By Layla Bailey-McDowell, Māori News Journalist, RNZ
Kawea te Rongo, the Māori Journalists' Association, say it is shocked at The New Zealand Herald's recent front page advertisement from Hobson's Pledge.
The association said the ad, which featured in the Herald's newspaper edition on August 7, asserted that the foreshore and seabed must be restored to public ownership.
The statement perpetuated racist rhetoric and promoted the false narrative that the foreshore and seabed was owned by Māori, Kawea te Rongo said.
"This area of land has never been publicly owned, so the statement is also factually incorrect."
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told RNZ it had received multiple complaints regarding the publication, and was working through its complaints process.
Meanwhile, Kawea te Rongo called for NZME to formally apologise to their organisation's kaimahi Māori, contributors, advertisers and audience, saying the organisation should review its advertising standards policies.
The group's co-chairpeople, Ripeka Timutimu and Māni Dunlop, said it was an irresponsible move, fuelling an already tense narrative regarding Te Tiriti O Waitangi and race relations in Aotearoa.
"Seeing the newspaper yesterday, felt like deja vu and as if we had been transported back to the archaic views of the Kiwi vs iwi debate in the early 2000s," Dunlop said.
Timutimu said the advertisement perpetuated misinformation.
"Although we are fully aware that commercial media need to pay the bills, taking money from these organisations isn't the answer."
Kawea Te Rongo said Hobson's Pledge was an organisation known for its controversial stance against Māori claims to the foreshore and seabed and it had used the platform to further its agenda.
"This ad's placement is seen as a deliberate attempt to sway public opinion against Māori interests, casting aside the principles of equity and partnership enshrined in the Treaty."
Kawea Te Rongo said it was concerned for the Herald's Māori journalists and had reached out to them to offer support.
"We hope the employer is providing them with the right support and is offering them assurances they need, to feel safe and valued in their workplace."
In a statement to RNZ, an NZME spokesperson said the content was clearly labelled as a paid advertisement.
"There are several thousand advertisements placed across NZME's platforms every week and publishing an advertisement is in no way NZME's endorsement of the advertised message, products, services or other."
Advertising responsibility sits with NZME's commercial team and is separate to the Herald's editorial team, they said.
