Auckland University of Technology director of diversity Professor Edwina Pio has made a presentation on diversity and the media to New Zealand Herald staff at their NZME headquarters in Auckland.

Dr Pio spoke about how New Zealand as a country based on “heritage, shape-shifting and transformative” possibilities.

She urged New Zealand’s largest media organisation to use its communication power wisely as it created powerful narratives for readers, asking the audience to reflect on how Aotearoa New Zealand was reported.

She emphasised that for the media, every encounter mattered, and that stories must reflect the vast range of voices in the country.

“Top editors matter in many ways. However, research has indicated that non-white top editors in countries like Germany and the UK were zero percent, despite large ethnic populations in these countries,” she said.

“Additionally, many newsroom boards had low or no diversity.”

Her recommendations included the need for systemic diversity beyond policy lurches and the importance of being “compassionate disruptors” to change opportunity structures and move through the power of persuasion and debate.

AUT News items are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.