ABSTRACT
Media depictions of poverty and welfare are intertwined in Aotearoa/New Zealand with continued processes of colonization. This chapter explores the case of Metiria Turei, a former Green Party Māori co-leader. Turei sparked considerable mediated outrage when she announced that, as a single mother receiving welfare support decades earlier, she had taken on lodgers without notifying the appropriate government agency. Turei made this announcement at a party conference to highlight current problems in the welfare system and the need for systemic change. The resulting media coverage epitomizes how symbolic power is used within and across contemporary media spaces to shape constructions of poverty, welfare and Māori single mothers. Our analysis documents how a hegemonic antiwelfare perspective came to dominate multiplatform news media coverage and was then contested via various social media platforms.
