Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology
J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol., 14: 455–472 (2004)


Media Coverage of ‘Decades of Disparity’ in Ethnic Mortality in Aotearoa
DARRIN HODGETTS*, BRIDGETTE MASTERS and NEVILLE ROBERTSON

Department of Psychology, The University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105,
Hamilton, Aotearoa, New Zealand

ABSTRACT
For some time we have known that factors such as economic prosperity,
community cohesion, and
social justice bear on health. These societal influences are particularly
pertinent to the health of indigenous
groups, such as Maori, who are still responding to processes of
colonization. In July 2003 the
New Zealand Ministry of Health published a report entitled ‘Decades of
Disparity’, which proposed
(among other things) that neoliberal policies of the last two decades
impacted negatively on mortality
rates for Maori and Pacific peoples, when compared with Pakeha. In this
article we explore
media coverage of this report through analyses of media releases, radio,
television and newspaper
items. It is argued that as the story evolved media increasingly challenged
the importance of societal
determinants of health, preferring individual level explanations. As a
result coverage failed to
give due emphasis to structural health concerns for Maori, which
necessitate social change.

Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Key words: ethnicity; Maori; health; inequalities; media

INTRODUCTION
Third class passengers on the Titanic were twice as likely to die as first
class passengers. Why?
Were poor people so stupid that they forgot to pack their wetsuits? Or were
the parents of the poor
people on the Titanic so neglectful that they failed to teach their
children to swim? Obviously,
these are ridiculous explanations. The reasons were structural. There were
only enough lifeboats
available for the first class passengers, and doors were locked preventing
third class passengers
accessing the lifeboats (Blakely & Robson, Gaps—who’s to blame, Dominion
Post, 1 August
2003, B5).

This is a quote from a newspaper article written by two public health
researchers expressing
their disappointment at media handling of their research into increased
disadvantage
in mortality rates for Maori and Pacific peoples. Subsequently, the authors
point out that,
counter to favoured explanations evident in media reporting of this issue,
Pacific people exercise as much and spend less on fast food than their
Pakeha1 counterparts
(cf. Hillary Commission, 1998). Therefore, unhealthy lifestyle practices,
often associated
with preventable illness, do not fully explain why Maori and Pacific people
die
significantly younger than Pakeha... SNIP


* Correspondence to: Dr D. Hodgetts, Department of Psychology, The
University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105,
Hamilton, Aotearoa, New Zealand. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Copyright # 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 28 June 2004

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