On Thursday 30 September we launched a new webinar series called Community Voices!

Community Voices is a webinar series where we team up with special guests for informal discussions on belonging and inclusion issues relevant to Aotearoa New Zealand communities.

Our first webinar topic was ‘How does media reporting/framing impact the mental health and wellbeing of different communities?

We picked this topic because of it’s relevance to our focus areas – Media as Allies and Having the Important Conversations. We also are aware of and understand the role of the media in shaping the views of all New Zealanders, and how discrimination can impact mental health and wellbeing.  A recent example was the level of racism towards the Pasifika community when it was reported that a church group in South Auckland was connected to the Delta outbreak.

To discuss this topic we invited four special guests who represented a selection of communities:

• Samson Samasoni (freelance Pasifika journalist and communications professional)
• Eva Chen (Founder of Wellbeing Charitable Trust)
• Amitesh Singh (Chair of Fiji Families Wellbeing Trust)
• Remy Waldteudfel (Youth Services at Palmerston North Youth Space)

What resulted was an informative and robust discussion on the impact media reporting has had on different communities including ethnic minorities and youth, and the possible solutions for reducing impact and harm on communities.

Click below to watch the full webinar. More details will be released soon about upcoming webinars and guests…