Building bridges for the ethnic communities

Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending and speaking at the NZ On Air Ethnic Diversity broadcasting forum - a future projection of what New Zealand will look like in the year 2020 and how media could reflect this.

The forum provided lively debate about the portrayal of ethnic communities in media stories today and in the future.

As you can imagine, after 12 years in politics I have seen both the benefits and the pitfalls of the media's intentions when it comes to covering "ethnic" stories because of my ethnicity.

Collective identity is an issue that affects all ethnic New Zealanders when stories relating to their communities make the media.

The use of the word "Asian" or "African" or "Indian" gives the impression that one person of that ethnicity is speaking on behalf of their entire community.

However, more often than not this is not the case because like all New Zealanders, members of our ethnic communities have individual thoughts and views on issues.

The media argument to the use of collective identity is that they wouldn't have to do this if ethnic communities would speak up and were available to be interviewed on issues important to them.

But this tends to be a chicken and egg issue because individuals of ethnic communities often shy away from making public comments because they would be portrayed as a representative for the entire community, which they know is not the case.

I have a vision of a New Zealand where our ethnic communities are treated with the same recognition and understanding as "mainstream" cultures by the media.

This can only happen when there is trust, recognition and understanding between the media and the ethnic communities - with each investing time to build strong relationships.

I look forward to the day where ethnic New Zealanders can feel like they have the same recognition and understanding as "mainstream" cultures by the media and I am determined to keep building the bridge of mutual respect. I hope you will join me.

As Minister for Ethnic Affairs I am committed to ensuring that the bridge between government and ethnic communities remains strong and that it is extended to other facets of society, including the media.