The Indian Weekender, Friday 6 November 2020

Editorial
Mainstream media’s obsession
with Raveen Jaduram’s salary:
Is “unconscious bias” against
ethnic-migrants into play?
The mainstream media’s relentless obsession with Raveen Jaduram’s salary, even after being
cornered to resign from his leadership position at Watercare New Zealand’s largest water
utility is an ignominious reminder of the “unconscious bias” that ethnic migrants have to
face in this country.
For uninitiated, Raveen Jaduram – an Indian-New Zealander – was Chief Executive Officer of
Watercare for the last six years and was facing an enhanced media-scrutiny after Auckland plunged
into a historic drought and water-shortage few months ago.
The initial public scrutiny around Watercare’s overall preparedness to deal with Auckland’s
water shortage soon deviated into a full-blown frontal attack on its CEO’s unusually high salary,
forcing him to resign from the position last week.
Such was the intensity of the personal attack on Jaduram’s salary that one of the latest reporting
by NZ Herald this week emphasised that the incumbent had received a salary hike in recent months
even after intense media-scrutiny in recent months.
To put it subtly, this was much in poor-taste and more an expression of “war of attrition” between
what can be broadly defined as the privileges explicitly reserved only for white-men that were so
undeservingly enjoyed by a seemingly less deserving person of colour.
Indeed, the level of reporting in the story was so erroneous that except for the fact that outgoing
Watercare CEO’s salary was further increased to $800,000 mark, there was not a single value
addition to the facts that were already in the public domain and had been already intensely reported
and debated in mainstream media.
In fact, more than anything else, it reflects an expression of “disbelief” that the outgoing CEO’s
salary increased despite relentless personal scrutiny of his salary – something which he did not
choose himself.
It’s not clear that that “disbelief” was a reflection of the individual journalist or can be attributed
as the worldview of the entire newsroom.
However, it is indeed a sorry state of affair that needs to be rebutted resolutely for the simple
reason that if this can happen so blatantly to an ethnic migrant worker who has reached to the
higher echelons of decision making in a big public organisation - then the fate of the ordinary low
to medium level ethnic migrant workers who face unconscious bias to casual racism on a daily
basis in this country could only be imagined.
To be fair, every credible media outlet has a responsibility of holding those in power to account,
including Watercare – the largest Council Controlled Organisation and its - CEO without any fear
or favour. In that regard, New Zealand’s mainstream media has done well in reporting and offering
public scrutiny in every aspect of this important issue around water-shortage facing in our biggest
city. However, the rules of engagement that it follows when reporting and scrutinising on issues
that involve white European-New Zealanders and everyone else, particularly ethnic-migrant-New
Zealanders, are starkly different.
The mainstream media’s reporting for ethnic-migrant communities continue to remain
sensational, contemptuous, voyeuristic, disrespectful and in some cases erroneous.
Not long ago, mainstream media sought sensationalism in reporting of the number of imported
Covid cases arriving on flights from India, while choosing to remain gloriously silent in the number
of Covid cases arriving from traditionally white countries such as the United States, the United
Kingdom, Australia or Canada.
The Indian Weekender had then also called out the mainstream-media’s unconscious bias against
New Zealand’s ethnic migrant communities by reporting actual facts that India as a source of
imported Covid cases remained distant fifth – far below the US, UK, Dubai and Australia – a fact
erroneously not reported in their repeated stories on the issue.
Similarly, in this instance, the level of personal attack on an Indian-origin high paid head
honcho’s salary, which in no way advanced or enriched the public debate around Watercare’s
ability to pre-empt or deal with Auckland’s water shortage crisis is not only unprecedented but
purely outrageous.
Make no mistake; the Indian Weekender fully condones the public scrutiny of individuals who
are in public roles and have a duty and responsibility to uphold vis a vis their respective positions.
However, what it absolutely rejects is the voyeuristic pleasure that some mainstream media
reporting indulges in while reporting on issues related to the ethnic migrant community.
It has been absolutely clear in mainstream media’s own reporting that Jaduram has been at the
helm of affairs for the last six years and has inherited a fully -functional system with an inherent
capacity to decide on the salaries of its staff, including the CEO.
It is also clear that everyone in Auckland Council, including Mayor Phil Goff has been
found napping on the important issue of regulating the salaries of CEOs of Council Controlled
Organisations. It is a paradox that while there has not been enough outrage or public scrutiny on
why Auckland Council and its incumbent had failed to act proactively much before the issue had
flared up in media, the interest continues to remain on the incumbent receiving that high salary.
It is unavoidable to see a clear case of unconscious bias, where the traditional privileged white
man’s worldview refuses to come to terms with a person of colour - an ethnic migrant New
Zealander – who in their world view seems to be undeserving of getting that high salary – is found
to be enjoying that privileged position.
The media scrutiny in this instance could have easily been equally bold and ferocious as it has
been so far now, albeit minus the unwarranted focus on the salary of the person in the position,
which clearly does not serve any purpose except for exposing the “unconscious bias” that ethnic
migrant minorities have to face on a daily basis in this country.
Thought of the week
“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves
to what they think they can do. You can go as far as
your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you
can achieve.” —Mary Kay Ash
6 November – 12 November 2020
Fri Sat Sun Mon Tues Wed Thu
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Indian Weekender : Volume 12 Issue 34
Publisher: Kiwi Media Publishing Limited
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Views expressed in the articles are solely of the authors and do not in any way represent
the views of the team at the Indian Weekender
Kiwi Media Publishing Limited - 133A, Level 1, Onehunga Mall, Onehunga, Auckland.
Printed at Horton Media, Auckland
Parlty
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A touch o
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This week in New Zealand’s history
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Copyright 2020. Kiwi Media Publishing Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Sunshine
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6 November 1908
Last spike completes North Island main trunk railway
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A few
morning
showers
Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward ceremonially opened the North Island main trunk railway line
by driving home a final polished silver spike at Manganuioteao, between National Park and
Ohākune.
7 November 1848
The Acheron arrives to survey New Zealand waters
The paddle-wheel sloop was one of the first steamships in New Zealand waters. Under the
command of Captain John Lort Stokes, Acheron surveyed the coastlines of Cook Strait
and the South Island until March 1851. Its 170-horsepower engine was especially valuable on
dangerous shores such as the West Coast of the South Island.
7 November 1912
Public Service Act passed into law
The Public Service Act was passed into law, creating a framework for New Zealand’s
bureaucracy that was to endure until 1988. The Act was the brainchild of lawyer Alexander
Herdman, a senior minister in the new Reform Party government.
7 November 1970
Last unclimbed face of Aoraki/Mt Cook conquered
Long-haired Christchurch mountaineers John Glasgow and Peter Gough became the first
people known to have scaled the 2000-m Caroline Face of Aoraki/Mt Cook. They declared
it a ‘triumph for the hippies’.
8 November 1936
New Zealanders march into besieged Madrid
New Zealanders Griff Maclaurin and Steve Yates were part of the International Column of
anti-fascist volunteers which marched into Madrid to bolster the city’s defences against the
assault of General Francisco Franco’s rebel armies.
8 November 1939
New Zealand Centennial Exhibition opens
More than 2.6 million people visited the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, which ran for
six months at Rongotai, Wellington. It was the centrepiece of the centennial of the signing
of the Treaty of the Waitangi.
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