Publications
Talking to Ethnic Communities
In May the Third Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue was held in Waitangi. Opened by the New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, the conference was attended by senior officials from 15 South East Asian and South Pacific countries including the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.
One of the topics discussed by conference delegates was the United Nations’ Alliance of Civilisations initiative. Launched by the UN’s Secretary-General in 2005, this initiative’s purpose is to spur collective action amongst different nations in order to combat extremism and reduce tensions between societies with differing religious and cultural values and to overcome cultural and social barriers between mainly the Western and Muslim worlds.
The Alliance formed a High Level Group which presented its report to those at the Interfaith Dialogue. This report has a number of recommendations including: better training in intercultural understanding for journalists; developing media campaigns to combat discrimination; and, working to increase the number of youth exchanges and youth-orientated websites that “speak in constructive ways about the challenges facing young people today.”
The inclusion of media-related recommendations is indicative of the understanding of the important part that media plays in improving communication between cultures, and equally that all cultures have a right to be treated fairly by media. However, the media and the organisations in it are not always good at responding to the needs of various ethnicities and some organisations are looking at how they can do better in this area.
One such organisation is the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA). The BSA is actively working to improve understanding about the media among ethnic minorities.
The BSA’s job is to approve codes of broadcasting practice and run a public complaints system. The BSA adjudicates on complaints from members of the public after they have already complained to the broadcaster and been dissatisfied with the response.
Last year the BSA appointed a community advisory panel made up of ten members from different backgrounds, ages and ethnicities. The panel is not involved in the complaints / decision-making process but has the role of giving the BSA advice and feedback about wider issues relevant to the community.
The BSA wants a greater two-way dialogue with ethnic communities to find out what issues are most relevant to them when it comes to what they see on television and hear on the radio.
For example, the panel were asked for their views on last year’s South Park ‘Bloody Mary’ episode which generated 35 individual complaints about good taste and decency and denigration.
The panel has representatives from the Maori, Samoan, Pakeha, Chinese and Indian communities, and members include a retired school principal, an environmental planner, a student and a carpenter.
One of the community advisory panel’s goals is to raise awareness amongst ethnic communities of the broadcasting standards complaints system and about some of the protections available, such as television classifications. It has begun work to do this through a series of articles specifically targeting these audiences.
The BSA believes that this kind of two-way education process is critical at a time when the number and diversity of cultures in New Zealand continues to grow and national identity becomes an increasingly important topic, as evidenced by the high profile media coverage of the recent Interfaith Dialogue.
For more information visit:
www.bsa.govt.nz or email info@bsa.govt.nz
or telephone the Infoline on 0800 366 996.