KEY POINTS:
I can't help feeling a bit of sympathy for Rick Ellis.
There he was, appearing before the Maori Affairs select committee, defending TVNZ's interpretation of its charter that requires the state broadcaster to deliver shows directed specifically at Maori issues and to ensure Maori are represented in other programmes. As examples of fulfilling the charter, he cited Game of Two Halves, Shortland Street, Ten Years Younger and Police 10-7.
The looks on the faces of the members of the select committee were priceless, before they erupted.
His interpretation of the charter prompted Helen Clark to recommend Ellis take a course in intercultural understanding, and perhaps that might be a good idea because, in a round of interviews undertaken by Ellis as part of damage control, he showed an absolute chasm between what he understands delivering the charter to mean and what the policymakers intended when they established it.
Bit like the Treaty, really. That has been subjected to numerous different readings, with different parties claiming theirs is the only true definition - and now it appears TVNZ's charter is being fudged as well.
It seems, too, that Ellis has never actually seen some of the programmes he cited from the list prepared by a lackey who may or may not still be working with him.
When asked why he'd included Police 10-7, he said in hindsight that might have been a poor choice, and when asked if there were Maori presenters on Police 10-7, he said he didn't know. What a very bad day at the office.
But the Government has to take some of the flak here. It demands that TVNZ turn a profit and that it has Maori programmes specifically directed to Maori issues - and really, it's very hard to have both. That's why most countries have advertising-free channels to include programmes that are worthwhile but unlikely to be attractive to advertisers.
I had the pleasure of working for Maori TV earlier this year, and I don't know why the Government doesn't just hand over all funding for Maori programmes to it.
This is a television station that gets it. Working for it was magic, and reminded me of television in the glory days - when people believed in the product and felt a responsibility to the viewers.
Many of its shows have a unique perspective - Native Affairs, Te Tepu - and you are not going to find that on mainstream TV.
Interestingly, a few of my callers who were dead against the establishment of Maori TV had the grace to phone a year down the track to say that they'd turned on the channel and had become converts. Perhaps Ellis should stick to scheduling reality shows, and Maori TV should be left to do what it does best: delivering quality shows from a Maori perspective that all of us can enjoy.
