Changing paradigms in Pacific journalism

Pacific Journalism Review has consistently, at a good standard, honoured its 1994 founding goal: to be a credible peer-reviewed journal in the Asia-Pacific region, probing developments in journalism and media, and supporting journalism education. Global, it considers new media and social movements; ‘regional’, it promotes vernacular media, human freedoms and sustainable development. Asking how it developed, the method for this article was to research the archive, noting authors, subject matter, themes. The article concludes that one answer is the journal’s collegiate approach; hundreds of academics, journalists and others, have been invited to contribute. Second has been the dedication of its one principal editor, Professor David Robie, always somehow providing resources—at Port Moresby, Suva, and now Auckland—with a consistent editorial stance. Eclectic, not partisan, it has nevertheless been vigilant over rights, such as monitoring the Fiji coups d’etat. Watching through a media lens, it follows a ‘Pacific way’, handling hard information through understanding and consensus. It has 237 subscriptions indexed to seven databases. Open source, it receives more than 1000 site visits weekly. With ‘clientele’ mostly in Australia, New Zealand and ‘Oceania’, it extends much further afield. From 1994 to 2014, 701 articles and reviews were published, now more than 24 scholarly articles each year. http://www.pjreview.info/articles/pacific-journalism-review-twenty-years-front-line-regional-identity-and-freedom-1007

Pacific Journalism Review, 2024

The shrinking mainstream media plurality in Aotearoa New Zealand provides a context for examining publication of campus-based media where student and faculty editorial staff have successfully established an independent Asia-Pacific digital and print press over the past two decades. New Zealand’s largest city Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) has the largest urban population of Pacific Islanders globally—more than 300,000 people in a total of 1.7 million (Pasifika New Zealand, n.d.), earning the moniker ‘Polynesian capital of the world’. The presenter has had a pioneering role with four university-based journalism publications in the Pacific region as key adviser/publisher in Papua New Guinea (Uni Tavur, 1993-1998); Fiji (Wansolwara, 1998-2002); and Aotearoa/New Zealand (Pacific Scoop, 2009-2015; Asia Pacific Report, 2016 onwards), and also with two journalism school-based publications in Australia (Reportage, 1996, and The Junction, 2018-2020) (Robie, 2018). In early 2021, he was co-founder of the Asia Pacific Media Network | Te Koakoa Incorporated which has emerged as a collective umbrella for academics, student journalists and independent reporters producing innovative publications, including the research journal Pacific Journalism Review and a strengthened Asia Pacific Report, which draw on a cross-disciplinary range of media contributors and scholars in other professions. These contributors are mindful of the challenges of reportage about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article explores an independent journalism model drawing on professional outlets for Asia-Pacific students and how an investigative and storytelling model like ‘Talanoa Journalism’ can be an effective bridge to alternative media careers and addressing ‘blind spots’ in legacy news media. https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/1349

Pacific Journalism Monographs No 4 ISSN2253-4113 ISBN 978-0-473-31038-7, 2014

Conference proceedings of the "Political journalism in the Asia-Pacific" conference marking 20 years of publication of Pacific Journalism Review, Auckland University of Technology, 27-29 November 2014. The conference combined presentations and papers by journalists, media educators, human rights advocates and investigative documentary makers. This includes the full conference paper on post-elections in Fiji following eight years of military backed rule since the 2006 coup that caused controversy with the Fiji Media Industry Development Authority (MIDA). The proceedings includes messages from the Vice-Chancellor and Head of Pacific Advancement, full abstracts and programme. The full peer-reviewed papers will be published in the May and October 2015 editions of PJR. Articles from the PJR conference

Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 2008

The Melanesian sub-region of the South Pacific, in particular, has been branded by some political analysts as an ‘arc of instability’ because of upheavals such as coups (Fiji), ethnic conflict (Solomon Islands), paramilitary revolts (Vanuatu), and secessionist rebellion and civil war (Bougainville-Papua New Guinea and the Southern Highlands). Simplistic notions and prejudices about the region pose challenges for journalists attempting to report with depth, context and analytical skill. Pressures and dilemmas for the news media continue to gain momentum in the South Pacific, often from a cultural as well as socio-political dimension. While the media in some countries is refreshingly outspoken and courageous, in others it has a trend towards self-censorship. This article critiques coverage in the region and some of the problems in an age of globalisation and preoccupation with security. It also sketches the challenges for media education designed to contest images of the region beyond ‘coups, conflicts and contraband’.

Pacific Journalism Review, 2020

This article advances discussions on media freedom and media development in Melanesia through the introduction of an 'external' and 'internal' threats analytical framework. Singling out the challenges and categorising them into these two main groups provides a clearer picture of the issues at stake, the links between them, and the need to address the situation holistically. External threats emanating from outside the media sector are often seen as more serious, and they often overshadow internal threats, which come from within the media sector. This article argues that both sets of threats have serious impacts on media and journalism in their own ways, and that both should be regarded equally. Furthermore, the linkages between these threats mean that one cannot be properly addressed without addressing the other. A key outcome of this discussion is a clearer understanding of how little control the media have over both external and internal threats, and how stakeholder support is needed to overcome some of the issues. Because good journalism benefits the public, this article argues for increased public support for high-quality journalism that delivers a public benefit.

Pacific Islands Communication: Regional Perspectives, Local Issues, 2008

Pacific Journalism Review, 2024

The 'watchdog' model has created a journalism culture that is too adversarial and creates conflicts rather than helping to solve today's problems/ conflicts. The panellists assess new journalism paradigms in the Asia-Pacific region where the media is able to make powerful players to account for facilitating the development needs of communities, especially those in the margins of society. A challenge for contemporary journalism schools is to address such models in a global context of 'development rights' with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as a benchmark. In the Pacific Islands context, journalists face a challenging news reporting terrain on their news beats, especially in the Melanesian countries of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. Besides dealing with political instability, coups, civilian unrest and complex developmental issues, journalists must contend with hostile governments and draconian media legislation. The talents, idealism and storytelling skills of Pacific journalists can be cultivated and strengthened to produce independent platforms and models of journalism that challenge the status quo. Examples of this campus strategy include Radio Pasifik, Wansolwara, Pacific Scoop and Asia Pacific Report. https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/pacific-journalism-review/article/view/1335

2008

2006

While the winds of change swept through Third World nations in the 1960s and 1970s, similar transitional ideological shifts applied to “Fourth World” nations in the 1980s and 1990s. Fourth World nations are defined as “Indigenous people residing in developed nations, but living in Third World conditions” (Russell, 1996). The colonised seek to overcome the political mechanisms instituted by the colonisers. Indigenous peoples must either obtain equal access to the political, cultural and economic opportunities of the colonising society or continue to struggle for political autonomy. The media plays an important role in that struggle, and thus news values demonstrated by the Indigenous media are often at variance with those of the West (First World), East (Second World remnants) and developing nations (Third World). Such media conditions are particularly appropriate for Indigenous First Nation minorities in Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Applying the “Four Worlds” model, this paper examines news values and perceptions of the post-2000 role of the media in the independent nations of the South Pacific, drawing on cultural parallels with the two largest economies and media countries in the region – Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Pacific Media Centre Online, 2018

Keynote address by Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie at The University of the South Pacific Journalism Awards,19 October 2018, celebrating 50 years of the university's existence. Wide-ranging speech covers core values of journalism, global threats to journalists and press freedom, political leaders fueling "media phobia", the Jamal Khashoggi assassination in Turkey on 2 October 2018, Pacific media whistleblowers and the history of the University of the South Pacific journalism.