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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…
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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…

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…

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…

Cynical politics reported on world stage damage NZ’s reputation

COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis in Knightly Views
“Flashpoint” in a foreign news story usually brings to mind the Middle East or the border between North and South Korea. It is not a term usually associated with New Zealand but last week it was there in headline type.

News outlets around the world carried reports of the Hīkoi and protests against Act’s Treaty Principles Bill, with the overwhelming majority characterising the events as…

ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes

ANALYSIS: By Catherine Gegout, University of Nottingham
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leader, Mohammed Deif.

The court says both sides have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes from the day Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 onwards.

Although a warrant was issued for Deif, Israel has said he was killed in an air…

The West buries a genocide – by making victims of Israel’s football thugs

If the West was really worried about Europe’s Nazi past, it would be better advised to stop stoking an all-too-real new antisemitism -- incitement against Arab and Muslim minorities, writes Pacific Journalism Review contributor and expert on Middle East affairs and the media Jonathan Cook. Thanks to APMN member Adam Brown for alerting us to Jonathan's latest piece. This is very timely given the response in Greece for next week and…

Rising Tide climate crisis ‘Protestival’ to go ahead despite court ruling

The NSW Supreme Court has issued orders prohibiting a major climate protest that would blockade ships entering the world’s largest coal port in Newcastle for 30 hours. Despite the court ruling, APMN member Wendy Bacon reports that the protest will still go ahead next week.

SPECIAL REPORT: By Wendy Bacon
In a decision delivered last Thursday, Justice Desmond Fagan in the NSW Supreme Court ruled in favour of state police who applied…

New survey finds an alarming tolerance for attacks on the press in the US – particularly among white, Republican men


ANALYSIS: By Julie Posetti, City St George’s, University of London and Waqas Ejaz, University of Oxford
Press freedom is a pillar of American democracy. But political attacks on US-based journalists and news organisations pose an unprecedented threat to their safety and the integrity of information.

Less than 48 hours before election day, Donald Trump, now President-elect for a second term, told a rally of his supporters that he wouldn’t mind…

Gavin Ellis: A day to be gripped by fear – ‘freedom’ will lose its true meaning

COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis
This morning, I am afraid. I am very afraid.

I fear that by the time I go to bed democracy in the United States will be imperilled by a man, the nature of which the Founding Fathers could never envisage when creating the protective elements of the constitution.

The risks will not be to Americans alone. The world will become a different place with Donald J Trump once…

Jonathan Cook: Israel kills the journalists. Western media kills the truth of genocide in Gaza

Western publics are being subjected to a campaign of psychological warfare, where genocide is classed as "self-defence" and opposition to it "terrorism". Jonathan Cook reports as the world marked the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists at the weekend.

ANALYSIS: By Jonathan Cook
Israel knew that, if it could stop foreign correspondents from reporting directly from Gaza, those journalists would end up covering events in ways far more to…

Filep Karma - a political prisoner who fought racism in West Papua


SPECIAL REPORT: By Andreas Harsono in Jakarta
In December 2008, I visited the Abepura prison in Jayapura, West Papua, to verify a report sent to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture alleging abuses inside the jailhouse, as well as shortages of food and water.

After prison guards checked my bag, I passed through a metal detector into the prison hall, joining the Sunday service with about 30 prisoners. A man sat…
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