Under the ethics of journalism, Mike Hosking was given a job to present objective discourse but ended up denigrating people of African descent in one of his morning talk shows. While this cannot be argued to be a one-off statement or statements made in error, a repeated pattern has been observed in Mike’s derogatory use of the words “Sub-Saharan Africa”. Members of the African community have raised several complaints to the ACCW Board about this pattern of behaviour.
This complaint arose from the discriminatory statement by Mike Hoskings on Live Radio NewstalkZB in company of invited guests Labour Party MP and Cabinet Minister Megan Woods at approximately 8:15am Wednesday morning on 17 May 2023. During this time, Mike Hosking made the comment “no, no, no, don’t find some sub-Saharan African country that’s useless then comparing us to them”. A recording of this statement is available at (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-demand/week-on-demand/). When this statement was made, there was laughter in the radio studio heard across homes, vehicles, offices, gas stations, farms, parliament, courts, security stations, ships etc in New Zealand. This context of the discussion in the radio studio centered on the low literacy and numeracy rates in New Zealand compared to other countries in a recent education report.
Within less than a week on 23 May, Mr Hosking again on the same platform made the following comments in an exchange with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on the apparent rise in ram raids: “No, no, I’m not interested in anywhere else in the world. I’m not interested in some sub-Saharan African country you can quote”. A recording of this statement is also available at (https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-demand/week-on-demand/)
The process for making complaints is outlined on the BSA webpage (https://www.bsa.govt.nz/broadcasting-standards/broadcasting-code-book-2022/the-codebook/). We hope all complaints can reach the Broadcaster within 20 days of publishing this content over the radio. Below is the courier sent along with the complaint.
The ACCW Board has taken the first steps towards addressing this wrong done to our community and we are calling on all Africans in Aotearoa and friends of Africa to begin submitting similar complaints using the template below. Multiple complaints will go a long way in increasing the weight of this complaint. We are also exploring other avenues such as the Broadcasting Standard Authority (BSA) and formal petition to New Zealand Parliament for review of The Broadcasting Act to strengthen actions against such behaviour.
After making a submission, please share a copy to info@africancommunity.org.nz for collation and further action as deemed necessary until a resolution is achieved. As we await response from NZME Radio Limited, do share this complaint processes above widely as everyone has a right to seek redress for all wrong under New Zealand law.
If you are impacted by this statement, Reach Out Counselling has offered to provide free counselling sessions (https://reachoutcounselling.com). We are grateful for this kind gesture from Reach Out Counselling.