Asia Pacific Media Network | Te Koakoa

Asia Pacific Media Network | Te Koakoa

News

Biden hails ‘press freedom, democracy’ but ignores Gaza media death toll of 142

Pacific Media Watch
US President Joe Biden has spoken at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner in Washington in spite of protests over alleged “complicity” of media about Israel’s war on Gaza, offering a toast to “press freedom and democracy” but ignoring the death toll of Palestinian journalists.

Demonstrators targeted the Washington Hilton hotel which hosted the dinner, denouncing the Biden administration’s handling of the war and urging guests — especially media…

200 journalists ‘targeted’ over their environment reporting, warns RSF


Pacific Media Watch
Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders.

According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were working on stories linked to the environment.

Twenty four were murdered in Latin America and Asia — including the Pacific, which…

NZ’s Media Minister Melissa Lee demoted after Newshub crisis

RNZ News
Melissa Lee has been ousted from New Zealand’s coalition cabinet and stripped of the Media portfolio, and Penny Simmonds has lost the Disability Issues portfolio in a reshuffle.

Climate Change and Revenue Minister Simon Watts will take Lee’s spot in cabinet.

Simmonds was a minister outside of cabinet.

Pictured: Melissa Lee . . . under pressure after Warner Bros Discovery announced it would stop producing local news in New Zealand…

Australia’s social cohesion under strain, challenges and solutions

Pacific Media Watch
Australians are being urged to stay united following the horrific events in Sydney last week, reports the ABC’s Saturday Extra programme.

Five women and one man were killed in a mass stabbing at Bondi Junction last Saturday by a man with a history of mental illness, and a nine-month-old baby baby was among the eight people wounded.

The attacker was shot by a police officer and died at the…

Gavin Ellis reflects on the state of NZ media at APMN's AGM

Asia Pacific Media Network
Media analyst and commentator Dr Gavin Ellis, who is also an honorary research fellow of Koi Tū : The Centre for Informed Futures at the University of Auckland, has reflected on how he sees the state of New Zealand media in the wake of last week' devastating cuts of Newshub and slashed editorial staff at Television New Zealand. 

Speaking at today's third annual general meeting of the…

NZ media: All Newshub operations to be shut down, 250 jobs to go

RNZ News
All of Newshub operations — part of New Zealand’s second largest television news network channel Three — are to be shut down and 250 people will lose their jobs. The shutdown includes the company’s website, Warner Bros Discovery announced today.

The last 6pm news bulletin will air on July 5.

Warner Bros Discovery said talks were ongoing with third parties to provide a pared-back news service — such as a…

New research report shows major drop in media trust in New Zealand

Pacific Media Watch
Just a third of New Zealanders now say they trust the news. That is the major finding of Auckland University of Technology’s research centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy (JMAD) fifth annual Trust in News in Aotearoa New Zealand report, reports RNZ News.

Trust in news in general fell from 42 percent last year to 33 percent in this year’s report — but it is a whopping 20…

PJR to celebrate 30 years of journalism publishing at Pacific Media 2024

Pacific Media Watch
Pacific Journalism Review, the Pacific and New Zealand’s only specialist media research journal, is celebrating 30 years of publishing this year — and it will mark the occasion at the Pacific Media International Conference in Fiji in July.

Founded at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994, PJR also published for five years at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji before moving on to AUT’s…

APR editor criticises NZ media coverage over the war on Gaza


Pacific Media Watch
Pacific media commentator and Asia Pacific Report editor David Robie has criticised New Zealand media coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, describing it as “lopsided” in favour of Tel Aviv.

He said New Zealand media was too dependent on American and British news services, which were based in two of the countries most committed to Israel and in denial of the genocide that was happening.

New Zealand media were…

Asia Pacific community and media research group goes online

Asia Pacific Report
A community-based Asia-Pacific network of academics, journalists and activists has now gone online with an umbrella website for its publications, current affairs and research.

The nonprofit Asia Pacific Media Network, publishers of Pacific Journalism Review research journal, has until now relied on its Facebook page.

“The APMN is addressing a gap in the region for independent media commentary and providing a network for journalists and academics,” said director…

USP faces a ‘gathering storm’ over leadership and a looming strike

Asia Pacific Report
The University of the South Pacific — one of only two regional universities in the world — is facing a “gathering storm” over leadership, a management crisis and a looming strike, reports Islands Business.

In the six-page cover story in the latest edition of the regional news magazine, IB reports that pay demands by the 12-nation institution “headline other contentions such as the number of unfilled vacancies and…

Time to get in quick for the fast looming deadline for Pacific media conference

Asia Pacific Report
Time is running out for media people and academics wanting to tell their innovative story or present research at the 2024 Pacific International Media Conference in July.

Organisers say the deadline is fast approaching for registration in less than two weeks.

Many major key challenges and core problems facing Pacific media are up for discussion at the conference in Suva, Fiji, on July 4-6 hosted by The University of…

Sexual harassment of Fiji’s women journalists ‘concerningly widespread’

By Kelvin Anthony 
Sexual harassment of women journalists continues to be a major problem in Fiji journalism and  “issues of power lie at the heart of this”, new research has revealed.

The study, published in Journalism Practice by researchers from the University of Vienna and the University of the South Pacific, highlights there is a serious need to address the problem which is fundamental to press freedom and quality journalism.

“We…

USP to host ‘critical issues’ Pacific media conference to shape future

By Monika Singh
The University of the South Pacific will host a major Pacific international media conference in July to address critical issues in the regional news media sector in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic and digital disruption.

The conference in Suva, Fiji, on July 4-6 is the first of its kind in the region in two decades.

Efeso Collins . . . ’empowering our rangatahi to think beyond the lines’

By Lucy Xia
The family of Green MP Fa’anānā Efeso Collins say they are “devastated” at his loss and have thanked the public for their patience during a “difficult time”.

Fa’anānā, 49, collapsed and died during a charity event in the Auckland CBD on Wednesday.
In their first statement since his death, his aiga — which includes wife Fia and daughters Kaperiela and Asalemo — said he was “the anchor of our…

Pacific archives for Oceania media students


By The Junction
If you're ever writing about issues in Pacific nations, there is a rich and detailed free archive of audio, video and text news articles and research abstracts covering a wide range of topics that you can dip into.

It is available here: https://pmcarchive.aut.ac.nz/

The award-winning website was built as part of an extraordinary pioneering initiative led by Professor David Robie, who was then director of the Pacific Media Centre…

Allegations over cult leader feature in new Muslim Media Watch monitor


By Pacific Media Watch
A new media monitoring watchdog, Muslim Media Watch, published its first edition today featuring a cover story alleging that a Malaysian cult leader who was reportedly now in New Zealand could “create social unrest”.

Named as Suhaini bin Mohammad, he was allegedly posing as a Muslim religious leader and was said to be wanted by the authorities in Malaysia for “false teachings” that contradict Islam.

His cult…

Nuclear-free campaigners warn against AUKUS raising Pacific tensions

By David Robie
Advocates and defenders of a nuclear-free Pacific have condemned the AUKUS military pact and warned New Zealand that the agreement would make the world “more dangerous” and should not join.

Pictured above: Activist minister Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua brandishes the petition against the AUKUS military pact at the launch in Auckland today. Auckland Peace Squadron campaigner Reverend George Armstrong is on the right. Image: David Robie/APR

Participants at a Nuclear-Free…

Asia Pacific media network plans wider community brief

Asia Pacific Media Network
A media network publishing an international research journal has vowed to expand its activities into community media and training initiatives.

The non-profit Asia Pacific Media Network, publisher of the ranked Pacific Journalism Review, says media and community advocates believe there is a need for minority and marginalised groups that feel neglected by the mainstream.

Network chair Dr Heather Devere told the annual general meeting of the…

New Asia Pacific nonprofit takes up role of PJR publishing

Asia Pacific Media Network members at a recent meeting in Auckland's Whānau Community Centre. Image: PJR

Asia Pacific Report
A new Asia Pacific nonprofit group has taken up the role of publishing the independent Pacific Journalism Review and other research and publication ventures.

The launch of the Asia Pacific Media Network | Te Koakoa Inc. (APMN) has ensured the viability of the New Zealand-based 28-year-old journal that was founded at the University…