Archive

Manipulated media: The weapon of the Right

The re-election of Donald Trump is proof that the Right’s most powerful weapon is media manipulation, ensuring the public sphere is not engaged in rational debate, reports the Independent Australia.

COMMENTARY: By Victoria Fielding
I once heard someone say that when the Left and the Right became polarised — when they divorced from each other — the Left got all the institutions of truth including science, education, justice and democratic government.

Parihaka’s matriarch, champion of tikanga and peace advocate Maata Wharehoka dies at 74

OBITUARY: By Heather Devere
Maata Wharehoka (Ngāti Tahinga, Ngāti Koata, Ngāti Apakura, Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Kuia. 1950-2025

Maata Wharehoka has been described as the Parihaka Matriarch, Parihaka leader and arts advocate, “champion of Kahu Whakatere Tupapaku, the tikanga Māori practices, expert in marae arts, raranga (weaving) and karanga”, renowned weaver who revived traditional Māori methods of death and burial, “driving force behind Parihaka’s focus to be a self-sufficient community”, Kaitiaki (or guardian)…

Kia Ora Whānau #8 - APMN News updates


Kia Ora Whānau #8
Asia Pacific Network News Updates #8/2025. 23 February 2025.

Our latest newsletter is rather late in the day, but much has been happening with the APMN whanau over the past few months, and a lot more is on the way.
 
Making Connections book launch
As a quick intro, friends and supporters gathered at the Ponsonby home of our chair Heather Devere for a garden celebration of the…

US backing for Pacific disinformation media course casualty of Trump aid ‘freeze’

Pacific Media Watch
A New Zealand-based community education provider, Dark Times Academy, has had a US Embassy grant to deliver a course teaching Pacific Islands journalists about disinformation terminated after the new Trump administration took office.

The new US administration requested a list of course participants and to review the programme material amid controversy over a “freeze” on federal aid policies.

The course presentation team refused and the contract was terminated…

Mediawatch: NZ media in the middle of Asia-Pacific diplomatic drama

MEDIAWATCH: By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter
By the time US President Donald Trump announced tariffs on China and Canada last Monday which could kickstart a trade war, New Zealand’s diplomats in Washington, DC, had already been deployed on another diplomatic drama.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz had said on social media it was “difficult to treat New Zealand as a normal ally . . .  when they denigrate and punish Israeli…

Trump’s foreign aid freeze throws independent journalism into chaos

President Donald Trump has frozen billions of dollars around the world in aid projects, including more than $268 million allocated by Congress to support independent media and the free flow of information.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has denounced this decision, which has plunged NGOs, media outlets, and journalists doing vital work into chaotic uncertainty — including in the Pacific.

In a statement published on its website, RSF…

Trump’s ‘free speech’ vision comes at expense of press freedom

Pacific Media Watch
Among his first official acts on returning to the White House, President Donald Trump issued an executive order “restoring freedom of speech and ending federal censorship”.
Implicit in this vaguely written document: the United States is done fighting mis- and disinformation online, reports the Paris-based global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Meanwhile, far from living up to the letter or spirit of his own order, Trump is…

PNG media policy ‘new era journalism’ draft law ready, says Masiu

NBC News in Port Moresby
Papua New Guinea’s cabinet has officially given the green light to the PNG media policy, which will soon be presented to Parliament for formal enactment.

Minister for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Timothy Masiu believes this policy will address ongoing concerns about sensationalism, ethical standards, and the portrayal of violence in the media.

In an interview with NBC News in Port Moresby, Masiu outlined the urgent need…

Filipino Pultizer winner 'Bok' Mogato reflects in new book: ‘In my early days, I was reckless’


By Ria de Borja in Manila
For 30 years, Filipino journalist Manny “Bok” Mogato covered the police and defence rounds, and everything from politics to foreign relations, sports, and entertainment, eventually bagging one of journalism’s top prizes — the Pulitzer in 2018, for his reporting on Duterte’s drug war along with two other Reuters correspondents, Andrew Marshall and Clare Baldwin.

For Mogato it was time for him to “write it all…

An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from the world’s fact-checkers – nine years later

Pacific Media Watch
An open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in response to the social media giant’s decision to abandon its fact-checking regime protection in the US against hoaxes and conspiracy theories. No New Zealand fact-checkers are on the list of signatories.

Dear Mr Zuckerberg,
Nine years ago, we wrote to you about the real-world harms caused by false information on Facebook. In response, Meta created a fact-checking…

APMN's Christmas message for peace

Kia ora tatou, Kia orana, Ni sa bula / Namaste / Noaˈia ˈe mạuri, Ko na mauri, Ekamowir Omo,  Gude / Hai, Talofa lava, Fakafeiloaki, Malo e lelei, Talofa, Halo, and warm Pacific greetings from us here at the Asia Pacific Media Network.

We are sharing below the Christmas card designed and contributed by committee member Del Abcede with some quotes from the much loved sermon from Bethlehem's Lutheran Christmas Church…

APMN's submission on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill

ASIA PACIFIC MEDIA NETWORK TE KOAKOA (APMN) INCORPORATED SOCIETY
 
SUBMISSION TO SELECT COMMITTEE ON PRINCIPLES OF THE TREATY OF WAITANGI BILL
 
DECEMBER 2024
 
The Asia Pacific Media Network Te Koakoa Incorporated is a nonprofit collective of journalists, academics, researchers, and community activists based in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.  APMN is dedicated to the analysis and communication of issues relevant to New Zealand and its neighbours in the…

Kai and Kōrero with the APMN

Asia Pacific Media Network
Members and supporters of the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) held a pre-Christmas “Kai and Kōrero” networking lunch at the Whanau Community Centre and Hub today.
 
Plenty of laughter and fresh ideas for 2025 were shared by about 25 community advocates, academics, activists, journalists and broadcasters from a host of action groups that share the hub along with some diverse media organisations, including the Fiji Centre and…

APMN invitation - end-of-year Kai and Kōrero sharing

Kia Ora APMN members,
I do hope you are all doing well and shining in your respective areas of expertise and interests.

Please see the attached invitation to our end-of-year Kai and Kōrero sharing.
The date is Wednesday, 18 December 2024, 11.30am-2.00pm.

I must apologise as I will be away then but will be with you in spirit as we celebrate our efforts in advancing the APMN mission, which is "dedicated…

RSF says global attacks on journalists ‘alarming’, Gaza ‘most dangerous’ and seeks ‘urgent action’

Pacific Media Watch
The global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has revealed an “alarming intensification of attacks on journalists” in its 2024 annual roundup — especially in conflict zones such as Gaza.

Gaza stands out as the “most dangerous” region in the world, with the highest number of journalists murdered in connection with their work in the past five years.

Since October 2023, the Israeli military have killed more than…

How media could help social cohesion and unite people – a Fiji journalism educator’s view

By Alifereti Sakiasi in Suva
Social cohesion is a national responsibility, and everyone, including the media, should support government’s efforts, according to Dr Shailendra Singh, associate professor in Pacific Journalism at the University of the South Pacific.

While the news media are often accused of exacerbating conflict by amplifying ethnic tensions through biased narratives, media could also assist social cohesion and unite people by promoting dialogue and mutual understanding, said Dr Singh.

RSF condemns assassination of Cambodian environmental journalist

Pacific Media Watch
The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders has condemned the assassination of Cambodian investigative environmental journalist Chhoeung Chheng who has died from his wounds.

He was shot by an illegal logger last week while investigating unlawful deforestation in the country’s northwest.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged the Cambodian government make sure this crime does not go unpunished, and to take concrete measures to protect journalists.

How Jeton Anjain planned the Rongelap evacuation – new RNZ Rainbow Warrior podcast series

REVIEW: By Giff Johnson in Majuro
As a prelude to the 40th anniversary of the evacuation of Rongelap Islanders to Mejatto Island in Kwajalein in 1985, Radio New Zealand and ABC Radio Australia have produced a six-part podcast series that details the Rongelap story — in the context of The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior, the name of the series.

It is narrated by journalist James Nokise, and includes story…

New course planned to help Pacific media professionals counter disinformation

Pacific Media Watch
An Aotearoa New Zealand-based community education provider is preparing a new course aimed to help media professionals in the Pacific region understand and respond to the complex issue of disinformation.

The eight-week course “A Bit Sus (Pacific)”, developed by the Dark Times Academy, will be offered free to journalists, editors, programme directors and others involved in running media organisations across the Pacific, beginning in February 2025.

“Our course will…

Climate protests to continue despite 170 charged in Newcastle ‘protestival’


Australia’s draconian anti-protest laws, the world’s biggest coal port was closed for four hours at the weekend with 170 protesters being charged — but climate demonstrations will continue. Twenty further arrests were made at a protest at the Federal Parliament yesterday.

SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon
Newcastle port, the world’s biggest coal port, was closed for four hours on Sunday when hundreds of Rising Tide protesters in kayaks refused to leave its…