TV and TE TIRITI – key factors in Aotearoa’s bicultural surge surveys Māori-Pākehā relations from the Treaty of Waitangi signing in February 1840 to the end of 2022.
Its author, D. Brent Leslie, was a writer/director on Koha, the first regular television programme featuring Māori issues, when it began in 1980 and then on other TV programmes involving Māori-Pākehā relations. He has also written four internationally published children’s books and three New Zealand historical novels aimed at teenagers.
In Koha, Marae and the then TVNZ current affairs programme, Frontline, he was involved in making a vast range of Māori-related programming and became an experienced commentator on media aspects of Māori-Pākehā relations. He and TVNZ Head of Māori Programmes, Ernie Leonard, received a Highly Commended certificate in the 1991 New Zealand Media Peace Awards for writing and presenting Pānui, a weekly Marae segment analysing print media treatment of Māori subjects.
In TV and Te Tiriti, Leslie gives his perspective on such key aspects of our history as Te Tiriti o Waitangi and The New Zealand Wars, without attempting to re-tell in fine detail ground already well covered by existing excellent histories. Instead he creates an overview of what went badly wrong in New Zealand’s bicultural race relations and what has since been achieved in redressing some of the earliest and worst failures. After analysing why this happened, he looks to what he believes should be a promising future.
His book highlights the significance of film and television in the Māori protest movement from the 1960s on, why TV has improved understanding of Māori tikanga and grievances, and how much New Zealanders’ biracial attitudes have matured as a result. Key print and digital resources for those seeking more in-depth knowledge are listed at the end of this volume.
