Boy, Oh Boy!: An interview with Taika Waititi

An Interview with Taika Waititi

In search of the audience

We all are members of media audiences. On many occasions, we are self-consciously so – such as when we sit in darkness in a cinema, transfixed by a larger-than-life screen, sharing the experience with a group of relative strangers. More frequently, we are part of an audience through habit or circumstance. Much of our media use is habitual. We are often barely aware of it. We scan the morning newspaper, half-listen to the car radio or iPod on the journey to work or university, glance at billboards, check online daily news updates, glance at the evening news bulletin – all this happens amidst the clutter of domestic life and regular patterns of work and leisure

Children, the media and COVID-19: doing research in difficult times

After a series of cautionary measures, New Zealand went into full lock-down (Level 4) in response to COVID-19 on March 25, 2020. In the often-repeated words of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, ‘We went early and we went hard’. All forms of education retreated to virtual spaces and for the youngest students, learning was complemented by a new educational TV channel on Television New Zealand. For www.parenting.digital, Dr Geoff Lealand talks about the challenges of doing research during the COVID-19 lockdown and how children’s media played an important role for children living through a global crisis

What anniversary? New Zealand “Celebrates” fifty years of television

The first official transmission beyond experimentation began on 1 June 1960. As a consequence, this became a very significant date in New Zealand television history, marking the fiftieth anniversary of its introduction, the celebration of which is primary focus of this chapter. However, it is important to put this history in context, given that the late arrival of television had a persistent influence on the structure and purpose of the medium in New Zealand

Media studies in New Zealand schools and universities: a research study

This report describes the outcome of research conducted between January and December 2008. It draws on research done in 2006, which sought to investigate media teaching developments in the secondary sector (NCEA Media Studies, in particular), and the possible consequences for media teaching (Media Studies, in particular) in the tertiary sector. The 2008 research exercise was designed to extend and expand the information gathered in the 2006 research exercise, by focusing more closely on what is happening in New Zealand classrooms, in respect of NCEA Media Studies. The emphasis in the 2008 research is on the content and delivery of Media Studies Achievement Studies, and the consequences for students, with such prior knowledge, when they encounter first year Media Studies courses in New Zealand tertiary institutions

Beyond "quality television": the medium in other parts of the world

In a context in which cultural and industrial globalization is increasingly presented as a complex and paradoxical process whose main characteristic seems to be the tension and struggle between the local and the global, this discussion between experts in television from different parts of the world seeks to expand the geographical horizons of what we are talking about when we talk about production, distribution and reception of series of television to help us rethink the medium beyond the frontiers of «quality television»

SPECIAL REPORT: Still young and female: A (modest) survey of New Zealand journalists: Research report

Modelled on earlier national surveys of 1987 and 1994, this 2003 survey polled New Zealand journalists on their educational background, formal training, experiences on the job and professional development. Even though the returns (297) were fewer than expected, those participating provided useful insights into the profession. Participants responded to questions about changing aspects of journalism (such as the impact of the internet, and the consequences of commercial pressures on newsgathernig), which are compared with American journalists responding to the same questions. They also responded to questions about the use of te reo language and coverage of Maori news and issues. Despite the contraints of the same size, there is ample evidence in this survey to show young New Zealand journalists take their profession seriously, and demonstrate a willingness to address the imperfections and shortcomings of the Fourth Estate