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PACIFIC MEDIA CENTRE
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NZ: AUT offers new Pacific journalism programme
By Josephine Latu/Pacific Media Watch, 14 October 2008
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Several projects announced at the Pasifika media fono at AUT University last Friday will benefit Pacific Islanders who wish to study media or work in the industry.
Organisations such as AUT’s School of Communication Studies, the Pacific Cooperation Foundation, and national television stations indicated new opportunities to help Pacific people strengthen their skills and involvement in the media.
During the conference opening, the Acting Head of the School of Communication Studies, Dr Alan Cocker, announced AUT would be launching a one-year Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism programme, with the first intake of students set for 2010.
PMC director David Robie and AUT’s communication studies Pasifika student liaison officer Isabella Rasch at PIMA08. Photo: Del Abcede/PMC. |
The programme’s development was spearheaded by Pacific Media Centre director Dr David Robie, and follows a global trend towards specialist journalism courses.
“There is an increasing demand for both more journalists in the growing Pasifika media industry and highly-skilled cross-cultural journalists for the mainstream. This new course is a logical outcome of the demographic changes in New Zealand, and particularly Auckland,” said Dr Robie.
The new course targets Pasifika people who wish to enter journalism from another career, students from around the Pacific region seeking a New Zealand qualification, and Pasifika students working towards a career in Pasifika or mainstream media.
Students will take core journalism courses, as well as papers focused specifically on Pacific Island media issues.
Dr Robie also successfully pushed for internships in Pasifika media as well recognition of Pasifika languages as key parts of the course.
A Pacific Islands journalist and media educator will be recruited to run the programme.
AUT’s School of Communication Studies has sponsored annual undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships for Pasifika journalists and students – 13 have been assisted so far.
AUT also worked with PIMA to develop the new graduate diploma.
In a second initiative, AUT is also in the process of setting up a new campus in Manukau to better serve the South Auckland community.
“The intake to the school has been largely from the Eastern and North Shore suburbs, heavily female and European,” said Dr Cocker.
In order to reflect the diversity of the Auckland community, he said that in the last few years there has been more emphasis on recruiting students from the West and South, particularly males.
However, in catering to a diversity of students, Dr Cocker says that the needs of these communities must also be taken into consideration.
In this case, it means upgrading journalism training for current practitioners, and also tailoring certificate level qualifications for Pacific or Māori school leavers who do not meet the requirements to enter the bachelor degree programme.
The scheme is in line with AUT’s tradition of supporting Pacific Island and Māori initiatives.
Meanwhile, other non-academic projects are currently in place at the Pacific Cooperation Foundation, an NGO whose work includes improving the relationship between New Zealand media organisations and those from around the Pacific region.
Programme manager David Vaeafe, who travelled from Wellington to attend the conference, said there are four PCF schemes in New Zealand to improve journalists’ skills and understanding about the Pacific region.
These include projects to fund a media graduate every two years to work in a Pacific media organisation, funding for journalists to travel to the Pacific to cover stories, culture and language training for non-Pasifika staff in the mainstream media, as well as sponsorship of the Pacific Island Issues Awards at the annual Qantas Media Awards.
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