How far will you go? Attitudes of the time

So what next, Stuff? Will the papers be printed entirely in te reo? How far will you go down this apology route?

Reporting in the past reflected the attitudes of the time, good and bad, it was what it was, but does it really require a four-page apology?

By going down this road you put the blame on all of your readers. What you print reflects the community attitudes of the day, like it or not.

History is full of events that are now viewed as being wrong or racist or unfair – well, that was not our fault any more than wrongs committed by Ma¯ori were the current generation’s fault.

I ama third-generation New Zealander of European descent. Do I really need to apologise for just being here, any more than Stuff needs to apologise for past reporting in the standards of the day?

I don’t think so, just find the middle ground if you can.

Graham Dick, Masterton

Your various articles yesterday correctly highlight the negative and stereotyped views of Ma¯ori which have prevailed over the past 150 years.

I suggest we also re-examine the heroic terms in which Pa¯keha¯ have been described. For example, Pa¯keha¯ have been regularly referred to as ‘‘settlers’’, despite the fact that Aotearoa had already been settled for 600 years. They were brave ‘‘pioneers’’ who were ‘‘breaking in the land’’. In fact, they were wreaking environmental havoc on land stolen from Ma¯ori.

Further, the English who came to New Zealand were not ‘‘immigrants’’ but refugees from the British class and economic system.

David Nicholson, Karori