For Samantha Magick, journalism isn’t just a job. It is a lifelong commitment to storytelling, advocacy, and empowering voices often overlooked in the Pacific.

As the managing editor and publisher at Islands Business, the Pacific Islands’ longest surviving news and business monthly magazine, Magick’s commitment to quality reporting and journalistic integrity has established her as a leading figure in the region’s news industry.

Magick’s passion for journalism began at a young age.

“I wanted to be a journalist when I was like 12,” Magick recalls. “When I left school, that’s all I wanted to study.”

She remembers her family’s disapproval when she would write stories as a child, as they thought she was “sharing secrets”. Despite that early condemnation, Magick’s thriving journalism career has taken her across continents and exposed her to diverse media landscapes.

After completing a Bachelor of Communications with a major in journalism at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, Australia, Magick began her career at Communications Fiji Limited (CFL), a prominent Fijian commercial network.

She progressed over 11 years from a cadet to CFL’s news director.

Guidance of first boss
Magick attributes some of her early success to the guidance of her first boss and CFL’s founder, William Parkinson. She considers herself fortunate to have had a supportive mentor who led by example and dared to take risks early in life, such as founding a radio station in his 20s.

After leaving CFL, Magick’s career took her across the globe, including regional Pacific non-government organisations, news publications in Hawai’i and Indonesia, and even international legal organisations in Italy.

Magick, who is of both Fijian and Australian heritage, returned to Suva in 2018, where she began her current role as Islands Business’s managing editor.

“I’ve chosen to make my life in Fiji because I feel more myself here,” Magick says, reflecting on her deep connection to the island nation.

Magick’s vision for Islands Business focuses on delving into the deeper, underlying narratives often overshadowed by breaking news cycles and free, readily available news content.

“We need to be able to demonstrate the value of investigation, big picture reporting rather than the day-to-day stuff,” Magick says.

Magick prides herself on creating a diverse and inclusive newsroom that reflects the communities it serves.

Need for diverse newsroom
“You have to have a diverse newsroom,” she emphasises, recognising the importance of amplifying marginalised voices. “For example, there is a conscious effort to make sure our magazine is not full of photos of men shaking hands with other men.”

Magick also believes journalists have a responsibility to advocate for change, as demonstrated by Islands Business’s dedication to tackling pressing issues from climate change to media freedom.

“Why would I give a climate change denier space?” Magick questions when discussing the need to balance objectivity and advocacy. “Because it’s kind of going to sell magazines? Because it’s going to create a bit of a stir online? That’s not something we believe in.”

Despite her success, Magick’s career has not been without challenges. Magick worked through Fiji’s former draconian media restriction laws under the Media Industry Development Act 2010, while also navigating the shift to digital media.

Magick emphasises the need to constantly upskill and re-evaluate strategies to ensure she and Islands Business can effectively navigate the constantly evolving media landscape.

From learning to capitalise on social media analytics to locating reputable information sources when many of them feared to speak to the journalists due to the risk of legal retribution, Magick believes flexibility and perseverance are crucial to staying ahead in media.

In her early career, Magick also faced sexism and misogyny in the media industry. “When I think back about the way I was treated as a young journalist, I feel sick,” Magick says as she reflects on how she and her female colleagues would warn each other against interviewing certain sources alone.

Supporting aspiring journalists
The challenges Magick has faced undoubtably contribute to her dedication to supporting aspiring journalists, as evident through Kite Pareti’s journey. Starting as a freelance writer with no newswriting experience in March 2022, Pareti has since progressed to one of two full-time reporters at Islands Business.

Pareti expresses gratitude for the opportunities she’s had while working at Islands Business, and for the mentorship of Magick, whom she describes as “family”.

“Samantha took a chance on me when I had zero knowledge on news writing,” Pareti says. “So I’m grateful to God for her life and for allowing me to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Magick reciprocates this sentiment. “Recently, I am inspired by some of our younger reporters in the field, and their ability to embrace and leverage technology — they’re teaching me.”

Magick anticipates an exciting period ahead for Islands Business, as she aims to attract a younger, professionally driven, and regionally focused audience to their platforms.

When asked about her aspirations for journalism in the region, Magick says she hopes to see a future where Pacific voices remain at the centre, “telling their own stories in all their diversities”.

Teagan Laszlo was a student journalist from the Queensland University of Technology who travelled to Fiji with the support of the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. This article is published in a partnership of QUT with Asia Pacific Report, Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) and The University of the South Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

“The most important thing from my perspective is a strategic partnership — a partnership where the media should not be seen as the enemy or a nuisance.”

This was the view of the Communications Fiji Ltd news director and Fijian Media Association executive Vijay Narayan expressed at a media segment of the Police Consultative Session in Suva yesterday.

Narayan said the media and the police had the same goals and objectives “focusing on truth, integrity, accountability and transparency”.

He said the media was ready to have regular meetings with the senior command of Fiji’s Police Force, and also extended an invitation to the Acting Police Commissioner Juki Fong Chew and his senior officers to visit individual media outlets to understand their work.

Narayan said that at times there was a disconnect where the only time the media was called in was when police wanted to say something or maybe when there was a major issue at hand.

He said he remembered that the Crime Stoppers Board also included members of the media and media organisations.

He added that they “fought the fight together”.

Communications Fiji Ltd news director Vijay Narayan speaking at the police workshop. Video: Fijivillage

Police need ‘humanising’
Narayan encouraged police to engage more with the public through media conferences as the Police Force also needed to be “humanised”, and not just focus their message on posting to their social media page.

The CFL news director said that at times they might not be on the same page but the tough questions needed to be asked.

Fiji Sun’s investigative journalist Ivamere Nataro said some people she spoke to did not understand the work of the police and kept requesting frequent updates.

Nataro said that in this digital age, news spread faster on social media and if the police did not open up to the mainstream media, it was another thing that people looked at.

She said police needed to engage more with the community and show that they cared.

Commissioner agrees
While responding to the media, Acting Commissioner Chew said he agreed with what had been said, and moving forward the police would try to improve.

But Chew also gave an example of when a story had been published alleging that someone had been tortured.

He said the story was published and they did not know whether it was true or false.

When the matter was investigated, the issue just died out.

He said that if they manage to find that person, he or she would be taken to task for giving false information.

Krishneel Nair is a Fijivillage reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023.

He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 at Suvavou House yesterday where a draft replacement law was handed to participants.

“I am concerned because after we pass this Bill, we will be stuck with it for a very lengthy period while we have this wider consultation with the community, and the media is then just spinning its wheels, unable to move forward on critical issues it needs to address,” Parkinson said.

“The question is, do we start with the complete repeal of the Bill and then have the consultations over any issue that you may have, or do we start with this (the draft)?

“For me, I think we start with a clean slate and then we can have a wider conversation about whether there is the need for regulation in any sensitivity areas, and of course part of the conversation are these issues are already covered under (other) forms of legislation or control.

“For example, cross media ownership or the unscrupulous player taking control of large sections of the media, that could apply to an unscrupulous player taking large control of the supermarket or any other form of business in Fiji, and its already covered by way of FCCC (Fiji Competition and Consumer Commission).

Don’t ‘over-complicate’ media law
“These are all covered already, and I don’t see a need for any further particular legislation for the media.

“So our call from the media, we have no problem with a wider media consultation or media regulation, if that is necessary, lets start with a clean slate, that is our position.”

University of the South Pacific head of journalism associate professor Shailendra Singh urged the drafters of the legislation to be aware of Fiji’s media system, especially after the covid-19 pandemic when it was vulnerable politically and financially.

He urged the drafters not to “over-complicate” laws for the media.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz