Te Pāti Māori ‘will no longer engage’ with NZ Herald after Hobson’s Pledge ad

Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Te Pāti Māori says it “will no longer engage” with the New Zealand Herald after the newspaper published a front-page advertisement bought by lobby group Hobson’s Pledge.

The ad, published on August 7, called to restore “the foreshore and seabed to public ownership”.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said the Herald had been “bought off by a well-resourced anti-Māori collective”.

“We will not tolerate the spread of anti-Māori propaganda in Aotearoa. The frontpage advertisement was full of deceitful misinformation designed to sow resentment of our people,” Waititi said in a statement.

Te Pāti Māori said it wouldn’t engage with the Herald unless it and its owner NZME made an apology to tangata whenua in all publications and on its radio stations. The company’s stations include Newstalk ZB, ZM, Flava and the Hits.

The party also called for the company’s advertising standards to be reviewed, for a process qualifying information as correct to be included in those standards, and for the adoption of a “robust plan and commitment to the protection of tangata whenua”.

A spokesperson for NZME said the company was keenly aware of its obligations as a publisher and broadcaster, “including in respect of legislation and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) codes”.

“Advertising responsibility sits with NZME’s commercial team and is separate to NZ Herald editorial. The content is a paid ad from an independent advertiser and is clearly labelled as so. There are thousands of ads placed across our platforms every week and publishing an ad is in no way NZME’s endorsement of the advertised message, products, services or other. We’re reviewing our processes and policies around advocacy advertising,” the spokesperson said.

Kawea Te Rongo, the Independent Māori Journalists Association, said on Thursday the ad promoted a “false narrative that the foreshore and seabed is owned by Māori”.

“This area of land has never been publicly owned,” Kawea Te Rongo co-chair Māni Dunlop said.