ASIAN MEDIA INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION CENTRE
AMIC Pacific representatives Professor David Robie, the 2015 AMIC Asia Communication Awardee, and Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, continue to play a leading role in media research in the region.

 Dr Robie, the AMIC representative for Aotearoa New Zealand, and founding deputy chair of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), and Dr Singh, the Fiji representative, and head of the Journalism Programme at the University of the South Pacific, teamed up for the launch of a new academic journal, Pacific Media.

The journal succeeds the long-running Pacific Journalism Review, founded by Dr Robie at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994 and published for three decades. 

 

Supported by Tuwhera Open Access at Auckland University of Technology, the new publication aims to provide greater accessibility, flexibility, and community engagement in Pacific media scholarship.

 

The inaugural edition was co-edited by Dr Singh and Dr Amit Sarwal. The series editor is Khairiah A. Rahman, Dr Robie is managing editor, and Del Abcede is editorial designer.

Watch for an upcoming article about the second edition in the Pacific Media series, published in partnership with the Asian Congress for Media and Communication (ACMC)

 

 
According to Dr Singh, the journal signals an ongoing commitment to research on Pacific media, development, and democracy at a time when the region faces unprecedented pressures. These include the impacts of artificial intelligence, misinformation and disinformation, intensifying geopolitical competition between China and Western powers,

climate change, and public health challenges such as HIV and drug epidemics. 

At the same time, Pacific news organisations remain financially fragile due to digital disruption and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Many of these issues were highlighted during the Pacific Media International Conference 2024 held in Suva, the first major regional gathering of media scholars and practitioners in two decades. Hosted by the USP Journalism Programme in partnership with the Pacific Islands News Association, the United States Embassy in Suva, and APMN, the conference strengthened collaboration between academia and industry while drawing attention to structural challenges facing Pacific journalism.

 

The 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review was also launched at the conference. It has published more than 1000 articles over its 30 years. 

 

The journal and its legacy was featured by DevPolicy, the academic blog of the

Australian National University:
https://devpolicy.org/pacific-journalism-review-at-30-a-strong-media-legacy-20240802/  

 

Looking ahead, Dr. Singh emphasised the need to expand research, mentoring, and partnerships to support the next generation of Pacific journalists and scholars, ensuring Pacific voices remain central to global conversations about the region. Pacific Media (and the PJR archives) is now available at the Informit global database:

https://search.informit.org/journal/pacmed

This article is republished from the March 2026 quarterly edition of the AMIC newsletter.

+ Read the full Q & A article on the AMIC newsletter:
https://amic.asia/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/AMIC-Newsletter-Q1-2026.pdf