Cook Islands News, the national newspaper for the Cook Islands, is one of many Pacific news media agencies expecting change in the face of New Zealand’s NewsHub closure next month.

The organisation has content-sharing agreements with traditional NZ media organisations including Stuff, New Zealand Herald, RNZ and TVNZ, and is dependent on them for some news relevant to their readers.

Cook Islands News editor Rashneel Kumar said that NewsHub, New Zealand’s second major television news and website which CIN did not have an agreement with, was still an excellent source of extra context or additional angles for the paper’s international pages, and its absence would be felt.

“You can understand the decisions that were taken by the owners but at the same time it is really sad for journalism in general,” Kumar said.

“What it does is provide fewer options for quality journalism.

“Media like NewsHub was a really good alternative in terms of robust and independent journalism.”

Cook Islands News is in the process of signing a new share agreement with Pacific Media News (PMN), which is hiring a former NewsHub reporter of Cook Islands descent.

“This will boost our coverage because the experience he brings from NewsHub will be translated into a platform that we have access to stories with,” Kumar said.

‘One positive effect’
“So that is one positive effect of the closures.

“We see the changing landscape, and we must adapt to the changes we are seeing.”

Pacific Island countries consist of small and micro media systems due to the relatively small size of their populations and economies, resulting in limited advertising revenue and marginal returns on investment.

Associate professor in Pacific Journalism and head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific Dr Shailendra Singh said what was happening in New Zealand could also happen in the Pacific.

“This advertising-based model is outdated in the digital media environment, and Pacific media companies, like their counterparts worldwide, need to change and innovate to survive,” he said.

CEO of Cook Islands Television Jeanne Matenga said that the only formal relationship they had with overseas agencies was with Pasifika TV, but that NewsHub’s closure meant they would no longer get any of their programmes.

“As long as we can get one of the news programmes, then that should suffice for us in terms of New Zealand and international news,” she said.

All major Pacific Island media organisations are already active on social media platforms, and are still determining how to harness, leverage, and monetise their social media followings.

Newshub is due to close on July 5.

Republished from the Te Waha Nui student journalist website at Auckland University of Technology. TWN used to be a contributing publication to Asia Pacific Report.

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The Queen’s Representative in the Cook Islands, Sir Tom Marsters, has confirmed Mark Brown as the Prime Minister.

In a statement issued from Mark Brown’s office, Sir Tom said he was “satisfied” that Mark Brown had the majority of the MPs elected to Parliament.

Following the final count of the Cook Islands general elections, the Cook Islands Party (CIP) gained 12 seats in the 24-seat Parliament, including the Ngatangiia seat which was initially tied between CIP’s candidate Sonny Williams and Cook Islands United Party’s Margaret Matenga.

Brown thanked the community for a fair and peaceful election process.

“The people of the Cook Islands have spoken and I will now go through the process of confirming a government,” he said.

Petitions post-elections ‘expected’
Despite a clear majority, all candidates and parties have one week to lodge petitions and Cook Islands News editor Rashneel Kumar said it would be surprising if there were not any petitions.

“The bigger news normally is if we don’t have any petitions. So we do expect it,” he said.

“Since the Cook Islands gained self governing status from New Zealand, we have had petitions every elections so we do expect it and I think there are already parties that have been walking on that, so we will know by early next week, how many petitions have been filed.”

Flights start between Cook Islands and Tahiti
An inaugural flight from Rarotonga to Tahiti-Faa’a airport in Pape’ete, French Polynesia, took place today.

Prime Minister Mark Brown was boarding the flight along with a delegation.

The flight comes after a deal between Cook Islands and French Polynesian airlines — Air Rarotonga and Air Tahiti Nui — in hopes to attract visitors from America and Europe to the Cook Islands.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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In her ruling, Rattle said the headline was unfair and the use of the word “demand” in the first paragraph was inaccurate.

READ MORE: Earlier Cook Islands News editorial on the issue

The newspaper had acknowledged that “demand” was a poor word choice and apologised for it to the Speaker.

Rattle noted that those two changes were made by the newspaper’s editor Jonathan Milne. However, she acknowledged that the rest of the report was accurate and therefore she could not impose a ban on the journalist involved.

Because the motion put forward did not implicate the editor, Rattle did issue a warning to Cook Islands News and said in future regardless of whether editorial changes to headlines and reports were made by the editor, the journalist would face scrutiny.

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Cook Islands Members of Parliament want to ban a journalist from Parliament for what they claim was inaccurate reporting over them seeking travel perks in the House.

They have asked the Speaker, Nikki Rattle, to withdraw senior Cook Islands News journalist and political editor Rashneel Kumar after he wrote an article published on Friday titled “MPs seek allowance top-ups in downturn“.

Pacific Media Watch reports that in his opening sentence he stated that there was “public dismay” at MPs using House sitting time to raise the question about spousal allowances for travel.

READ MORE: Links to the Cook Islands News editorial and travel perks stories

The article reported on main opposition Democratic Party MP Terepai Maoate Jnr’s questioning of payment of his spousal allowance entitlement, and asking whether outer island MPs living in their constituencies were entitled to the same privileges as those living on Rarotonga.

“Maoate Jr MP from Aitutaki, used one of their Parliamentary questions to seek payment of a spousal allowance, which he said was already appropriated in the last Budget,” Kumar reported.

“A concerned member of the public, watching the session live on Parliament’s Facebook page, asked if the question was of national concern,” he wrote giving the headline used in the article credibility.

By yesterday, the article was a major talking point for all MPs with Deputy Speaker in the House, Tai Tura, raising a question in Parliament about the article.

‘A bit mad with the newspaper’
He said he was “disappointed and a bit mad with the newspaper” for tarring all MPs with the same brush for suggesting they had the intention of increasing the allowances.

And then the question: “Can we try and get these reporters out of Parliament for false information to the public?” he asked Prime Minister Henry Puna.

Puna’s Cook Islands Party is a minority government supported by independents; the DAP is the opposition.

However, the Prime Minister agreed that the Cook Island News article was accurate and factual.

“I beg to differ, it’s really pointing a finger at all of us here at this House that we are seeking a top-up or an increase in our allowance,” he was reported as saying.

“We have a responsibility to ensure that the media is responsible in their reporting of our proceedings in this House without sensationalising anything that they report. Because that headline certainly achieves that.”

After a motion declaring the article “incorrect and unfair,” they then agreed that the Speaker should decide whether Cook Island News journalist Rashneel Kumar should be banned from Parliament for some time as determined by the Speaker.

Covid-19 not the priority
In his editorial in Monday’s Cook Islands News, editor Jonathan Milne lamented about the unity of MPs who came together seeking the withdrawal from Parliament of the journalist rather than fight covid-19.

Additionally, he stood by his journalist, saying his reporting on Parliament was accurate.

“To be clear: Cook Islands News stands by its reporting of Parliamentary questions about MPs’ entitlement to their spousal travel allowances. Our report was fair, and it was accurate – one need only check back on the recordings of Parliament to recognise that,” he says in his editorial.

Milne is a highly respected former editor of Stuff in New Zealand before he moved to the Cook Islands.

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