(Open Letter to the Minister of Broadcasting)
Dear Mr. Faafoi,
I am writing to complain about the Radio New Zealand Concert programme
announcer, Nick Tipping. On the 18th of May 2020, I happened to mention
in a text to his workplace that I had been spat at by two Maoris on
the same day. He replied at 12:45 as follows:
"My name is Nick Tipping, and I don't stand for that kind
of racist comment."
It was bad enough being spat at by the two Maori
men (and the full story is even worse than that) but I am writing to
complain that Mr. Tipping is a racist, thinks that Maori men are quite
right to spit at other men and uses his position at Radio New Zealand
to abuse members of the public.
You may say that I should complain to the Broadcasting Standards Authority,
but the BSA is a racist organisation. On any matter involving Maoris
it simply asks the Maoris what they think and adopts that as its decision
on the matter. I have found that to be the case in the past with
regard to the pronunciation in Maori of words of English origin.
As you know, Broadcasters -- when speaking English -- pronounce words
of Maori origin as if they were Maori words, but -- when speaking Maori
-- pronounce words of English origin as if they were Maori words. The
BSA rejected my complaint about this racist double standard.
Could you please state whether you think it is acceptable for Tipping
to behave in this manner?
I would also like to complain that I asked the broadcaster, Shona
Journasse (if that is how she spells her name), today by text what the
origin of her name was, but she did not reply. I consider that to be
rude and discriminatory on her part. I have been unable to find any
mention of her on the Radio New Zealand website and I am interested
in ethnic origins because I speak several languages and have lived in
many countries.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Zohrab
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