A letter to the editor which claimed Māori were overwhelmed by a 'stronger race' should not have been published in the Dominion Post, the newspaper's editor Anna Fifield says.
Dominion Post editor Anna Fifield. Photo: Supplied/Anna Fifield
Stuff, which owns the Dominion Post, last week publicly apologised for perpetuating racist narratives about tangata whenua dating back more than 160 years.
It admitted to contributing to stigma, marginalisation and stereotypes against Māori.
However, just over a week on from this apology, one of its flagship newspapers The Dominion Post published a letter to the editor, Reporting mea culpa which said "Māori were overwhelmed by a stronger race" and claiming the "destruction of the Morioris by Māori".
The latter is unfounded - Moriori continue to live on the Chatham Islands/Rēkohu to this day and signed their Treaty Settlement in February this year.
Dominion Post editor Anna Fifield told Midday Report she took full responsibility for the letter being published and she would try to do better.
"We will make mistakes along the way and we absolutely want to be held accountable for them and I think that is what is happening now."
While Fifield did not go so far as to say publishing the letter was a mistake, she did accept that on reflection it should not have been published, saying "it doesn't contribute to the debate".
"It's a very fine line to straddle in terms of promoting freedom of expression and a range of views on the letter to the editor page and balancing that with our mission to be an inclusive media company and to be reflective of our bicultural nature as a country."
AUT director of Māori advancement and associate professor Ella Henry said the letter reflected white supremacist views.
She said the assumption Māori were "overcome by a superior race" denied the historical facts that the settler governments used "lies and massacres to take control of our resources".
However, she backed the decision by The Dominion Post to publish the letter.
"Our media does need to reflect the diversity of voices but also to then make an editorial statement saying that we don't agree with this person - but they have a right to voice and we apologise if anyone is offended by what essentially amounts in 2020 as hate-speech."
Henry said there was a small minority in the country which held these white supremacist views, and they needed to be published so a debate about them could be had.
"I'm not saying that we're ever going to truly ... expunge every element of racism and sexism, but the fact that as a nation we're mature enough to talk about it and own up to it and to understand that these conversations are what make us a better nation, not hiding them.
"I would like to think that in the future and moving forward, that voice - that deeply racist voice - will diminish and we can measure that to some degree by how much those voices respond in editorials to newspapers.
"I would hate to see editorial decisions being used to silence or extinguish any voice in the community but obviously with that right comes the responsibility and the responsibility is to articulate 'this is a view of the reader, it is not the view of the paper' or 'it is not the view of most right-thinking New Zealanders'."
