97 Human Rights Commission elimination of racism in central and local government and civil society; and supporting the Truth, Reconciliation and Justice Commission. As the previous and only Indigenous Rights Commissioner said: An Indigenous Rights Commissioner would be a critical independent voice in advocating for the rights of tangata whenua laid out in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding human rights document of Aotearoa New Zealand (Johansen, Karen, in Angeloni, A. 2021). This appointment, and a new Commission, would address the clear evidence of racism and white supremacy in Aotearoa – and that these are real and present threats that deserve the strengthened focus. The historical role of media in racism The media has played a role in perpetuating racist vitriol against Māori. The first Māori language newspapers, which were published by the New Zealand Government, carried an express purpose of assimilating Māori into the superior ways of white settlers (McRae, Jane, 2014). The media industry continues to be tethered to its colonial underpinnings (Nairn et al, 2006). We do not attempt to outline the evidence of racism in the media here because it would be too long and there are many Māori commentators with direct media experience to listen to, such as the Whanganui iwi leader Ken Mair (Mair, 2020). Instead, we refer to one media outlet, Stuff (formerly owned by Fairfax NZ) which owns nine daily newspapers. On 30 November 2020, Stuff took steps to acknowledge the part it had played in its portrayal of Māori and apologised. In his introduction to their investigation into racism in Aotearoa, Stuff’s Editorial Director, Mark Stevens, reflected on Stuff’s role as a powerful influencer in perpetuating racism against Māori as part of the media history in Aotearoa. Our coverage of Māori issues over the past 160 years ranged from racist to blinkered. Seldom was it fair or balanced in terms of representing Māori (Mitchell, 2020). An example of this type of coverage includes modernday reporting about Māori and numerous news articles about child abuse. As recently as 2018, Stuff ran a child victim toll (Stuff, 2018) which it stated was the first and only known database of its kind in Aotearoa. The toll recorded hundreds of children who have died because of abuse, neglect or maltreatment since 1992. The articles often reported the identity of the tamariki and the trauma they went through, sometimes depicted in graphic detail. Their right to privacy and the privacy of their whānau is not mentioned. Also worth noting is that, when child abuse victims and perpetrators are Pākehā, the Police approach and media reporting can be more sympathetic to the privacy of the perpetrator and victims and wider whānau (see Mitchell, C. 2020). For example, the recent Tīmaru tragedy: Police are still working to notify all next of kin, and for that reason - and to protect the privacy of those impacted by this tragedy - at this stage, we will not be releasing further details regarding the victims (Detective Inspector Scott Anderson, in Leask, 2021). Pākehā crime is still considered an anomaly, particularly crimes against children. After years of biased reporting, the face of child abuse in the public’s consciousness is Māori. This has not changed and has expanded to include Māori as lazy, beneficiaries, bludgers, drunks and drug pushers. (Mitchell, C. 2020). Another contrast in the treatment of Māori, as compared to non-Māori, is around the subject of state abuse. It took a Māori whānau to be followed by a camera crew when their child was removed by Oranga Tamariki, before the media and the government finally questioned whether Māori are being unfairly targeted and stigmatised (Reid, 2019). Stuff finally acknowledged its part in framing child abuse as a Māori issue, admitted that its coverage of child abuse pandered to the largely Pākehā readership, and concluded that their reporting was racist (Mitchell, C. 2020). Racist reporting over more than 100 years has resulted in many Pākehā and Māori internalising stereotypes about Māori as violent criminals. Media is shown to trivialise or vilify Māori and under-represent their positive achievements, which subtly supports a