RESEARCH AND REPORTS NGĀ RANGAHAU ME NGĀ PŪRONGO

Attitudes Towards Good Taste and Decency in Broadcasting among Māori, 2001

 


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Date published
:  2001

Research Company:  Colmar Brunton Research

Scope

  • Māori and Pacific peoples were interviewed on the attitudes towards language and the portrayal of sex and nudity
  • Methodology
  • Conducted between January and February 2001 with a margin of error of ±5.6%
  • Questionnaire contained the same questions used in a national survey of the general population conducted in 1999
  • Face-to-face interview in 310 Māori and 310 Pacific peoples’ homes

Results

  • Māori attitudes towards good taste and decency in broadcasting follow those observed in the general population
  • Ranking of 22 offensive words is similar to the ranking of the same words by 1,000 New Zealanders in the 1999 survey
  • ‘Cunt’, ‘motherfucker’, ‘nigger’, and ‘fuck’ were judged unacceptable by a majority of Māori
  • Māori women find the use of swear words and expletives more unacceptable than Māori men
  • The time when a television programme containing sex and nudity was broadcast – found to be the overriding consideration for Māori
  • Screening of sex and nudity before the 8:30pm watershed – judged unacceptable by Māori  
  • Portrayal of nudity in the medical context – overwhelmingly accepted
  • A man and woman passionately kissing also acceptable
  • Screening of homosexual sex was judged unacceptable by just under two-thirds of Māori participating in the research
  • Māori men found to be more accepting of portrayal of sex and nudity, than Māori women
  • Levels of unacceptability increased with the age of Maori respondents which was similar with the general population
  • Younger age groups found to be more permissive than older age groups
  • Gender and age breakdowns showed similar patterns to the 1999 survey of the general population