Te Whakaruruhau Launches Whare Kōrero App

The first indigenous media app of its kind, Whare Kōrero hosts all 21 iwi radio stations and invites audiences inside to access all of their content in one uniquely Māori mobile app.

Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori, the network of iwi media hubs throughout Aotearoa, today announced the launch of the Whare Kōrero app for iOS and Android mobile devices at their quarterly meeting at Ngā Whare Waatea Marae in Mangere.

Audiences are able to access live iwi radio from the 21 iwi radio stations, their on-demand content and livestreams of significant cultural events from the haukāinga.

“The iwi radio network produces the most indigenous language content in the world and everyone can access all of it in one place, in one whare” said Peter-Lucas Jones, Chair of Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori.

The Whare Kōrero app is a significant milestone in the long history of iwi radio. The network employs over 250 people.

“Iwi media has been innovative in the way we’ve sought to reach our audience. The Whare Kōrero is a further step towards doing this in a way that expresses our mana motuhake and exercises our tino rangatiratanga.” says Jones.

“We have built our own digital whare. A place where we can store our content safely and share it with our people, knowing that we maintain kaitiakitanga over the data.”

Te Whakaruruhau o Ngā Reo Irirangi Māori has a strong position on matters pertaining to data sovereignty and technology platforms especially in the area of Māori language revitalisation and broadcasting.

“This extends to the mana motuhake and privacy of our users. We don't track any personal, identifiable information the way that Big Tech platforms do.”

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