Maori news show aims to deliver bite

Willie Jackson says: 'We're trying to have a bit of fun and point out a few anomalies .... It might upset a few of our old traditionalists .'' He's with Tame Iti's son Toi, left, and Carol Hirschfeld.

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If broadcaster Willie Jackson wasn't driving, he would be rubbing his hands.

From tomorrow, Jackson will get stuck into the mainstream media's treatment of Maori when he hosts a four-part TV pilot, NewsBites – and his first target is TVNZ's motor-mouth breakfast host Paul Henry.

Talking to the Sunday Star-Times (on his hands-free phone), Jackson said Henry was "always having a crack at things Maori". And not just things Maori – "Paul seems to get away with a heck of a lot".

The news review show, screening on Maori Television, is Carol Hirschfeld's first series since becoming Maori TV's executive producer. It is co-written by her husband Finlay Macdonald and Eating Media Lunch producer Paul Casserly.

Jackson said it would be an "edgier" experience than other Maori current affairs programmes – including TVNZ's Marae. "We're trying to have a bit of fun and point out a few anomalies... It might upset a few of our old traditionalists and fundamentalists."

Toi Iti, the actor son of Maori rights activist Tame Iti, will perform a satirical piece playing a conflicted half-Maori, half-Pakeha character who sees the news from both perspectives. Toi Iti is a producer and researcher for Maori Television, and used to work with Jackson on Radio Waatea.

Jackson will do an in-depth interview with a newsmaker of the week, starting with Pita Sharples – "His first extensive interview since the Hone [Harawira] carry-on", says Jackson. He will ask Sharples about the Maori Party's relationship with the National Party – if they're too "buddy-buddy" with John Key.

Key will be interviewed just before New Year's Day about his views on the big events of 2009, including Barack Obama's inauguration, the death of Michael Jackson, the Susan Boyle phenomenon, the All Whites World Cup triumph, the Samoan tsunami tragedy and the death of Sir Howard Morrison.

Willie Jackson's NewsBites, a four-part pilot, screens Mondays, 9.30pm, December 7-28, on Maori Television.

- © Fairfax NZ News