Research by NZ Tech shows that there is low representation of Māori and Pacific people across corporate Aotearoa, with these figures even lower in the technology sector. This presents two challenges. First, diversity in organisations is critical to broader business success. And second, we’ve seen that teams that offer different perspectives, experiences and insights develop technological solutions that support all communities.

Over the past decade, TupuToa has been nurturing and developing Māori and Pacific leaders to ensure corporate Aotearoa is representative of these communities. With over 1000 alumni placed in roles across Aotearoa and beyond, there’s also a need to support this cohort of professionals with the skills required to achieve their tech-career aspirations.

Now, through grant support provided by Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, TupuToa will commence a programme aimed at increasing representation of Māori and Pacific professionals in technology across Aotearoa to improve technological outcomes for all.  

TupuToa Chief Executive Anne Fitisemanu said, ”The ripple effect of this programme will be massive. Not only will we be able to support our alumni but this work will impact their whanau and communities who are at risk of exclusion from this industry, and eventually improve the growth of Aotearoa’s technology related skill sets that are already needed across a broad range of industries. I’m so pleased that we’re aligned with Google.org on this shared mission to develop and empower our people through tech.”

The programme will support the TupuToa community of Māori and Pacific professionals in two ways. By seeking to understand the needs of alumni in the workforce and then by providing better support and pathways for Māori and Pacific early talent to develop their careers successfully in technology, with scope to expand to experienced career changers in the future.

With a shared commitment to ensuring indigenous communities take their place and thrive in the world of technology, we hope this programme will in time deliver better technological outcomes for all of New Zealand.

“One of the core principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi is protection and partnership. This tiki artform represents the ambitions of our tipuna, and honours the aspirations of both Māori and the wider community for protection of land, community and partnership.” says Hori-Te-Ariki Mataki (Ae, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kauwhata, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui me Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi) of the artwork he has designed for today’s local Google Doodle. 

Shared today for all in Aotearoa to see on New Zealand’s Google homepage, this Doodle celebrates the ambitions of two cultures and their shared desire to protect and provide for their people. Taking its likeness from pounamu, a taonga in Māori culture, the colours represent the physical - land, sea and air - taonga of tangata whenua. “The outstretched arms of the tiki represent the integration of cultures and future innovation to protect these natural domains of our environment, the flora and fauna, for all generations to come.”Hori explained.

Aotearoa New Zealand today recognises Te Tiriti o Waitangi which was signed on 6 February 1840. Kiwi’s search interest in Te Tiriti o Waitangi has tripled over the past 12 months in New Zealand showing a growing desire to lear more. Searches for the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi reached a ten-year high in May last year. 

Of his work, Hori shared that the use of “language, art forms and philosophies of our ancestors and tikanga Māori allow us to create, communicate and connect. And the latest technologies in design and strategy help our people toward a better future.”

For more than two decades we’ve worked with news media companies to strengthen quality journalism in Aotearoa and 2022 is no different. As the year draws to a close, we’re pausing to reflect on our efforts - to share key highlights and reflections from our ongoing partnerships.

We’re proud of the launch of News Showcase and have now signed agreements with 23 local news publications, including NZME’s national and regional titles like New Zealand Herald and Whanganui Chronicle, RNZ, BusinessDesk, Scoop Media, Crux Publishing, Newsroom, Pacific Media Network, Sun Media and Times Newspapers. These publishers and their respective mastheads represent a broad mix of audiences across New Zealand, from metropolitan to smaller, regional and ethnically diverse publications. 

Throughout the year, our Google News Initiative (GNI) projects focused on advancing quality journalism, strengthening publisher business models and empowering newsrooms through technological innovation. This year alone we’ve reached over 30 news organisations and hundreds of journalists through our programs. 

Advancing quality journalism 

Training Kiwi journalists

We partnered with Telum Media to deliver a series of 12 in-person digital skills workshops to equip journalists with tools they can use in daily reporting and data visualisation projects. This year, we’ve trained over 100 New Zealand journalists across 30 newsrooms throughout the country. 

In August we hosted the Te Rito Journalism Training Camp which saw 25 cadets representing multiple ethnicities, languages, and the rainbow and disability communities from all over the motu participate in training focused on digital skilling and fundamental principles of digital tools and reporting. As part of the Te Rito initiative, established by New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), Whakaata Māori, Discovery / Newshub and Pacific Media Network, with support from NZ On Air's Public Interest Journalism Fund, these cadets were selected to develop and bring diverse voices into the journalism and broadcasting industry. 

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Caption: News Lab Teaching Fellow session with Te Rito journalism cadets in August 2022.

Supporting media literacy for New Zealand’s students

News Lab also supports efforts to teach children what information sources they should (and shouldn’t) trust. Newshounds by Squiz Kids is  a new media literacy teaching resource for children between 8 and 12 years, supported by GNI and already launched in more than 500 schools in Australia and New Zealand. Teachers that have used the curriculum said students are highly engaged in the lessons and are more likely to think critically about the information they consume.

Supporting Election policy and misinformation tracking

The Policy New Zealand team’s aim is to make it easy to find out who’s running in local elections and what they stand for. This tool is critical to improving access to election information. We’ve supported their efforts for a number of years, including their latest iteration which provides journalists with a database for candidates’ key election policies, supporting their ability to track misinformation. It was utilised by a broad cross-section of media, from national outlets such as Stuff, TVNZ’s Breakfast and Newshub’s Three News, through to community and local news outlets.

Supporting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

Through the News Equity Fund - a global commitment from Google to provide financial support and opportunities to news organisations that primarily serve underrepresented communities - four news publishers in New Zealand have received funding for projects that create original journalism for underrepresented audiences. Recipients include Lizard News, The News, Shepherdess and Pacific Media Network.

Strengthening and evolving publisher business models 

The GNI Digital Growth Program’s News Fundamentals Series 

Through the GNI Digital Growth Program, we’ve helped small and mid-sized news publishers in New Zealand and Australia to develop the capabilities required to accelerate the growth of their businesses online. This year, more than 240 participants from approximately 220 publishers across Australia and New Zealand took part. A link to the on-demand videos can be found here. 

GNI News Consumer Insights: Shift Program

The NCI Shift is a free, immersive two-month program developed to support the news industry on how to increase Reader Engagement and Reader Revenue (including contribution models where relevant). The program has provided actionable and personalised insights, data-driven strategies and recommendations through the use of custom audits, group discussions and peer-to-peer learning for a cohort of nine New Zealand digital news publishers.

We are also supporting innovation within the newsroom by partnering with Bastion Transform to create a framework for newsrooms to experiment. We are working with Business Desk NZ and Australian publishers The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and National Indigenous Times to finetune and implement the framework so journalists can prioritise, design, run and measure different opportunities they want to experiment with. 

Empowering news organisations through technological innovation 

12 projects joined the GNI Startups Boot Camp

In partnership with Fishburners we launched the first GNI Startups Boot Camp in Australia and New Zealand, a program designed to provide hands-on support and coaching to aspiring news entrepreneurs as they establish and grow a new independent journalism venture and set their business on the path to sustainability. Some of the projects that participated in the 2022 cohort includes Nak-Ed, one of New Zealand's first media brands dedicated to exploring the growing sexual wellness scene across marginalised communities. through in-depth, female led reporting.

Supporting new ideas as part of the Asia-Pacific GNI Innovation challenge 

This month we were also pleased to share that two Kiwi organisations, Scoop and Kīnga Voxpop, will receive support from the Asia-Pacific GNI Innovation Challenge. These projects focus on innovation to create a more sustainable and diverse news ecosystem.

We are pleased to partner with the New Zealand news industry, as we have done for many years, to ensure New Zealanders have access to relevant and useful information. 

Everything from COVID to Costco and guacamole to Globle, these are the moments, people and peculiarities that captured Kiwis’ attention this year.

Kiwis will remember that this year had its share of historic moments: from the traumatic war in Ukraine, to Tonga’s devastating eruption, and the passing of Queen Elizabeth. And yet we’ve seen lightness and optimism as we seek to find new ways to adapt and come together. We observed our first national public holiday for Matariki. We crowned our first ever medallists at the Winter Olympics. We marvelled at the unprecedented support for our Rugby World Cup champions, the Black Ferns. 

Google’s Year in Search helps us explore the year through the lens of the questions we asked. What is the meaning of Matariki, how do you play Wordle and how do you make an NFT? And as our trending searches indicate, it’s been a year of momentous milestones, fun online fancies and people that will go down in the history books. 

Let’s take a look at some key themes from our searches in New Zealand this year:

Going local and celebrating our culture

Alongside global moments, our searches show a keen interest in celebrating what is local. We looked for pottery, zumba and cooking classes nearby - maybe to learn how to whip up a pavlova! We wanted to find and define Matariki. Wayne Brown and Sam Uffindel piqued our interest in regional politics. And ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ put Waititi on the world stage.

Sports has our hearts, minds and searches

With sporting heroes, matches and league tables, Kiwis were spoilt for sporting choice this year. The Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games and a plethora of - rugby, soccer, rugby league - world cups and matches kept us entertained. Well established sporting champs like Israel Adesanya, Joseph Parker and Lydia Ko loomed large. Other breakout stars like Ruby Tui and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott captured our attention.

Curiosity and quirks…alongside COVID

The number of COVID cases or the locations of interest were still very much top of mind this year. And we had to learn quickly how to do a rapid antigen test. But despite this, our searches show a desire for distraction and amusement. We delved into the story of Anna Delvey, welcomed the arrival of Costco to our shores and somehow found time to play Wordle, Quordle, Heardle, Globle and Octordle!

Back to basics in the kitchen

This year our recipe lists show our desire to make from scratch as we searched for ways to make condiments like tomato relish, plum jam, and teriyaki sauce. For the first time in years we deviated from our banana bread obsession and other indulgent bakes found their way into our hearts and stomachs. Sugary sweets like hot cross buns, cinnamon rolls and chocolate brownies complimented more classic bakes like shortbread. On the savoury side, we showed our unwavering love for guacamole, which topped the savoury recipe list for the second year running! And explored Italian fare with spaghetti bolognese, gnocchi, focaccia and…macaroni cheese.

To dive into the data, check out New Zealand’s full trending* lists for 2022:

1. Johnny Depp
2. Amber Heard
3. Will Smith
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Andrew Tate
6. Anna Delvey
7. Chris Rock
8. King Charles
9. Elon Musk
10. Meghan Markle

1. Covid cases today
2. Ukraine
3. Queen Elizabeth
4. Costco
5. Will Smith
6. Tropical cyclone Dovi
7. iPhone 14
8. Russia
9. Tonga
10. Commonwealth Games medal table

1. Wordle
2. Quordle
3. Heardle
4. Blooket
5. Snake
6. Globle
7. Poki
8. Octordle
9. Slope
10. Nerdle

Since we launched it in 2013, we’ve introduced three generations of the original Chromecast, plus Chromecast Ultra for 4K and HDR support. Most recently, we took our biggest leap yet with Chromecast with Google TV (4K). 

Chromecast with Google TV comes with your favourite Chromecast features from over the years — plus the Google TV experience, which brings together movies, shows and more from across your apps and subscriptions and organises them just for you. 

Today, we’re expanding this lineup with the new Chromecast with Google TV (HD). We built this product with affordability in mind and to help bring all our favourite features of Chromecast and Google TV to more people than ever. 

We’ve come pretty far since the original Chromecast launched 9 years ago. Here’s how we’ve evolved — and what you can expect from the new Chromecast with Google TV (HD). 

More affordable than our original Chromecast

Chromecast originally launched as a dongle that made it easy and inexpensive to bring your online entertainment to your TV. At the time, this was a big deal: you could browse the web, watch TV shows and movies, and listen to music simply by plugging it into the back of your TV and connecting the device to Wi-Fi. 

Chromecast with Google TV (HD) is just NZ$69. It brings more capabilities and intelligence to the Chromecast experience that people have loved for years.

More streaming options than ever, organised for you

In the beginning, Chromecast launched with just a handful of partners: Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies and Google Play Music. Nine years later, there are 10,000+ apps to choose from with Google TV, from TVNZ and Disney+ to Amazon Prime Video, and we continue to add new content all the time. 

And with more content choices than ever before, Chromecast with Google TV has helped reinvent what simple and easy content discovery on your TV looks like. It’s the home for your entertainment, bringing together movies, shows and more so you can find what to watch without jumping from app to app.

Image: Three friends sit on a couch in the living room watching a soccer replay on the TV with Chromecast with Google TV.

Image:Two people use Chromecast with Google TV to see a live view of their front door where someone waits with a delivery.