangi in the Bay of Islands.

Wena Harawira will provide live updates from Los Angeles, USA, at the creation of a giant silver fern sand sculpture to launch the Made From New Zealand brand while leading broadcasters Tainui Stephens and Kerre Woodham will co-present the special show from the channel’s Auckland studio.

Media personality Glen Osborne will add a humorous touch as a roving reporter at Waitangi.

Reporters will also provide updates from Waitangi Day events throughout the country – such as Christchurch, Wellington, Gisborne and Hamilton – and from overseas including Australia and Great Britain.

Special documentaries include Te Waipounamu On Waitangi – about the relationship Ngai Tahu in the South Island has with the treaty – and Who Are You People? which looks at Mother England in the 1840s from an indigenous viewpoint.

Other schedule highlights include interviews with kaumatua (elders) and waka experts at Waitangi as well as special studio guests such as past Governor-Generals Sir Paul Reeves and Dame Silvia Cartwright and media commentator Paul Holmes.

Maori language news programme Te Kaea at 7.30 PM (subtitled at 11.00 PM) will have a special Waitangi focus; a Maori language debate show, Tautohetohe Waitangi Day Special (also with English language subtitles), will screen at 9.00 PM; while a music event filmed earlier that day in Manukau, Ngahau – Waitangi Day Concert, Is At 10.00 Pm.

Waitangi Day is a public holiday held each year to commemorate the signing of the treaty – New Zealand’s founding document – on February 6 1840.

Maori Television chief executive Jim Mather says for many New Zealanders, however, it is simply a day off work without a true understanding of the reason for the holiday.

The aim of the channel’s special broadcast is to encourage all New Zealanders to recognise Waitangi Day as their national day and to celebrate all that it means to be a New Zealander.

“Seen by many as a day of commemoration and protest, our nation’s foundation day has historically been relegated to the backblocks of the country’s psyche,” says Mr Mather.

“Through our special Waitangi Day broadcast, Maori Television will promote a change to that perception by offering all New Zealanders the opportunity to celebrate our nationhood and unity.”

Viewers can call the helpline on 0800 Ma Tatou (0800 628 2868) for advice on how to tune into Maori Television and can check the website, www.maoritelevision.com, for programming updates.

ENDS

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