Archive

West Papua: An evening with Octo Mote



Learn more about West Papua
Kia ora e te whanau! We hope to see you there.
Friday, 6.30pm, 13 September 2024
Māngere Mountain Education Centre
100 Coronation Rd
Māngere Bridge
Tāmaki Makaurau
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087798308823
Even hosts: West Papua Action Tāmaki Makaurau and Reana Taketake
Octo Mote is a former journalist with Kompas

How Māori media and iwi united during historic news coverage of Kiingi Tuheitia tangihanga

COMMENTARY: By Jessica Tyson
In recent years Kiingi Tuheitia became known as the “king of unity” with his determined drive for kotahitanga involving rangatahi.

So last week, through his tangihanga and the accession of his successor, a unique first took shape as the largest group of Māori broadcasters to ever work together collaborated with iwi in honouring his “wairua wind”.

Every day during the week-long tangihanga, news and radio teams from many…

Mediawatch: Kiingi Tuheitia’s tangihanga – epic broadcast marks new epoch for te ao Māori

RNZ MEDIAWATCH: By Colin Peacock, RNZ Mediawatch presenter
“Anticipation is growing. The warriors are ready. They’re preparing themselves. The paddlers are already on their waka,” Scotty Morrison, alongside veteran journalist Tini Molyneux, told viewers from the banks of the Waikato River.

It was Thursday, and the body of Kiingi Tuheitia was being escorted to the barge to take him to his resting place on Taupiri maunga.

That prompted Morrison — the…

Pacific media academics slam global research journal model, defend regional niche titles


Pacific Media Watch
Pacific media academics have criticised the economics of global research journal publication models and defended independent publications such as Pacific Journalism Review carving out niche markets.

Speaking in a panel titled “Publish or Perish” at the recent Pacific International Media 2024 conference in Suva, Fiji, the academics warned that changes in the international research publishing arena were not necessarily an improvement.

In fact, in some cases the changes threatened…

NZ Herald’s disclosure obligation to readers: Why are we waiting?



COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis
The New Zealand Herald and its publisher are failing to follow a golden rule: Engage with readers when they question your actions.

The Herald is currently confronted by two controversies. The first is its decision to use artificial intelligence to write editorials. The second is its decision to publish a highly divisive advertising wrap-around paid for by the lobby group Hobson’s Pledge.

In neither case has the newspaper…

Report from the chair, APMN/ Te Koakoa


Report from the Chair Dr Heather Devere
Asia Pacific Media Network APMN/ Te Koakoa
Third AGM, Friday, 19 April 2024

Ngā mihi nui kia koutou katoa,

Introduction:
The Asia Pacific Media Network is now well-established as an incorporated society in Aotearoa New Zealand. A community-based network of academics, journalists, and activists, our membership spans Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and the Philippines. APMN also has links to the Manila-based AMIC, Asia-Pacific’s largest communication research…

Kim Williams is right to criticise how the ABC covers news, but he needs to fix it

ANALYSIS: By Denis Muller, The University of Melbourne
ABC chair Kim Williams has attracted considerable attention with his criticism of the broadcaster’s online news choices. Williams has taken issue with what he sees as the ABC prioritising lifestyle stories over hard news.

In the process, he has raised an important issue of principle.

Is it right for the chair to insert himself into editorial decision-making, even at the level of broad…

Pacific Island news outlets 'vulnerable' to geopolitical influence, Singh tells ABC

ABC Pacific Beat
Diplomacy and geopolitics often dominates the media coverage of the Pacific region, but what impact is the geopolitical competition between China, the US, Australia and others having on the media itself?

Veteran media academic Associate Professor Shailendra Singh (APMN member), head of journalism at The University of the South Pacific, says that like Pacific governments, regional news outlets are also grappling with increased aid and attention.

"What we are…

Pacific Journalism Review in the news

Asia Pacific Media Network
Our article by David Robie about 30 years of Pacific Journalism Review published by DevPolicy Blog of Australian National University's Development Policy Centre was widely picked up by news media in the region.

After initially being republished by the Fiji-based regional Pacnews service, it was also published at least three national dailies -- the PNG Post-Courier, The Fiji Times and the Fiji Sun.

Ironically, it…

AI-created editorials: What in HAL’s name was the Herald thinking?


COMMENTARY: By Dr Gavin Ellis in Knightly Views
Integrity is the most valued element of a news organisation’s reputation. Without it, it cannot expect its audience to lend credence to what it publishes or broadcasts. So, The New Zealand Herald has dealt itself an awful blow.

Its admission that it used generative AI to scrape content and then create an editorial about the All Blacks came only after it was caught out…

Pacific Journalism Review at 30 – a strong media legacy

COMMENTARY: By David Robie in Devpolicy Blog
Pacific Journalism Review (PJR) began life three decades ago in Papua New Guinea and recently celebrated a remarkable milestone in Fiji with its 30th anniversary edition and its 47th issue.

Remarkable because it is the longest surviving Antipodean media, journalism and development journal published in the Global South. It is also remarkable because at its birthday event held in early July at the…

Navigating challenges and shaping futures - Call for submissions

NAVIGATING CHALLENGES AND SHAPING FUTURES: Call for submissions
Pacific Media is calling for papers and panel presentations for a special edition to be published in late 2024 drawing on the submissions at the recent Pacific International Media Conference with the theme “Navigating Challenges and Shaping Futures in Pacific Media Research and Practice” in Suva, Fiji, on 4-6 July.

We are seeking submissions covering journalism, media and communication issues in the Asia Pacific…

US election: 5 ways to manage your news consumption to reduce anxiety

By Mark Pearson, Journlaw
As I started to disappear into the vortex of 24/7 media coverage of the US election, I recalled the news anxiety I experienced in 2020 at the start of the covid-19 pandemic which prompted me to write an article for The Conversation titled “Coronavirus: 5 ways to manage your news consumption in times of crisis“.

I republish an edited version here …

Following events in the…

Report of the Pacific International Media Conference, Suva, Fiji, 2024

By Dr Adam Brown
The Pacific International Media conference was held 4–6 July 2024 at the Holiday Inn, Suva, Fiji. The organising partners were the The University of the South Pacific (USP), the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), and the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN).  Main sponsors were the US Embassy in Fiji and the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM), with several other supporting bodies.

Dignitaries who attended came from…

Polarised media undermines democracy, professor warns at Pacific media conference

By Kaneta Naimatau in Suva
In a democracy, citizens must critically evaluate issues based on facts. However in a very polarised society, people focus more on who is speaking than what is being said.

This was highlighted by journalism Professor Cherian George of the Hong Kong Baptist University as he delivered his keynote address during the recent 2024 Pacific International Media Conference at the Holiday Inn, Suva.

According to Professor George when…

Facebook reportedly censors posts by Solomon Islands news outlet

Facebook has reportedly temporarily blocked posts published by an independent online news outlet in Solomon Islands after incorrectly labelling its content as “spam”.

In-Depth Solomons, a member centre of the non-profit OCCRP (Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project), was informed by the platform that more than 80 posts had been removed from its official page.

According to OCCRP, the outlet believes opponents of independent journalism in the country could…

It takes more than global chaos to change the front page

Knightly Views, by Gavin Ellis
The computer chaos that enveloped much of the world on Friday told us something about almost all of New Zealand’s daily newspapers: Either their deadlines mean they are no longer newspapers, their priorities lie elsewhere, or their "news" values are shot to hell.

I say “almost all” because one newspaper stood out from its contemporaries. The Otago Daily Times was the only paper that led its…

A role for Pacific media in charting a pragmatic global outlook

By Shailendra Bahadur Singh and Amit Sarwal in Suva
Given the intensifying situation, journalists, academics and experts joined to state the need for the Pacific, including its media, to re-assert itself and chart its own path, rooted in its unique cultural, economic and environmental context.

The tone for the discussions was set by Papua New Guinea’s Minister for Information and Communications Technology Timothy Masiu, chief guest at the official dinner of the…

PANG talks to APMN journalist David Robie on Pacific decolonisation issues

PANG Media
The PANG media team at this month’s Pacific International Media Conference in Fiji caught up with independent journalist, author and educator Dr David Robie and questioned him on his views about decolonisation in the Pacific.

Dr Robie, editor of Asia Pacific Report and deputy chair of Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN), a co-organiser of the conference, shared his experience on reporting on Kanaky New Caledonia and West Papua’s fight…

Amid decline in mainstream media trust, Pacific Journalism Review remains a beacon

ADDRESS: By Professor Vijay Naidu
Professor Vijay Naidu’s speech celebrating the launch of the 30th anniversary edition of Pacific Journalism Review at the Pacific International Media Conference in Suva, Fiji, on 4 July 2024. Dr Naidu is adjunct professor in the disciplines of development studies and governance in the School of Law and Social Sciences at the University of the South Pacific. 

I have been given the honour of launching the 30th…