Top Aussie writer throws spotlight on haka; ‘Alarming’ - publishers fume over National’s Meta/Google comments; TVNZ Breakfast host weds; Sports writer dies at 60; William Shatner’s message to the advertising industry.
The All Blacks are back performing the throat-slitting-like gesture at the end of the Kapa o Pango haka, and, with it, there’s a renewed debate over its suitability – partly sparked by a high-profile Australian columnist.
The issue has flared up occasionally over the years – mainly driven by overseas sports columnists, although New Zealand Rugby did carry out a review in 2006, a year after Kapa o Pango was introduced, following complaints from members of the public.
The gesture has a vastly more innocent and less threatening meaning within Māori culture: Derek Lardelli, who composed Kapa o Pango, has said it represents ‘hauora’ – “drawing vital energy into the heart and lungs”.
Nevertheless, after the 2006 review, the All Blacks eventually changed the gesture – instead of moving their thumbs across their throats, they started drawing their right hands across their torsos from the left hip to the right shoulder.
The issue has died away in more recent times, partly because of that change and partly because the All Blacks have not performed Kapa o Pango as regularly. Last year, for instance, it was performed only once in more than a dozen tests.
But the players have occasionally returned to the throat gesture – most notably this year, in the two most recent Rugby Championship tests, against South Africa in Auckland and against Australia in Melbourne last weekend.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist and former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons, who is considered one of the biggest cultural advocates in Australian media, believes it’s jarring.
“Magnificent haka, as ever, by All Blacks – with a qualification,” he wrote on social media. “In my view, the throat-slitting gesture at the end, before a rugby match, goes too far. Fire at will, see if I care. But @wallabies captain placing boomerang, later accepted by All Blacks captain, great!”
Magnificent haka, as ever, by All Blacks - with a qualification.
— Peter FitzSimons (@Peter_Fitz) July 30, 2023
In my view, the throat slitting gesture at the end, before a rugby match, goes too far.
Fire at will, see if I care.
But @wallabies captain placing boomerang, later accepted by All Blacks captain, great! https://t.co/CubU1hwxT9
FitzSimons told Media Insider he was a huge fan of the haka.
“I deeply respect Māori and Pasifika culture,” he said. “And I also would claim to be the loudest voice in Australia saying that the haka should be treated with respect.
“When I played, I didn’t like Campo [David Campese] going down the other end of the field ... for me it was an honour to face the haka. I was honoured to face it six times.”
He remembers writing about the throat-slitting gesture when it was introduced.
“I wrote at the [Sydney Morning] Herald at the time [that] for me what appeared to be a throat-slitting gesture before a rugby match was jarring in an otherwise magnificent haka.
“I remember being heartened at the time to receive support from the great Buck Shelford and Zinzan Brooke.
“Buck was the hardest rugby player I ever played against. He was the one I believe was responsible for breathing life into the haka in the mid-80s and for me is the arbiter ... he’s the voice I listen to on the haka. I just think throat-slitting gestures ... I think it’s jarring before a rugby match.”
He said he had since been told by New Zealand friends – “who agree with me” – that the gesture is about breathing life.
“I accept that. But the truth of it, to 99 per cent of [people] ... it appears to be a throat-slitting gesture.
“I remember a while back that they moved the gesture down to the chest. That solved everything – there’s no misunderstanding.”
The All Blacks, who are preparing for their test match against Australia in Dunedin this weekend, have been approached for comment but are yet to respond.
FitzSimons’ comment follows similar views from fellow Australian scribbler Paul Sheehan who wrote in 2011, “the violence suggested by throat-slitting gestures has no place in sport or sportsmanship, especially in the national colours”.
And in 2005, Daily Telegraph UK columnist Mick Cleary described it as “menacing” and “unmistakably provocative” – while it might have an innocent meaning, he said, it did the All Blacks no favours.
Cleary noted, presciently, that if any player performed the same gesture in the field of play, they’d face disciplinary action.
That, of course, is exactly what happened in Super Rugby this year, when Hurricanes and All Blacks star Ardie Savea was yellow-carded and irked, leading him to make a throat-slitting gesture at an opposition player as he was leaving the field.
“I can understand the fans are furious around the gesture that I made,” he said immediately following the match. “Kids are watching us, we’re in the heat of the moment. Usually, that’s out of character for me, so I put my hand up first and I apologise for that.”
He appeared before the judiciary. A combination of the yellow card and the gesture saw him suspended for one game.
NZ Herald chief rugby writer Liam Napier said, personally speaking, the haka gesture did not offend him in any way.
“I’m of the belief that unless you are in tune with Māori culture/custom, you should be careful jumping to conclusions or passing judgment without first seeking guidance from kaumātua. While haka in the All Blacks context is viewed as a performance, it’s also a mark of respect.”
Congratulations to Breakfast host Anna Burns-Francis and Simon Gordon for their winter wedding nuptials.
The pair married last weekend, in a private ceremony in the Capital. They’re preparing for a big party in Auckland.
“It’s great to be married – we had a very special day with close family in Wellington and are in the throes of prepping for a big party tomorrow night with all our friends and family,” Burns-Francis told Media Insider yesterday.
Gordon proposed to Burns-Francis in a sightseeing helicopter above New York last year. Burns-Francis was TVNZ’s correspondent in the Big Apple at the time.
“At first, I was like, ‘What are you doing? We’re in a helicopter!’ But then I saw the ring and realised he was serious. I was so happy, it was an immediate yes,” Burns-Francis told Woman’s Day earlier this year.
The proposal came after she had returned to New York from New Zealand, thinking she had flunked her Breakfast audition (she hadn’t).
“It was the best surprise ever and suddenly it was like, ‘I’m going to be happy for the rest of my life now – the job doesn’t matter!” Burns-Francis told the magazine.
“I like the idea of exchanging our vows in a really intimate way, with just our closest family. But we’ll definitely have a huge celebration with all our friends and family afterwards, and it gives me the chance to wear my wedding dress twice, which is a bonus.”
Melissa Lee spent more than 20 years in journalism, including five as a reporter at the Sunday News. During her time at the newspaper, colleagues recall her driving a small, green BMW nicknamed Kermit.
Former colleagues say that as a reporter, she broke some decent stories and “developed great contacts with some who lurked on the underbelly of Auckland society”. Perfect for the Sunday tabloid.
She later worked as a television host and producer for Asia Downunder, before eventually switching to politics and, in 2008, entering Parliament as a National MP and New Zealand’s first Korean parliamentarian.
She qualifies as one of the few MPs with any frontline experience in the media industry, but her comments about the digital tech giants in the past week to BusinessDesk, and reiterated to Media Insider, have angered the country’s major publishers. We’ll come to that issue shortly.
I spoke to Lee this week to try to gauge the depth and detail of National’s media and broadcasting policy, in particular where it sees the future of RNZ and TVNZ in light of the cancelled merger of the two public media organisations.
It will be obvious the Nats want TVNZ to maintain a commercial focus, under its state-owned enterprise model, and for RNZ to lead the public broadcasting charge, likely with an updated charter in specific areas.
National has yet to release its policy, and neither Lee nor leader Christopher Luxon’s office gave a date as to when it will be made public. But, she says, “it’s already sorted”.
Asked if there would be any surprises, she said: “You might be surprised to know that I actually support the media. And I support their right to actually be free of interference.”
Lee is worried about overall trust in journalism and that people are falling down particular rabbit holes in an era of polarisation and misinformation.
While she quite rightly states it’s up to the media industry and individual firms work on quality and trust, politicians also have a role in ensuring they are not stoking the fires of misinformation for electoral gain.
Lee was a critic of NZ on Air’s Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) and was unfortunately guilty of playing up the erroneous claim that the fund might somehow allow the media to be swayed by the Government in terms of editorial content and decision-making.
That, combined with the industry’s poor job of explaining the fund, is undoubtedly one reason trust has slipped in recent years.
Lee is pleased the fund has now ended.
On the other hand, she is hugely supportive of regional news and likes the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) scheme – publicly-funded reporters covering public interest matters such as council meetings.
That scheme started a few years ago and is also funded by NZ on Air. It became part of the PIJF programme.
Asked, then, if she actually supported NZ on Air continuing to fund various journalism projects, she said: “You are now getting into policy areas ... we haven’t announced it yet.”
On TVNZ, she says: “Public broadcasting is very expensive. There is a commercial imperative, and TVNZ have done that very well over the years, but there have been mixed messages from this Government as to what they actually wanted TVNZ to be.
“TVNZ+ ... was an investment that [the company] made. I think it’s very popular and doing quite well. I would want TVNZ to focus on their core business of making enjoyable television, news that is worthy and programmes and TV that New Zealanders actually want to watch.”
On RNZ, she is keen to return to a review of the broadcaster’s public charter. She pushed for the legally-mandated review at select committee, but there weren’t many submissions, she says, because most people believed the charter would be overtaken by the merger of RNZ and TVNZ. That merger, of course, has been subsequently called off.
Lee says the accessibility of RNZ digital news – for low-vision and hearing-impaired people – was a theme in the review, and that is one issue she wants to see addressed.
“Accessibility is a really big thing for a lot of the people who rely on Radio New Zealand for information and news.”
She says Labour’s recent funding boost of RNZ was a “oncer”.
“I’ve always said once we get into government we will have to look at where the funding is, in terms of what they need. Both the leader and I have made that commitment, that RNZ will continue to be funded.”
The Labour Government recently announced an overhaul of the TVNZ and RNZ boards, with a number of new directors now in place.
That has not been without controversy. Jason Ake has already stepped down from the RNZ board, before even his first meeting, following comments in support of then Justice Minister Kiri Allan following her recent mental health struggles and car crash.
“I should hope that all of the members put into those RNZ and TVNZ boards know their responsibility that comes with being on a government board,” Lee said.
“When [the] Jason Ake story happened, I was surprised – I don’t actually know Jason, personally, but [the] minister, Willie Jackson, was quoted in the media saying that ‘oh you know, he’s quite noisy and quite boisterous and quite political’.
“And Jason Ake basically said that he was always going to be political. If that is the case, did the minister actually know before he appointed him?”
Meanwhile, National does not want to be in a position where TVNZ is having to call upon millions of taxpayers’ dollars.
“I think everybody would have an idea as to what they would like to see on New Zealand television,” says Lee.
“Some people like news, some people don’t like news. Some people like Country Calendar, some people don’t like Country Calendar. Where do you actually fit? TVNZ have the expertise to actually navigate that. It is not up to the minister or any Member of Parliament to say we should have this ...”
On to, then, the issue that has set Lee on a collision course with our publishers.
Lee told BusinessDesk last week that she does not believe Google, Meta and other global digital giants should be compelled – as proposed in new laws – to negotiate a fair price with publishers for the journalism and other content that appears on their social media and search engine sites.
She told Daniel Dunkley the Government’s planned legislation to force the tech giants to the table “is effectively a tax by the Labour Government on big tech companies that have been engaging with the media for some time and signing agreements already”.
The comments have angered the News Publishers Association and fly in the face of legislative moves in the likes of Australia and Canada.
When pushed by Media Insider this week, Lee was unrepentant, saying she feared that deals already inked by media companies with the giant tech companies might now be under threat.
“I know that some of those contracts are expiring or have expired because it was a one-year contract.
“The problem with having any kind of legislative threat to force them into a negotiation is – ‘okay, well, if they’re going to force us...’ I’m talking freely now in terms of how they might actually react. I don’t know how they’ll react.”
She cited Meta’s withdrawal from the Canadian news industry this week – it now prevents any news links from being posted to Facebook. That follows a legislative change to force the likes of Meta to pay for news.
“Google and Facebook have decided that their business is actually not news,” says Lee.
“And so they have removed it. If the media companies have actually benefited as a result of having a deal with both Facebook and Google in the last year, does the threat of legislation literally take that potential benefit away from private deals that they’ve made for them to actually continue? That really worries me.
“I think having a government over a platform’s head going ‘you negotiate and pay money or else’ seems like a big, giant sledgehammer. That is not necessary.”
She reiterates that if Meta and Facebook monetise media companies’ news content, “they need to pay for it”. But then said: “I’m talking about if I post your story on my Facebook, why does Facebook have to pay for me doing that?”
There are reasons why Meta would benefit from that, including commercialisation, engagement and data collection.
Lee also seems rather starry-eyed about Google helping regional newsrooms with the likes of online training – this is little more than a PR exercise by the digital giants.
Media businesses like NZME– who, along with Stuff, is one of the two of the biggest investors in regional journalism – already have well-established training and development programmes in place.
“I’m not suggesting I’m pro-platforms, and anti-news,” says Lee. “What I’m saying is that if platforms are actually monetised, they should pay for it and my position hasn’t changed.”
News Publishers Association (NPA) general manager Brook Cameron said Lee’s comments were “alarming”.
She said they echoed “the objections the digital giants have used around the world to avoid paying news publishers for news content the platforms have used to build businesses of unprecedented scale”.
“While we haven’t seen the detail of the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill, NPA is a strong advocate for legislation that will help address the bargaining power imbalance that exists between publishers and the biggest companies in the world and compel them to provide fair payment for the news content they use to grow their businesses,” Cameron said.
“This is even more important in the era of Generative AI, where these large companies have already used news media companies’ high-quality journalism to train their large language models without the knowledge or consent of publishers, and to produce commercial products that extract the essence and value of that work without compensation.”
Cameron said the Australian News Media Bargaining Code had been extremely effective in securing fair payment for the entire industry; the NPA was supportive of similar legislation being introduced here.
“Far from jeopardising deals between Google, Meta and local publishers, the legislation would secure the long-term future of the industry and reduce the need for taxpayer-funded journalism. A strong and stable fourth estate is critical to a well-functioning democracy.
“It is worth noting that in Canada this week, where similar legislation has been passed, Meta has announced it will permanently block access to news through its platforms. This willingness to deprive its millions of users of high-quality, accurate and balanced information rather than pay a fair price demonstrates the kind of abuse of market power that is exactly why this legislation is so important.”
NZME, publisher of the NZ Herald, said it was supportive of legislation requiring global digital platforms to pay New Zealand news media to publish their news online to help ensure sustainability of media.
“We believe it’s more important than ever, given the fact generative AI organisations are now using our copyrighted material,” said chief executive Michael Boggs. “Despite having reached our own independent agreements with both Google and Meta, we welcome the legislation as it will make it a requirement for action to be taken by global giants, which can only be a good thing for our audiences and the wider industry.”
A spokesman for National Party leader Christopher Luxon said: “As we have not seen any legislation, caucus has not had a chance to discuss its position.”
Lee says she’s well across the challenges facing publicly- and privately-owned media businesses.
“The advent of the internet and convergence meant that the media has changed quite a bit from when I was a newspaper reporter going back many moons ago.
“People consume media in a very different way, people consume news in a very different way. My mother does not pick up the newspaper any more. She’s on the net, right? She doesn’t watch terrestrial television. She gets it on her little screen, an iPad that I bought for her years ago. And she still uses it to access online. For news, whether it’s overseas news or local news, she doesn’t go to the TV to watch the news any more, and she’s in her 80s.
“I think there is a way forward but I don’t believe that it is the Government that has to pay for it all.”
Oh, the joys of technology. Call this the ultimate mute-button mishap.
William Shatner has reached space in a rocket ship – and, of course, starred as Captain James Kirk in Star Trek over the course of a stellar acting career.
But modern technology almost got the better of him as a keynote speaker at the Advertising Week conference in Sydney, as he was scheduled to appear as a hologram on stage.
Unfortunately, while Shatner’s body beamed in, and he merrily chatted away for a minute or two, no one could hear him.
Meta senior leader Catherine Bowe did a sterling job on stage, as the audience waited 10 minutes for the technology to come right.
“We might be moving to a Zoom call,” she said at one point.
Eventually, Shatner, 92, beamed in again, voice now activated, and spoke at length about his venture to space and some of the technology and sustainability projects he’s across.
The view out the window of his Blue Origin spacecraft in October 2021 was something only 600 people have previously seen, he said. It gave him a new perspective and the most profound experience.
“We are at a moment of risk in our world. It’s up to us but especially powerful people in advertising,” he told the audience.
“Advertising is such a weapon of making people do things, of behaviour. We have learned in advertising how to excite and intimidate and persuade people to do what we want them to do ... we have to get them to do the things that are right.
“I am appearing to you 7000 miles away and there’s just this little lag. To all intents and purposes, I’m there, I’m beaming in. Advertising is an inordinately powerful weapon both to satisfy your company’s wills but also take responsibility.”
Shatner’s comments came at an opportune time for the local advertising industry, which today officially launches its Ad Net Zero initiative.
While the haka stirs up emotions, the same can’t be said for a new Australian rugby advertisement campaign featuring Wallabies coach Eddie Jones.
The concept itself – playing on the public’s belief that the Aussies have no chance of winning the Rugby World Cup – is sound enough and has the potential to be funny, but the execution and acting fall about as flat as Wallabies halfback Tate McDermott when he was nailed by Scott Barrett in the first two minutes of last week’s test.
Judge for yourself:
Meanwhile, one of our creative geniuses at NZME urged me to watch this new Blunt Umbrellas ad yesterday.
I have to agree with him, it’s a stunner. Congratulations to everyone involved.
It was reportedly shot in one-take, which is amazing in itself.
Thinkerbell NZ chief tinker Regan Grafton told Campaign Brief the ad, shot on Auckland’s waterfront, was a cool mix of science, tech and art: “We were tasked with capturing the engineered joy of a Blunt, and we believe this does just that.”
And to give credit, where credit is due: client: Blunt Umbrellas; creative agency: Thinkerbell Aotearoa; production company: Reel Factory; director: Dan (Maxy) Max; choreography: Josh Cesan, Identity Dance Company; music composition: Goodboy; MusicVFX: Leon Senf.
Last week, we featured the respective chief press secretaries for Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and National leader Christopher Luxon, Andrew Campbell and Hamish Rutherford.
The smaller parties generally operate as media teams, with a wide range of experience. Senior political editors and reporters will often deal directly with leaders and MPs.
Those party leaders tend to have more freedom, and perhaps time, to deal with the media. The likes of David Seymour and Winston Peters have had years of experience dealing with live interviews and door-stepping journalists – and play to a constituency. They tend to make more provocative statements including punchy one-liners.
The Act Party lost who many consider a parliamentary communication genius, Rachel Morton. Widely popular and knowledgeable, she has moved to Auckland to take up the role of head of communications for Air New Zealand.
In her place is Matt Ball, who might find the world of politics calmer than his previous job – 10 years at the Ports of Auckland as its head of communications, up until a year ago. He will perhaps appreciate that his new boss, Seymour, is more media-savvy than the former ports management. He is by all accounts a strong strategist.
Before she left, Morton brought in Simon Clarke as senior press secretary in March 2022. He has subsequently stepped up to be chief press secretary. Clarke is diligent and responsive, say insiders, and uses Act’s “formidable research unit to dig up lots on government”.
The Greens have the respected Danny Stevens as their director of communications – he has strong relationships with the press gallery, is more relaxed and self-effacing than many others.
Respected in her own right, Greens press secretary Pearl Little is considered a rising star. She managed Tory Whanau’s successful 2022 Wellington mayoral campaign while she was Golriz Ghahraman’s executive assistant at Parliament. Considered smart with good instincts, she comes from great journalistic stock, her mother Wendyl Nissen and father Paul Little are two of New Zealand’s best writers and editors.
Te Pāti Māori rely on Himiona Grace and clinical psychologist Kiri Tamihere – wife of leader Rawiri Waititi and daughter of John Tamihere – for their comms.
Grace is approachable, speaks te reo and has good knowledge of te ao Māori, according to insiders. He works to soften the sometimes-combative relationship the party has with mainstream media.
Tamihere is more forthright and has been known to stop pressers if she doesn’t like a line of questioning, perhaps – according to one insider – a reflection of her distrust of mainstream media.
And while Winston Peters is the go-to person, as per usual, for New Zealand First, they have been using one of their former MPs, Darroch Ball, for some PR work. But he has remained very much in the background.
This week, we message Duncan Greive, owner and founder of The Spinoff.
Many in the New Zealand media industry are in mourning again.
Sri Krishnamurthi, a mate since my early years of journalism in Wellington, died this week, aged just 60.
A friend to many, he is best known in the journalism industry for his long-time stint at NZPA covering sport, and more recently for his work with the Pacific Media Centre.
During his NZPA career, he covered various international rugby tours of New Zealand, America’s Cups, cricket tours, the Warriors in the NRL and was also among a handful of reporters who travelled to Mexico in 1999 for the All Whites’ first-ever appearance at Fifa’s Confederations Cup.
Prior to working at NZPA, he worked in Fiji and travelled to New Zealand to cover the 1987 Rugby World Cup.
One of his career and life highlights was travelling to Ruatōria for the 1999 Third Division final between East Coast and Poverty Bay; a trip which saw him fall in love with the East Coast and its people and led to many more road trips to the isolated region.
“Several seasons later when the province was struggling on the field, a local rugby official told supporters he had signed a 7-foot lock from Fiji to add height to the lineout, only then to introduce them to the rather more diminutive in stature Krishnamurthi,” reports long-time friend, NZ Herald senior journalist Neil Reid.
In 2018, Sri was named the Pacific Media Centre’s NZ Institute for Pacific Research journalist.
Sri was a student in the Postgraduate Diploma in Communications (Digital Media) course at AUT at the time. He also had an MBA from Massey University.
“The media landscape has changed with the advent of the digital age, but the fundamentals of working as a journalist, a public relations practitioner, or in communications, require the same inherent skills they always have – albeit with some enhancements,” he told the Pacific Media Centre in 2018.
“This opportunity with the Pacific Media Centre and its partnership with the NZ Institute for Pacific Research is going to allow me to unearth a treasure trove of studies being done in the Pacific region by a range of exceptional academics and others, and to communicate that work to a much wider audience.”
Sri will be farewelled today (Friday) at Ann’s Funeral Home, 11c Bolderwood Pl, Wiri, from 3pm.
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