Groundbreaking Journalist Becomes First Person With A Maori Face Tattoo To Present Primetime News

Dec 30, 2021 by apost team

Oriini Kaipara, a journalist from New Zealand, made history in December 2021. The 37-year-old became the first-ever person to present the primetime news with a moko kauae, a Māori face tattoo, after she filled in for the show’s usual hosts.

This isn’t the first time Kaipara has been in the headlines. In 2019, the groundbreaking journalist made history as the first woman with a moko kauae to anchor a mainstream news report.

It’s an important moment for a country that has continually marginalized its indigenous people in the media and beyond.

“It's definitely a step forward, and a step-up. If there was a goal for me, it would be anchoring prime time news, and that's happened,” Kaipara told Stuff in December.

“We’ve got a good team at Newshub, I don't feel the pressure as much as I used to when I first started out in journalism. But that comes with doing the hard yards, and then actually realizing it and doing it is really exciting.”

Kaipara has had the chin tattoo for nearly three years. When the British colonized New Zealand in the 1800s, the practice of moko kauae became less and less popular, according to Vice. However, it has seen a resurgence in the past couple of years. In 2016, Nanaia Mahuta became the first member of parliament to wear the sacred tattoo. Today, Mahuta is the country’s foreign minister.

Vice further reports that the Māori believe that “every Māori woman wears a moko on the inside, close to their heart.” The tattoo is, then, a “physical manifestation of their true identity,” which the artist brings to the surface.

"There was a huge amount of pride from other Māori women," Mahuta said of wearing her moko kauae in parliament. "It's been an interesting thing. People look at you differently. It's a cultural marker, and it says clearly when I'm sitting round a table that I do represent a certain way of thinking."

Kaipara echoed some of Mahuta’s thoughts in her interview with Stuff.

“I'm very much aware that I'm the first (with moko kauae) to anchor a six o'clock primetime news bulletin,” Kaipara said.

“That is always at the back of my mind, that every step I make is like breaking through a glass ceiling.

“It's breaking new ground for us as Māori, but also for people of color. Whether you've got a moko kauae or not.”

Other Māori women are also reshaping New Zealand’s media landscape. In Sept. 2021, The Guardian ran a story profiling Māori women who speak their indigenous language, te reo, while working in broadcast media.

Māni Dunlop, another intrepid journalist like Kaipara, presents RNZ’s Midday Report Te Pūrongo o te Poutūtanga. She is the first Māori presenter on a national radio broadcaster to host a weekday news show. Dunlop told The Guardian that early on in her career, she would encounter pushback when she wanted to sign off by speaking te reo or when she wanted to call Auckland by its Māori name.

However, things have begun to change. 

“RNZ has come leaps and bounds since then,” Dunlop said.

Audiences have also become more open to Dunlop’s emphasis on reporting with a Māori perspective.

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“Some people find that quite hard, which is indicative in the responses I get, but since I first started as a presenter, the feedback has become better and better. You can’t always preach to the choir,” Dunlop explained.

Kaipara also spoke to the importance of approaching the news from a Māori perspective.

“I've been realizing for a while that it's much bigger than just reading the news, or doing stories that matter to all of us. It's also a big win for this generation and the next 10 generations — don't let identity or your culture hold you back from anything. In fact, you use it as your power, to be greater and do great things for everyone.”

“This morning someone said that watching (me) is uplifting in the sense that it makes them feel proud to be Māori first and foremost,” Kaipara added.

“Small things like saying Māori place names and leading with the Māori name first, like Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland. Just hearing any little bit of Māori actually lifts them.”

According to The Guardian, New Zealand’s Broadcastings Standards Authority made an announcement this year that it would not accept any complaints about the use of Māori. What’s more, Stuff, the largest news website in the country, issued an apology for its coverage of the Māori and conducted an investigation into its history of racism against indigenous New Zealanders.

Carmen Parahi of Stuff’s Māori division worked to implement those changes.

“Aotearoa (the Māori name for New Zealand)  is a multicultural country. It has a bi-cultural foundation. Media organizations need to represent that better. That includes mainstream media uplifting Māori media, so they don’t just languish,” Parahi said.

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