24 Mar 2014

Call for agency to only fund Te Reo TV

6:32 am on 24 March 2014

Former cabinet minister Koro Wetere is calling on the Maori broadcasting funding agency to only allocate money to total Maori immersion programmes.

Koro Wētere.

Koro Wētere. Photo: RNZ

Te Mangai Paho provides funding for Maori and bilingual television programmes, such as The GC.

Mr Wetere says the agency appears to be allocating money for programmes with a high English language content.

He says it seems Maori Television is also producing a high percentage of programmes with Pakeha content. Mr Wetere believes that needs to change.

He says Te Mangai Paho funding should only allocate te reo Maori programmes because there are other funds available for English programmes.

Last month, Mr Wetere lobbied the Government to delay progress on its strategy to help keep te reo Maori alive, arguing it's flawed and needs work.

He issued a submission outlining his opinions before the cut off date on 28 February.