New Zealand’s national indigenous broadcaster, Māori Television, will host an inaugural World Indigenous Television Broadcasting Conference in Auckland in March 2008.

The conference – WITBC ‘08 – will be the first ever gathering of indigenous television leaders from throughout the world and will feature internationally renowned speakers who are industry experts in the fields of broadcasting, media and indigenous languages.

Māori Television chief executive Jim Mather says the theme of the three-day conference is ‘Reclaiming the Future’ and the aim is to unify, strengthen and promote indigenous broadcasters.

A World Indigenous Television Broadcasters Network will also be launched as part of the event. Guest speakers have been invited from Australia, Ireland, Wales, Canada and the Middle East.

“Indigenous broadcasting is making great progress all over the world with a renewed pride in indigenous issues, cultures and native languages but broadcasters face many questions,” says Mr Mather.

“How do we ensure that our unique indigenous identities are retained for eternity? What are our obligations and responsibilities as broadcasters to ensure the integrity of our languages and the development and promotion of our cultures and status as indigenous peoples?

  “What are the challenges facing indigenous broadcasters? And what can we learn from our predecessors and to what levels of success can we aspire? The conference will aim to address these issues.”  

Leaders, producers and planners involved in indigenous and public television can register their interest to attend at www.witbc.org.

  Ends