Two of Aotearoa's top Māori journalists have opened up on the backlash to their 2013 exposé of Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust - a story that would see them ostracised by other Māori and ultimately lead to them stepping away from their jobs.
Mihingarangi Forbes and Annabelle Lee-Mather of Three's The Hui were at Māori Television's Native Affairs nine years ago when they started looking into complaints about Te Kōhanga Reo, a Māori immersion programme for preschool-age children.
After a bit of digging, what initially felt like "a normal little news story" soon morphed into an investigation into allegations of serious financial mismanagement that would go on to garner national attention and prompt a political intervention.
Forbes (Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Maniapoto) and Lee-Mather (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Māmoe) spoke candidly about the personal cost of breaking the story on re_covering, a Media Chaplaincy New Zealand podcast produced for RNZ featuring top Kiwi journalists discussing the stories that have shaped their careers.
In the interview, Forbes reflected to podcast host and media chaplain Rev Frank Ritchie on the surprise she felt at how the story had impacted her and Lee-Mather's relationships with their colleagues and tāngata whenua.
"When that story went to air, literally the next day people just didn't talk to us... I was like, 'Holy heck, what's going on here?' We would never know which tangi we could go to, where we could turn up.
"I got kicked off tūrangawaewae and I was like, 'Wow, I'm from Waikato-Tainui and here I am on the outside and I'm not allowed in this whare', which is strange when you've been welcome to that tūrangawaewae all your life.
"It was a really difficult time for all of us. Journalists turned their backs on us because it was difficult for them."
While the ferocity of the backlash came as a surprise, Forbes concedes they could have handled the release of the story more sensitively internally, since most of Māori Television's staff were graduates of kōhanga reo or had their kids enrolled in it.
"What we should have done is had a bit of a wānanga and told them what was coming."
Unfortunately, things would only become harder for Forbes and Lee-Mather the more they looked into Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust.
Media reported at the time that a follow-up story had been held back without explanation, and the pair were growing uncomfortable about perceived editorial overreach and an increasingly toxic work environment.
"I truly do believe that there was politics involved around that whole period at Māori Television - we were told we couldn't put things to air, we couldn't do this particular political issue," Forbes explained.
"In the end, we had to leave because we couldn't do the jobs as journalists that we set out to do, and that we were being paid to do. The only thing you do there is you have to leave - nothing good is going to come from staying and fighting."
While for Forbes walking away was a simple decision, for Lee-Mather it was heartbreaking.
"For me, Māori TV was the ultimate... it was my world. I loved everything about it and I was just so excited to be there and proud to work for them and I really had no career aspirations outside of Māori TV," she recalled.
"As someone who lives a long way from my marae, it was my everyday Māori community that I could be a part of. So when I left - and I was seven months' pregnant at the time - it felt like a death, and I really grieved having to walk away from it.
"But it's that old cliche: one door closes and another opens. That was definitely the case for us and probably the making of us career-wise, because it forced us out of our comfort zone into the scary new place of being a freelance journalist - and great things have come of it."
After their departure, Forbes and Lee-Mather went on to form the Aotearoa Media Collective, which has been behind programmes like Hongi To Hāngī, The Casketeers, New Zealand Wars and Three's weekly Māori current affairs show, The Hui.
The Hui has gone on to win multiple awards and accrue a loyal audience since its inception in 2016. Forbes says its success goes to show it was time for Māori current affairs, as told by Māori, to get some airtime on mainstream channels.
As for their painful exit from Māori Television, the wounds of that period have faded as time has gone on.
"The beautiful thing about te ao Māori is ... your worst moment doesn't have to define you forever," Lee-Mather told re_covering.
"So all relationships are slowly repairing, people that were involved have moved on and are doing other things, and I think eventually in te ao Māori, everything becomes tau again."
Listen to the full re_covering episode here.
