Radio ad man turns down job after asked to pronounce Maori place name 'the white way'

April 27, 2018

Dave Ward has made a stand, prompting NZME to investigate how the instruction was given.

Radio ad man, Dave Ward turned down a job for the first time in 18 years after being asked to pronounce a Maori place name 'the white way.'

Mr Ward posted on Twitter the pronounciation guide he was given for a job where he was asked to pronounce "Waimate - said the 'white way' - 'WHY MAT EE.' 

New Zealand television and radio host, Stacey Morrison replied to the tweet saying, "Ka pai Dave, and it's more the wrong way than the 'white way'."

"It's just not right, there's no respect there. The expectation was that a low level racist slur - which by the way, is still racism - was gonna be acceptable" Mr Ward says. 

He does radio commercials for NZME who own Newstalk ZB and Radio Sport.  

NZME are investigating how the instruction was issued given it's working on its te reo policy.

The media company are injecting more Maori into radio bulletins and celebrating the right pronounciation of Radio Hauraki after 50 years of it being wrong. 

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