Derek Fox

One of New Zealand's leading Māori broadcasters, Derek Fox is a journalist, commentator, politician and publisher. A native speaker of Māori, he is one of a small number of journalists who provide a Māori viewpoint both in Māori media and the mainstream.

Fox was born in Wairoa, the town he would return to in the mid-90s as mayor. He was raised by his grandparents on the isolated eastern tip of the Mahia peninsula, south-east of Gisborne. Their farm was accessible only by horseback, or by an army vehicle at low tide.

Fox learnt te reo Māori from his grandparents, before returning to his parents around the age of five or six. His formal schooling was at Ngata Memorial College in Ruatoria, then at St Stephen's School on the edge of Auckland.

Fox's first year at university in Auckland sparked an interest in broadcasting, and he moved to Wellington's Victoria University. He then launched a career with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, one that would lead to former Prime Minister Helen Clark describing him as the pre-eminent Māori broadcaster of his generation.

Fox has worked off-and-on for TVNZ throughout his career. There he presented and reported on programmes including Koha, Kaleidoscope and Marae. In 1983 he and Whai Ngata set up Te Karere, the daily Māori news programme that continues today. Fox presented and reported on Te Karere until he left TVNZ in 1986. In the years since then he has returned frequently, usually to present Marae.

He was also instrumental in setting up Te Reo o Aotearoa, a radio unit for both Māori and Pacific broadcasters, which he did during a secondment from television in the 1970s. Fox was part of a group that battled for almost two decades to force the Crown to establish Māori radio and television to nurture and protect te reo Māori. It began with a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal in 1984 concerning te reo and including broadcasting. In the 10 years of constant litigation that followed, Fox balanced his support for the Māori broadcasting cause with his work within the broadcasting industry.

In 1992 Fox launched the long-running Mana magazine, and Rotorua-based Mana Māori News. He also became the chair of the Māori Broadcasters Association, which was later renamed Ngā Aho Whakaari. There are few Māori in the industry who share his breadth and depth of experience across print, radio and television, and he has often been the ‘go to' man for mainstream media seeking an opinion on matters Māori.

In the 1990s Fox contributed to the panel discussion on TV3's The Ralston Group, and he would later appear on panel discussions for Backchat, Native Affairs, and Eye to Eye with Willie Jackson. Fox's ability to reasonably present Māori views on contentious issues remains one of his strengths. He has the ability to communicate the essence of complex issues in plain language that anyone can understand. His warm, rich voice and telegenic looks help to deliver his message, however unpalatable his views may be to some.

With this background it was perhaps inevitable that Fox would look to represent his people in government. He unsuccessfully stood for Parliament as an independent in 1999, and again in 2008 for the Māori Party, which he had co-founded in 2000. His political aspirations had been controversially put on hold in 2001, when he was appointed chairman of the Māori Television Service. Opposition MPs at the time saw this appointment as a move by the then Labour government to remove Fox as a political threat in the Māori seats.

Fox was instrumental in setting up the Māori Television Service, serving as chair of the first board (the birth of the channel is chronicled in the 2004 documentary Tātau Tātou, as well as an article in the April/May 2009 issue of Mana). His vision for the channel, together with the MTS board, guided the early set-up phase of the channel. However he did not have a smooth run. Prior to the channel's launch the Canadian Chief Executive of Māori Television, John Davey, was exposed and sacked for faking his CV. Fox then took over as Chief Executive. This appointment lasted only six months before Fox resigned over a human resources issue with a colleague.

Fox then returned to his political aspirations, and his work with the Māori Party. He unsuccessfully contested the Ikaroa-Rawhiti seat against former Labour Māori Affairs Minister (and Fox's own relative) Parekura Horomia, losing by 1609 votes. Fox's most recent appointment was as Press Secretary to Māori Party co-leader Tariana Turia. His broadcaster's touch can be detected in Māori Party speeches, press releases and on its website.