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PACIFIC MEDIA CENTRE
Nius beat
NZ: TVNZ helps bring colour to newsrooms through Diversity Scholarships
Pacific Media Centre: 12 July 2010
Alisha Lewis is a worthy recipient of TVNZ Journalism Diversity Scholarship, which is run annually in conjunction with AUT University’s Journalism School. She is grateful for the award which has allowed her to pursue her dreams and ambition in journalism. Read more
INDONESIA: Police move to muzzle Tempo magazine
Pacific Media Centre: 12 July 2010
Indonesia’s National Police has issued criminal defamation charges against Tempo Magazine after the publication of a major investigation alleging some of the nation’s top police officers were corrupt. Read more
REGION: Media kingpins set up new organization after divisive PINA resignation
Pacific Media Watch: 2 July 2010
A group of established media veterans have formed a new group – the Pacific Media Association (PMA) – after this week’s resignation announcement by former vice president of the main regional body, the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) John Woods. Read more
REGION: PINA leadership fragments - new Pacific media association formed
Pacific Media Centre: 1 July 2010
The Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) looks likely to fragment further after one of its most respected leaders, John Woods, resigned to set up a new media body. Read more
TONGA: MA thesis on 2006 riots probes cultural attitudes in political reporting
Pacific Media Watch: 30 June 2010
A Pacific-based Master's thesis has been submitted for examination by Tongan AUT post-graduate student and Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Josephine Latu. Read more
FIJI: Media restrictions analysed by Amnesty International
Pacific Media Centre: 29 June 2010
Amnesty International has taken a staunch position against Fiji’s military government, stating that a new law that came into effect on June 25 will further restrict Fiji’s fourth estate from doing its job. Read more
REGION: Lack of reporters, resources pose big challenge for Pacific media, say local journalists
Pacific Media Watch: 27 June 2010
A serious lack of reporters and financial resources means that “some stories do not get told”, according to some journalists from the region. Three visiting correspondents from the Pacific Islands, discussed the challenges faced by local media during a public forum held on Friday at the University of Auckland. Read more
NZ: Pacific journalists visit PMC on MFAT exchange programme
Pacific Media Centre: 27 June 2010
Two Pacific journalists, along with representatives from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) met with the Pacific Media Centre team on Thursday June 24th to build networks and get familiarised with the centre's activities. Read more
REGION: Young people not interested in journalism careers, say Pacific media veterans
Pacific Media Watch: 26 June 2010
Most young Pacific people do not see journalism as a bona fide career path, according to three Pacific Island journalists who are in New Zealand this week as part of an inaugural exchange programme sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Read more
NZ: National Pacific Radio Trust has promising future, insists Chair
Pacific Media Watch: 23 June 2010
The chairman of the National Pacific Radio Trust is confident that the Pacific Media Network which operates Niu FM, Radio 531pi, and Pacific Radio News is here to stay. Read more
REGION/NZ: Pacific journalists to visit PMC this week
Pacific Media Watch: 21 June 2010
Three Pacific journalists from Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands will be visiting the Pacific Media Centre this Thursday as part of a week-long exchange programme sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, focussing on policy and social issues as well as political journalism in the Pacific region. Read more
NZ: Inquisitive Pasifika journalist stood down from Radio 531pi
Pacific Media Watch: 18 June 2010
Members of the Pacific community have come out in support of a popular radio announcer after he was stood down from his weekend show Talanoa Pacific on Thursday. Read more
NZ: Congratulations to AUT grad Vaimoana Tapaleao, Qantas Junior Reporter of the Year
Pacific Media Centre: 16 June 2010
The Pacific Media Centre wishes to congratulate Samoan journalist and NZ Herald reporter, Vaimoana Tapaleao, on winning Junior Reporter of the Year at the 37th annual Qantas Media Awards held in Auckland last weekend.Read more
NZ: Deadline approaching for Bruce Jesson Award nominations
Pacific Media Centre: 10 June 2010
Calls for nominations for the Bruce Jesson Journalism Awards will close at the end of the month (30 June). Two awards are offered each year, including one for senior journalists and one for "emerging" student journalists in New Zealand. Read more
TONGA: PMW assists local journalist in human rights mentor programme
Pacific Media Watch: 3 June 2010
Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Josephine Latu has been signed on to become one of 18 mentors in a pilot programme launched this week by Tonga’s Women and Children Crisis Centre. Read more
REGION: 'Outsourcing danger' - the conflicting challenges facing war reporters
Pacific Media Centre: 25 May 2010
Keynote address by Shooting Balibo author Tony Maniaty, a former ABC television journalist and now senior lecturer in international journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney, at the War Reporting seminar at AUT University. Read more
REGION: PMC director talks media freedom on Jac radio
Pacific Media Centre/ JACradio: 17 May 2010
Pacific Media Centre director David Robie is among a host of people interviewed at the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day conference in Brisbane earlier this month. He talked to Lisa Machin from the JACradio team.
Read more
REGION: Latest PJR poses 'price of freedom' challenge
Pacific Media Centre: 16 May 2010
Editors, journalists and media researchers face the challenge of the “price of freedom” and the cost of reporting global conflict in the latest edition of Pacific Journalism Review. Writing in the edition, Shooting Balibo author Tony Maniaty makes a strong plea for wider acceptance of international humanitarian laws. Read more
NZ: Back to j-school a milestone for former Pacific broadcaster
Pacific Media Centre: 9 May 2010
Putting a media career on hold in order to go to back to journalism school was a tough choice, says Gladys Hartson, a former broadcaster at the Pacific Media Network currently studying at AUT University. Read more
NZ: Tribute to Elma MaUa, a Pacific journalism pioneer
Pacific Media Centre: 7 May 2010
Pacific Island journalists and broadcasters in New Zealand have paid tribute to veteran broadcaster and journalist Elma MaUa who has passed away after a long illness. Read more
REGION: PMC director calls for stronger voice against censorship
Pacific Media Centre: 6 May 2010
A New Zealand media educator who headed Pacific journalism schools for a decade has called for a stronger voice against censorship from the region’s communication education sector. Read more
REGION: PMC, Red Cross plan war reporting seminar
Pacific Media Centre: 25 April 2010
The Pacific Media Centre, International Committee of the Red Cross and New Zealand Red Cross are jointly hosting twin special events on reporting wars at AUT University next month. This will be a compelling event for media and communication professionals, journalism students, NGOs, and those interested in international humanitarian law. Read more
NZ: Media ethics on agenda for inaugural Indian Newslink scholarship winner
Pacific Media Centre: 22 April 2010
Barbara Dreaver’s Samoa “gangs and drugs” story, Voreqe Bainimarama’s controversial media decree in Fiji, and the Julian Moti saga in Australia make interesting news debates. And a common issue in the middle is media ethics. Read more
REGION: NZ joins Aust, Pacific in backing indigenous rights declaration
Pacific Scoop: 20 April 2010
United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has called on all governments and indigenous peoples to support the UN’s declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. The call came on the day New Zealand finally signed up to the Bill. Read more
REGION: Tonga, Tokelau stand staunch against commercial whaling push
Pacific Scoop: 19 April 2010
Pacific conservationists took a stand on the commercial whaling debate at a special awards event held at the Auckland museum on the weekend, saying it was “part of their culture” to conserve the marine mammals. Read more
TOKELAU: Faipule launches whale sanctuary
Pacific Scoop: 19 April 2010
An international panel of experts and members of the South Pacific Whale Research Consortium have one message to share, “No whaling in Sanctuaries – No way.” Read more
NZ/SAMOA: Media 7 panel criticises BSA over 'guns and drugs' ruling
Pacific Media Centre: 19 April 2010
Commentators on the Media 7 show (Barbara Dreaver, Tim Pankhurst, and Dr David Robie) last night criticised the Broadcasting Standards Authority ruling against a controversial Television New Zealand programme about gangs, guns and drugs, saying the BSA had “got it wrong”. Read more
FIJI: PMC comments on media decree and regional coverage
Pacific Media Centre: 17 April 2010
The controversial Fiji draft media decree, news coverage of Samoa and Tonga and the rest of the region and journalism education have all featured in this week's commentaries from the Pacific Media Centre. Read more
FIJI: RNZ's exclusion of Walsh analysis concerns Pacific media educator
Pacific Scoop: 15 April 2010
AUT University media academic and Pacific affairs commentator Dr David Robie has questioned Radio New Zealand’s apparent exclusion of fellow academic Crosbie Walsh from speaking on Fiji on its Nights programme. On his Café Pacific blog Dr Robie critiques RNZ’s coverage of Fiji affairs and compares it to worrying trends set by Radio Australia. Read more
REGION: Ocean voyage will highlight environmental issues threatening the Pacific
Pacific Scoop: 13 April 2010
Four vakas will set sail from Auckland Harbour this week on a pioneering group voyage to raise awareness about key environmental issues threatening the Pacific Ocean. With crew members hailing from a range of Pacific backgrounds, the voyage also aims to rebuild ancestral sea-faring traditions and cultural links between the islands. Read more
FIJI: PMC features in TVNZ report about media crackdown
Pacific Media Centre: 13 April 2010
Pacific Media Centre's David Robie featured in Barbara Dreaver's Television NZ report on the new Media Industry Development Decree 2010. Dreaver, still banned in Fiji by the military-backed government, says the regime is set to introduce tough new laws that could see journalists locked up or fined 10 times their salary if they write stories criticising the dictatorship. Read more
FIJI: PMC's David Robie critiques Fiji draft media decree
Pacific Media Centre: 13 April 2010
Pacific Scoop has featured David Robie, director of the Pacific Media Centre, talking about the controversial Media Industry Development Decree being ushered in by the military-backed regime. 95bFM’s Will Pollard interviews Dr Robie on the implications for the future in Fiji - and also around the Pacific region. Read more
FIJI: Broadcaster, community leader differ over draft decree
Pacific Media Watch: 12 April 2010
A broadcaster who produces a Fiji programme for a national Pacific radio station says many people remain silent so that they “don’t rock the boat” back home while a community leader says the issues are complex and the decree is aimed at ending all coups. Read more
REGION: Insights into Tongan democracy, coup culture in Fiji
Pacific Media Centre: 12 April 2010
Constitutional reform in Tonga and the coup culture in Fiji have been featured by two insightful speakers in the closing plenary session of the “Oceanic Transformations” conference in Melbourne at the weekend.
REGION: Media topic precursor to 'Oceanic Transformations'
conference
Pacific Media Centre: 9 April 2010
The role of journalism in the Pacific was discussed in an informal gathering as a precursor to the conference “Oceanic Transformations” convened by the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies (AAAPS) that opened today in Melbourne, Australia. Read more
FIJI: Draft media decree ‘draconian and punitive’, says PMC
Pacific Media Centre: 8 April 2010
Fiji’s draft media decree is draconian and punitive and will fail as a development communication model, says the head of the New Zealand-based Pacific Media Centre. Read more
FIJI: Draconian draft media law triggers news group protests
Pacific Scoop/ Pacific Media Centre: 8 April 2010
A draconian draft media law for Fiji proposed by the military-backed regime has sparked immediate protest by news groups, academics and civil society movements. Read more
NZ: Pasifika media scholarship winners set their goals
Pacific Media Centre: 4 April 2010
Two new Pasifika scholarship students have joined the Bachelor of Communication Studies degree programme at AUT University this year - and hope to inspire young people in their communities to follow their lead. Read more
TONGA: Why the Ashika tragedy is shaking the Sevele government to its core
Pacific Scoop/ Pacific Media Watch: 2 April 2010
Earlier this year, Tongan MP and pro-democracy leader ‘Akilisi Pohiva made a drastic prediction about the nation’s worst tragedy since the 1918 flu epidemic. “This will spell the end of the current monarchial government,” he told New Zealand-based T-News. Read more
TONGA: Damning Inquiry report says failure of authority at the heart of Ashika disaster
Pacific Scoop/ Pacific Media Watch: 1 April 2010
A damning report by the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika submitted to King George Tupou V yesterday, stated the key causes of problems that led to the August 5th disaster last year, were both a failure to conduct due diligence and a failure of leaders to perform their duties properly. Read more
NZ: Key US Pacific Affairs official visits PMC
Pacific Scoop: 31 March 2010
Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) Frankie Reed, of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the US Department of State, has paid a visit to the Pacific Media Centre at AUT University. She met PMC director associate professor David Robie and several project journalists and students involved in the centre. Read more
NZ: Government preparing a U-turn over its commercial whaling policy
Pacific Scoop: 31 March 2010
UPDATED: The New Zealand government is in retreat over its controversial commercial whaling policy. Its delegat to the International Whaling Commission, Sir Geoffrey Palmer admitted Thursday that he is struggling to get international support for NZ’s capped-commercial-whaling plan.
BURMA: UN urges military junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi and 2000 others
Pacific Scoop: 29 March 2010
The United Nations Human Rights Council has urged Burma’s military junta to release Aung San Suu Kyi and 2000 other prisoners of conscience. Read more
NZ: Culture and diversity at forefront of AUT media excellence awards
Pacific Scoop: 26 March 2010
With a “real passion to share the rich history” of his Pacific culture, John Pulu has been awarded the Spasifik Prize and Storyboard Award for diversity journalism. Read more
NZ: Opinion - Race tagging in media reporting
Pacific Scoop: 26 March 2010
The Minister of Maori Affairs and the Co-Leader of the Maori Party marked the Race Relations Day last week at a Marae with some sadness. He expressed his concerns at the way New Zealanders treated their migrant communities, especially Asians who were not made to feel at home or welcomed here. Read more
NZ: Loans ought not to be the only option for tertiary students
Pacific Scoop: 25 March 2010
A prominent Pacific Island community leader is asking the government to channel more money into tertiary education for Pacific students. Read more
BURMA: UN HRC urged to endorse Special Rappoteur's report
Pacific Scoop: 24 March 2010
The NGO, International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) has written to the United Nations human rights council urging its members to endorse the findings of the special rapporteur who found institutionalised and widespread violations against Burma’s peoples. Read more
NZ: NGO's to oppose Beehive's softly softly whaling policy
Pacific Scoop: 22 March 2010
A group of New Zealand based international non-government-organisations have grouped together to fight the NZ government over its soft approach to commercial whaling. Read more
SOLOMON IS/NZ: Being the First launched in NZ by honorary consul
Pacific Scoop: 19 March 2010
The first group of Solomon Islands women to write stories about their lives are now sharing them with the world, in a book titled Being The First. This book has been presented by Solomon Islands honorary consul to New Zealand, Doreen Kuper at a launch at AUT University’s Institute of Public Policy. Read more
SOLOMON IS: Women 'barrier breakers' tell their story
Pacific Scoop: 17 March 2010
When Solomon Islanders at the launch of Being the First were each handed a copy of the book, the general reaction was one of “awe”. The book is the first ever to document the lives of leading Solomon Island women from their own point of view, and the first published historical account of achievements by local women over the past 50 years. Read more
FIJI: Cyclone Tomas roars at 275 km/h
Pacific Scoop: 16 March 2010
After more than 24 hours of pounding Fiji, initial reports suggest Cyclone Tomas has caused at least one death, and UNICEF officers write of significant infrastructure damage, widespread disruptions to power supplies, drinking water and transportation, flooding and eight metre sea-swells. Read more
REGION: Activists urge NZ leaders to act on climate change
Pacific Scoop/ Pacific Media Watch: 15 March 2010
Amidst the vibrant cultural fairs at Auckland’s Pasifika Festival last weekend, a petition was passed around by Green activists who hoped to sway government to committing to a 40 to 50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, as well as assisting in climate change adaptation programs in affected areas. Read more
INDONESIA: Shooting of terrost Dulmatin overshadows key media conflict seminar
Pacific Scoop/ Cafe Pacific: 15 March 2010
WHAT an irony that the Jakarta media headlines were focusing on a “terrorism training camp” scare in Indonesia’s western-most Aceh province and shootouts in an outlying suburb that left fugitive Dulmatin and two other suspects dead just when a regional East Asia media forum opened with a focus on the “intersections of conflict, culture and religion”. Read more
REGION: NZ sponsors regional conflict reporting media forum
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 13 March 2010
JAKARTA: Six New Zealand and Pacific delegates - including Pacific Media Centre director Associate Professor David Robie - were among journalists from across the East Asia region who gathered in Jakarta this week for a conference on reporting the "intersection of politics, religion and culture" in times of conflict. Read more
SOLOMON IS: Witnesses to conflict call for perpetrators to appear before hearings
Pacific Scoop: 12 March 2010
The first truth and reconciliation commission hearings concluded this week in Honiara with 19 witnesses giving their account of five years of conflict in the Solomon Islands, many urged perpetrators of the violence to appear before future hearings. Read more
EAST TIMOR: Ramos-Horta will support International Criminal Tribunal
Pacific Scoop: 11 March 2010
Timor-Leste’s president José Ramos-Horta will support a UN-backed international criminal tribunal that would investigate killings that took place in the former Indonesia colony between 1975 to 1999 – if the UN organises it. Read more
NZ: Opinion - Indian Kiwis hurt by seemingly warped justice system
Pacific Scoop: 10 March 2010
The verdict of the jury (and the court) in the murder trial of the killers of Navtej Singh, Manurewa liquor store owner who was shot in his store last year in a gang robbery, has sent wrong signals about the fairness and the consistency of the justice system in New Zealand.
REGION: 'Oceanic' identity weighed up at Pacific Debate Series
Pacific Scoop: 9 March 2010
A discussion on whether Pacific peoples should be represented by one common “Oceanic” identity brought out differing views between Māori and Pacific participants at the first session of the Fakakaukau Pacific Debate Series, a three day event organized as part of this year’s Pasifika Festival.
NZ/SAMOA: Opinion - TVNZ 'gangs, guns and drugs' too gung ho for the BSA
Cafe Pacific/ Pacific Scoop: 8 March 2010
So the Samoan government has jumped the gun on the Television New Zealand “gangsta paradise” affair. In its eagerness to win a political point or two over the state-owned broadcaster (which incidentally has just supplied a “Pacific TV” gift of broadcast equipment to Samoa) in its long-standing controversial complaint about TVNZ accuracy, fairness and ethics, the government has itself breached the broadcast industry’s watchdog embargo.
TONGA: Media restricted from Dalgety trial
Pacific Media Watch: 4 March 2010
The Tongan news media has been banned from reporting details about court proceedings against shipping company secretary Ramsay R. Dalgety, who has been charged with lying under oath in relation to the ongoing inquiry into the Princess Ashika ferry tragedy. Read more
SOLOMON IS: Publishing triumph for unwritten language
Radio Australia/ Pacific Media Centre: 4 March 2010
Compiling a book on leading women in Solomon Islands is no easy thing when a major language in the country - pijin blong Solomon, or Solomons Pidgin - is only a spoken language. But Marilyn Waring, editor of Being the First, rallied to the cause, with the help of the subjects of the book, the country's leading women. Read more
SAMOA: Editors clash over radio talkback defamation case
Pacific Media Watch: 27 February 2010
A defamation case involving allegations on a popular talkback radio about the Samoan justice minister has divided local media opinion about the issue. Read more
TONGA: Ashika Inquiry chairman censures PM over 'inappropriate remark'
Pacific Scoop: 25 February 2010
Tonga’s Prime Minister, Dr Feleti Sevele, has been censured for making an “inappropriate” personal remark to counsel assisting, in a closing statement he gave to the Princess Ashika disaster inquiry following an intense session of questioning that continued until midnight on Tuesday. Read more
NZ: Pacific Spice captivates crowd at Radio Tarana's Fiji Festival
Pacific Scoop: 23 February 2010
Pacific Spice – a dance group made up of Cook Islanders, Samoans and Tongans – captivated the audience with a lively Bollywood number at New Zealand’s weekend Fiji Festival hosted by community broadcaster Radio Tarana. Read more
TONGA: Futa Helu - 'A genius who built something from nothing'
Pacific Media Centre: 17 February 2010
FOR MORE than four decades, 'Atenisi Institute founding professor 'I Futa Helu has been one of the greatest philosophers in the Pacific, with an extraordinary international influence on education, social and political discourse - and even media. His sad passing this month at the age of 75 has left a gap in the intellectual leadership and humanity in Tonga and the region. Read more
REGION: Increased US-China rivalry will impact on Pacific, warns academic
Pacific Scoop: 13 February 2010
International relations and security analyst Dr Paul Buchanan has warned of increased militarisation in the Western Pacific Rim states and the erosion of accountable government as the United States-China struggle for global power intensifies. Read more
REGION: Creative Commons cites Pacific Scoop as case study
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 6 February 2010
Pacific Scoop, the new niche website launched by the Pacific Media Centre and Scoop Media last August, has been featured on the Creative Commons case study wiki. www.pacific.scoop.co.nz
Read more
REGION/TONGA: Opinion - Futa Helu: An extraordinary vision and independent thinking
Pacific Scoop: 4 February 2010
The loss of inspirational Tongan philosopher, educator and social critic ‘Ilaisa Futa ‘i Ha’angana Helu, who died on Tuesday at the age of 75, will be felt deeply throughout the Pacific.
Read more
REGION: Buchanan to speak on Pacific geopolitics at PMC
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 3 February 2010
International relations and security analyst Dr Paul Buchanan is returning to New Zealand for a month and will deliver a public lecture focusing on South East Asia and South Pacific geopolitics and security.
Read more
NZ: Nurse wins first Kiwi-Asian journalism scholarship
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 3 February 2010
A young Filipina-New Zealander has been awarded the first Asia New Zealand Foundation Kiwi Asian Journalism Scholarship.
The successful candidate, Corazon Miller, is of Filipina and New Zealand European descent.
Read more
REGION: Pacific Media Watch wins grant to boost freedom of expression project
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 26 January 2010
The Pacific Media Watch freedom of expression monitoring project at AUT University has been awarded a $15,000 development grant to expand its regional database and journalism resource. www.pacmediawatch.aut.nz
Read more
REGION: Crowd pleasers - a new way to pay for quality journalism
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 17 January 2010
Pacific Scoop features in an article about new models for funding independent and public journalism. Now traditional media face a new addition to the list of threats to newspapers - non-profit news publishers.
Read more
REGION: Café Pacific's new decade media awards
Pacific Media Centre Niusblog: 8 January 2010
Café Pacific marked the transition into the second decade of the century with six awards to media groups and individuals for their efforts in the Oceania region.
Read more
PNG: Government set to disband riots probe after 'aliens' media furore
Pacific Media Watch: 18 November 2009
Papua New Guinea’s parliamentary bipartisan committee investigating the anti-Asian rioting in May will be disbanded, a senior government source has revealed. Read more
NZ: A gifted diplomat who stood taller than most in the Pacific
Pacific Scoop: 17 November 2009
The passing away of a gentleman and career diplomat, Tia Barrett, has come as a shock to those who knew him. Read more
PNG: Media lobby group calls for independent review of 'aliens' controversy
Pacific Media Centre: 16 November 2009
A Pacific regional media lobby group has called on Papua New Guinea’s Post-Courier daily newspaper to seek an independent review of a story which it describes as a “journalistic nightmare”. Read more
PNG: Filipino journalist accuses rival media of 'aliens' story fabrication
Pacific Media Watch: 13 November 2009
A senior journalist on the Malaysian-owned National newspaper has accused the rival Rupert Murdoch daily Post-Courier of “fabricating” a front page lead story claiming 16,000 alien Filipinos are living in Papua New Guinea. Read more
TONGA: Commission calls for more people’s seats, less political power for King
Pacific Media Centre: 10 November 2009
Limiting the King of Tonga’s powers and almost doubling the number of people’s seats in Parliament from nine to 17 are among key recommendations in the Constitutional and Electoral Commission’s final report. Read more
NZ: Budding Maori, Pasifika filmmakers now have sights on media industry
Pacific Media Centre: 7 November 2009
Winners at AUT University’s inaugural Flavorz09 film festival for student video makers last night say they are now inspired to break into the industry. Read more
FIJI: New crimes decree replaces penal code
Pacific Media Centre: 6 November 2009
After 100 years of existence, the Fiji Penal Code has been finally overhauled and replaced with a new Crimes Decree, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation News reports. Read more
FIJI: Expulsion of Australian, NZ envoys blamed on taped conversation
Pacific Media Centre: 4 November 2009
The Fiji government’s expulsion order against Australian High Commissioner James Batley and acting New Zealand High Commissioner Todd Cleaver has been blamed on taped information given by the Chief Justice Anthony Gates to Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, Radio Fiji reports. Read more
FIJI: Chief Justice condemns Australian, NZ 'interference' and 'hostility'
Pacific Media Centre: 3 November 2009
Fiji’s Chief Justice Anthony Gates has condemned Australia and New Zealand for breaching international conventions over judicial “interference” and “hostility” and has called on both countries to lift travel bans on the judiciary. Read more
NZ: New professor targets Pasifika policy development
Pacific Scoop: 30 October 2009
New Zealand’s first professor of Pacific studies, Tagaloatele Peggy Fairbairn-Dunlop, wants to see more Pacific Islanders at decision-making levels and she believes postgraduate education is the key to achieving this goal. Read more
TONGA: Ashika witnesses tell disaster inquiry of corrosion, holes, last minute welding
Pacific Scoop: 30 October 2009
Potentially damning testimonies from a welder and an engineer were presented this week to Tonga’s Royal Commission of Inquiry charged with investigating sinking of the Princess Ashika interisland ferry. Read more
AUST: Balibo scores 14 AFI award nominations
Pacific Scoop: 28 October 2009
Balibo, a film about the murder of five Australian-based journalists by Indonesian troops during the invasion of East Timor in 1975, has topped this year's AFI Awards nominations. Read more
NZ: Māori TV bid stirs fresh debate over multicultural future
Pacific Scoop: 27 October 2009
Having a Kiwi sense of identity in the future will not be possible without having multicultural citizenship, says a Massey University sociologist. Read more
REGION: Trauma, environmental journalism, health reporting and te reo Māori in new PJR
Pacific Media Centre: 24 October 2009
Trauma and exiled writers, the challenge of environmental journalism in Delta land, issues of editorial “slant” in health reporting and use of te reo Maori in newspapers are some of the topics featured in the latest edition of Pacific Journalism Review. Read more
FIJI: Press freedom ranking tumbles in RSF world survey
Pacific Scoop: 21 October 2009
Political power grabs have dealt press freedom serious blows in the Asia-Pacific region with Fiji being a major casualty, according to the latest Reporters sans frontičres world media freedom rankings. Read more
FIJI: Opinion - Many more media questions need answers
Pacific Scoop: 20 October 2009
The launch of the long awaited and anticipated special edition of Fijian Studies research journal is seen as a breath of fresh air for Fiji news media. It was appropriately devoted to media and “the struggle for democracy in the past 20 years”. Read more
FIJI: Free up media or risk corruption, fund collapse, warns economist
Pacific Scoop: 16 October 2009
A leading Fiji economist has called on the military backed regime to lift the tough censorship curbs on news media or risk growing corruption and a major financial institution collapse. Read more
REGION: New AUT media programme targets Pacific journalists
Pacific Scoop: 15 October 2009
A shortage of Pacific Islanders undertaking journalism training in New Zealand will be addressed next year with the introduction of a new course at AUT University. Read more
FIJI: New book questions media standards but defends free press
Pacific Scoop: 14 October 2009
Fiji Islanders have a “palpable dissatisfaction” with media standards but this is overridden by a public desire to have a free press, says a new book about Fiji journalism and democracy. Read more
TONGA: Out-of-hours tsunami silence troubles media
Pacific Scoop: 8 October 2009
Concern has been raised after the kingdom’s National Emergency Management Office reportedly failed to send out a tsunami warning to the public immediately after last Wednesday’s “Samoan tsunami” disaster. Read more
REGION: Quake off Vanuatu coast – Pacific tsunami alert lifted
Pacific Scoop: 8 October 2009
A second Pacific tsunami warning in a week – this time after two earthquakes in the space of an hour off the north-western coast of Vanuatu – has been cancelled after reports of only a “tiny” wave. Read more
AM.SAMOA/ SAMOA: Oxfam to boost tsunami aid, curfew in Pagopago
Pacific Scoop: 4 October 2009
Oxfam has stepped up its aid effort in Samoa in the wake of this week’s devastating tsunami as the American Samoan government imposed a curfew to control looting. Read more
TONGA: Aid follows tsunami deaths, destruction
Pacific Scoop: 4 October 2009
A rescue aircraft arrived on the Tongan island of Niuatoputapu in the remote northern Nuias group on Thursday evening after a tsunami destroyed villages and claimed the lives of nine people so far. Read more
SAMOA: Huge tsunami sweeps many to their death
Pacific Scoop: 30 September 2009
A huge tsunami struck American Samoa and Samoa early day, causing many deaths in both Pacific island groups. Initial reports from Sky News put the death toll in American Samoa at 14, while upgraded reports estimate the death toll in Western Samoa at over 100. Read more
TONGA: Activists criticise government refusal to ratify global women's protocol
Pacific Scoop: 25 September 2009
Human rights advocates have strongly criticised the Tongan Parliament’s refusal to ratify the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women earlier this month. Read more
EAST TIMOR: Political thriller 'sanitised' Australian cover-up of Balibo murders
Pacific Scoop: 24 September 2009
The political thriller Balibo – about the murder of six Australian-based journalists in East Timor, including a New Zealander – will screen at an Auckland cinema tonight as a pre-release school fundraiser amid continuing controversy abroad. Read more
NZ: Activists welcome Burmese political prisoners release but sound warning
Pacific Scoop: 21 September 2009
Burmese refugees and activists in New Zealand have welcomed this week’s recent release of 54 political prisoners, while also challenging whether the move was part of a game the regime is playing with Western governments. Read more
FIJI: Bainimarama vows not to be ‘bullied’ by Australia, NZ
Pacific Media Watch/ Pacific Scoop:15 September 2009
Fiji’s military-backed prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama has vowed not to be bullied by Australia and New Zealand, and has defended his curbs on the Pacific country’s media. Read more
FIJI: Praise greets Amnesty report but Fiji regime condemns ‘lies’
Pacific Media Centre/ Pacific Scoop: 10 September 2009
A chorus of praise has greeted the Amnesty International report on alleged post-putsch human rights violations for “exposing the suffering” but the regime condemned the document as being based on “lies”. Read more
FIJI: Regime targets journalists with 'Gestapo-like' intimidation, says AI
Pacific Media Watch/ Pacific Scoop: 8 September 2009
Fiji authorities are using a variety of “repressive tactics” to smother free speech, including short-term arrests and intimidation of journalists, says Amnesty International. Read more
TONGA: AG's media comments 'foolish, insulting' says NZ group
Pacific Media Watch/ Pacific Scoop: 8 September 2009
A New Zealand group supporting political reform in Tonga has harshly criticised Tongan Attorney-General John Cauchi for claiming on the Matangi Tonga online news site last week that Tongans cannot tell fact from opinion when reading the news. Read more
REGION: Amnesty has sights on Fiji in damning new human rights report due tomorrow
Pacific Media Centre/ Pacific Scoop: 7 September 2009
Amnesty International’s Pacific human rights campaign will rise another notch with the release of a damning new report on Fiji tomorrow and further investigations in the pipeline on urban poverty in Fiji and the Solomon Islands and domestic violence in Papua New Guinea. Read more
TONGA: Ashika Commission to announce second member this week
Pacific Media Watch/ Pacific Scoop: 31 August 2009
Tonga’s Royal Commission of Inquiry, charged with investigating why the Princess Ashika sank earlier this month, is expected to name its second member this week, according to Attorney-General John Cauchi. Meanwhile, Cauchi has urged the media to exercise restraint and responsibility in its coverage of the August 6 disaster. Read more
NEW CALEDONIA: Jailed union leader calls for probe into ‘terrible’ prison conditions for Kanaks
Pacific Media Centre/ Pacific Scoop: 29 August 2009
Jailed for a year for his role in leading a strike against New Caledonia’s airline, union leader Gérard Jodar has condemned the “terrible” prison conditions in Noumea’s notorious Camp Est prison. Read more
REGION: Pacific Scoop boosts global coverage, says founder
Pacific Media Centre/ Pacific Scoop: 28 August 2009
Hopes are high that Pacific Scoop will open up a window on the region with its New Zealand and global audience, says the co-founder of Scoop. Read more
REGION: New independent regional news site launched
Pacific Media Watch/ Pacific Scoop: 26 August 2009
The independent news website Scoop is hosting a new Pacific online media service being launched at AUT University’s Māori Expo in Auckland tomorrow. Pacific Scoop is a partnership between Scoop Media and AUT's Pacific Media Centre. Read more
NZ: Former Fiji editor lifts bar for ethnic media
Pacific Media Centre/ Pacific Scoop: 24 August 2009
The chief editor of a new community newspaper catering for the Indo-Fijian and Indian diaspora in New Zealand has vowed to raise the bar in ethnic publishing. Read more
PNG: Bougainville’s New Dawn FM wins global media award
Pacific Media Watch/ Pacific Scoop: 23 August 2009
A pioneering community radio station in Papua New Guinea’s autonomous province of Bougainville has won the University of Queensland’s global 2009 Communication and Social Change Award. Read more
REGION: PINA summit fails to stand up for media freedom
Pacific Media Watch/ Matangi Tonga: 5 August 2009
The Suva-based Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) continues to struggle to establish itself as a champion of media freedom in the Pacific Islands. Read more
TONGA: New Pacific Programme to challenge 'outsider' history
Pacific Media Centre: 5 July 2009
A pioneering new Pacific studies programme at Tonga’s ‘Atenisi University is set to change the way Tongan and Pacific history has been written, while embracing the institute’s classical philosophy. Read more
NZ: Pacific radio defends ban over 'unbalanced' Fiji interview
Pacific Media Centre: 3 July 2009
A New Zealand-based Pacific radio network has moved to defuse a controversy over a Fijian-language interview critical of the Methodist Church and alleged involvement of some leading clergy in past coups. Read more
NZ: Thousands of Pacific children 'miss out' on school
Pacific Media Centre: 28 June 2009
Thousands of Pacific children – possibly up to 5000 – may be missing out on education in New Zealand because their parents are overstayers, says a Pasifika school trustee spokesperson. Read more
