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 citizens for defending themselves and their country”.

He cited a story in the Israeli media outlet Ha’aretz, which has a reputation for independence in Israel and credibility abroad.

But Ha’aretz had wrongly reported Israelis must declare service in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as part of “new requirements” for visa applications.

Winston Peters replied forcefully to Cruz on X, condemning Ha’aretz’s story as “fake news” and demanding a correction.

But one thing Trump’s Republicans and Winston Peters had in common last week was irritating Mexico.

His fellow NZ First MP Shane Jones had bellowed “Send the Mexicans home” at Green MPs in Parliament.

Winston Peters then told two of them they should be more grateful for being able to live in New Zealand.

‘We will not be lectured’
On Facebook he wasn’t exactly backing down.

“We . . .  will not be lectured on the culture and traditions of New Zealand from people who have been here for five minutes,” he added.

While he was at it, Peters criticised media outlets for not holding other political parties to account for inflammatory comments.

Peters was posting that as a politician — not a foreign minister, but the Mexican ambassador complained to MFAT. (It seems the so-called “Mexican standoff” was resolved over a pre-Waitangi lunch with Ambassador Bravo).

But the next day — last Wednesday — news of another diplomatic drama broke on TVNZ’s 1News.

“A deal that could shatter New Zealand’s close relationship with a Pacific neighbour,” presenter Simon Dallow declared, in front of a backdrop of a stern-looking Peters.

TVNZ’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver reported the Cook Islands was about to sign a partnership agreement in Beijing.

“We want clarity and at this point in time, we have none. We’ve got past arrangements, constitutional arrangements, which require constant consultation with us, and dare I say, China knows that,” Peters told 1News.

Passports another headache
Cook Islands’ Prime Minister Mark Brown also told Barbara Dreaver TVNZ’s revelations last month about proposed Cook Island passports had also been a headache for him.

“We were caught by surprise when this news was broken by 1News. I thought it was a high-level diplomatic discussion with leaders to be open and frank,” he told TVNZ this week.

“For it to be brought out into the public before we’ve had a time to inform our public, I thought was a breach of our political diplomacy.”

Last week another Barabara Dreaver scoop on 1News brought the strained relationship with another Pacific state into the headlines:

“Our relationship with Kiribati is at breaking point. New Zealand’s $100 million aid programme there is now on hold. The move comes after President [Taneti] Maamau pulled out of a pre-arranged meeting with Winston Peters.”

The media ended up in the middle of the blame game over this too — but many didn’t see it coming.

Caught in the crossfire
“A diplomatic rift with Kiribati was on no one’s 2025 bingo card,” Stuff national affairs editor Andrea Vance wrote last weekend in the Sunday Star-Times.

“Of all the squabbles Winston Peters was expected to have this year, no one picked it would be with an impoverished, sinking island nation,” she wrote, in terms that would surely annoy Kiribati.

“Do you believe Kiribati is snubbing you?” RNZ Morning Report’s Corin Dann asked Peters.

“You can come to any conclusion you like, but our job is to try and resolve this matter,” Peters replied.

Kiribati Education Minister Alexander Teabo told RNZ Pacific there was no snub.

He said Kiribati President Maamau — who is also the nation’s foreign minister — had been unavailable because of a long-planned and important Catholic ordination ceremony on his home island of Onotoa — though this was prior to the proposed visit from Peters.

On Facebook — at some length — New Zealand-born Kiribati MP Ruth Cross Kwansing blamed “media manufactured drama”.

“The New Zealand media seized the opportunity to patronise Kiribati, and the familiar whispers about Chinese influence began to circulate,” she said.

She was more diplomatic on the 531pi Pacific Mornings radio show but insistent New Zealand had not been snubbed.

Public dispute “regrettable’
Peters told the same show it was “regrettable” that the dispute had been made public.

On Newstalk ZB Peters was backed — and Kiribati portrayed as the problem.

“If somebody is giving me $100m and they asked for a meeting, I will attend. I don’t care if it’s my mum’s birthday. Or somebody’s funeral,” Drive host Ryan Bridge told listeners.

“It’s always very hard to pick apart these stories (by) just reading them in the media. But I have faith and confidence in Winston Peters as our foreign minister,” PR-pro Trish Shrerson opined.

So did her fellow panellist, former Labour MP Stuart Nash.

“He’s respected across the Pacific. He’s the consummate diplomat. If Winston says this is the story and this is what’s happening, I believe 100 percent. And I would say, go hard. Winston — represent our interests.”

‘Totally silly’ response
But veteran Pacific journalist Michael Field contradicted them soon after on ZB.

“It’s totally silly. All this talk about cancelling $104 million of aid is total pie-in-the-sky from Winston Peters,” he said.

“Somebody’s lost their marbles on this, and the one who’s possibly on the ground looking for them is Winston Peters.

“He didn’t need to be in Tarawa in early January at all. This is pathetic. This is like saying I was invited to my sister’s birthday party and now it’s been cancelled,” he said.

Not a comparison you hear very often in international relations.

In his own Substack newsletter Michael Field also insisted the row reflected poorly on New Zealand.

“While the conspiracy around Kiribati and China has deepened, no one is noticing the still-viable Kiribati-United States treaty which prevents Kiribati atolls [from] being used as bases without Washington approval,” he added.

Kiribati ‘hugely disrespectful’
But TVNZ’s Barbara Dreaver said Kiribati was being “hugely disrespectful”.

In a TVNZ analysis piece last weekend, she said New Zealand has “every right to expect better engagement than it has been getting over the past year.”

Dreaver — who was born in and grew up in Kiribati and has family there — also criticised “the airtime and validation” Kwansing got in the media in New Zealand.

“She supports and is part of a government that requires all journalists — should they get a visa to go there — to hand over copies of all footage/information collected,” Dreaver said.

Kwansing hit back on Facebook, accusing Dreaver of “publishing inane drivel” and “irresponsible journalism causing stress to locals.”

“You write like you need a good holiday somewhere happy. Please book yourself a luxury day spa ASAP,” she told TVNZ’s Pacific Affairs reporter.

Two days later — last Tuesday — the Kiribati government made percent2CO percent2CP-R an official statement which also pointed the finger at the media.

“Despite this media issue, the government of Kiribati remains convinced the strong bonds between Kiribati and New Zealand will enable a resolution to this unfortunate standoff,” it said.

Copping the blame
Another reporter who knows what it’s like to cop the blame for reporting stuff diplomats and politicians want to keep out of the news is RNZ Pacific’s senior journalist and presenter Lydia Lewis.

Last year, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese questioned RNZ’s ethics after she reported comments he made to the US Deputy Secretary of State at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga — which revealed an until-then behind closed doors plan to pay for better policing in the Pacific.

She’s also been covering the tension with Kiribati.

Is the heat coming on the media more these days if they candidly report diplomatic differences?

“There’s no study that says there are more people blaming the media. So it’s anecdotal, but definitely, both the public and politicians are saying the media (are) making a big deal of things,” Lewis told Mediawatch.

“I would put the question back to the public as to who’s manufacturing drama. All we’re doing is reporting what’s in front of us for the public to then make their decision — and questioning it. And there were a lot of questions around this Kiribati story.”

Lewis said it was shortly before 6pm on January 27, that selected journalists were advised of the response of our government to the cancellation of the meeting with foreign minister Peters.

Vice-President an alternative
But it was not mentioned that Kiribati had offered the Vice-President for a meeting, the same person that met with an Australian delegation recently.

A response from Kiribati proved harder to get — and Lewis spoke to a senior figure in Kiribati that night who told her they knew nothing about it.

Politicians and diplomats, naturally enough, prefer to do things behind the scenes and media exposure is a complication for them.

But we simply wouldn’t know about the impending partnership agreement between China and the Cook Islands if TVNZ had not reported it last Monday.

And another irony: some political figures lamenting the diplomatically disruptive impact of the media also make decidedly undiplomatic responses of their own online these days.

“It can be revealing in the sense of where people stand. Sometimes they’re just putting out their opinions or their experience. Maybe they’ve got some sort of motive. A formal message or email we’ll take a bit more seriously. But some of the things on social media, we just take with a grain of salt,” said Lewis.

“It is vital we all look at multiple sources. It comes back to balance and knowledge and understanding what you know about and what you don’t know about — and then asking the questions in between.”

Big Powers and the Big Picture
Kwansing objected to New Zealand media jumping to the conclusion China’s influence was a factor in the friction with New Zealand.

“To dismiss the geopolitical implications with China . . .  would be naive and ignorant,” Dreaver countered.

Michael Field pointed to an angle missing.

“While the conspiracy around Kiribati and China has deepened, no one is noticing the still viable Kiribati-United States treaty which prevents Kiribati atolls being used as bases without Washington approval,” he wrote in his Substack.

In the same article in which Vance called Kiribati “an impoverished, sinking island nation” she later pointed out that its location, US military ties and vast ocean territory make it strategically important.

Questions about ‘transparency and accountability’
“There’s a lot of people that want in on Kiribati. It has a huge exclusive economic zone,” Lewis said.

She said communication problems and patchy connectivity are also drawbacks.

“We do have a fuller picture now of the situation, but the overarching question that’s come out of this is around transparency and accountability.

“We can’t hold Kiribati politicians to account like we do New Zealand government politicians.”

“I don’t want to give Kiribati a free pass here but it’s really difficult to get a response.

“They’re posting statements on Facebook and it really has raised some questions around the government’s commitment to transparency and accountability for all journalists . . .  committed to fair media reporting across the Pacific.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

There has rightly been much debate and analysis over New Zealand’s decision to review the aid it gives to Kiribati.

It’s a big deal. So much is at stake, especially for the I-Kiribati people who live with many challenges and depend on the $100 million aid projects New Zealand delivers.

It would be clearly unwise for New Zealand to threaten or cut aid to Kiribati — but it has every right to expect better engagement than it has been getting over the past year.

What has been disturbing is the airtime and validation given to a Kiribati politician, newly appointed Minister of Women, Youth, Sport and Social Affairs Ruth Cross Kwansing.

It’s helpful to analyse where this is coming from so let’s make this very clear.

She supports and is currently a minister of a government that in 2022 suspended Chief Justice William Hastings and Justice David Lambourne of the High Court, and justices Peter Blanchard, Rodney Hansen and Paul Heath of the Court of Appeal.

She supports and is part a government that deported Lambourne, who is married to Opposition Leader Tessie Lambourne — and they have I-Kiribati children. (He is Australian but has been in the Kiribati courts since 1995).

She supports and is part of a government that requires all journalists — should they get a visa to go there — to hand over copies of all footage/information collected.

She also benefits from a 220 percent pay rise that her government passed for MPs in 2021.That same year, ministers were gifted cars with China Aid embossed on the side, as well as a laptop from Beijing.

1News broke story
This week, 1News broke the story of New Zealand putting aid sent to Kiribati on hold — pending a review — after a year of trying to get a bilateral meeting with the Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

NZ-Kiribati fallout: A ‘Pacific way’ perspective on the Peters spat

Amidst a gushing post about a president who recently gave this rookie MP a ministerial post, Cross Kwansing wrote of the “media manufactured drama” and “the New Zealand media, in its typical fashion, seized the opportunity to patronise Kiribati, and the familiar whispers about Chinese influence began to circulate”.

These comments shouldn’t come as any surprise as blaming the media is a common tactic of politicians and Cross Kwansing is no different.

Just because the new minister doesn’t like what New Zealand has decided to do doesn’t mean it must be “media manufactured”.

Her comment that “the New Zealand media, in its typical fashion, seized the opportunity to patronise Kiribati” is also ridiculous.

The journalist that broke the story — myself — is half I-Kiribati and incredibly proud of her heritage and the gutsy country that she was born in and grew up in, with family who still live there.

Cross Kwansing has been a member of parliament for less than six months. To not discuss the geopolitical implications with China, given the way the world is evolving and Kiribati’s close ties, would be naive and ignorant.

Pacific leaders frustrated
It is not just New Zealand that Maamau has refused to meet. Over the last two years, Pacific Island leaders have spoken of frustration in trying to engage with the president.

Maamau is known to be a pleasant man and enjoyable to converse with. But, for whatever reason, he has chosen not to engage with many leaders or foreign ministers.

Cross Kwansing has helpfully shared that the president announced to his cabinet ministers that he would delegate international engagements to his vice president so he could concentrate “intently on domestic matters”.

Fair enough. Except that Maamau has chosen to hang on to the foreign minister portfolio.

It is quite right that New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters would expect to engage with his Kiribati counterpart — especially given the level of investment and numerous attempts being made, and then a date finally agreed on by Maamau himself.

Six days before Peters was meant to arrive in Kiribati, the island nation’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs told the NZ High Commission there that the president was now “unavailable”. In the diplomatic world, especially given the attempts that had preceded it, that is hugely disrespectful.

There are different strategies the New Zealand government could have chosen to take to deal with this. Peters has had enough and chosen a hardline course that is likely to have negative impacts on New Zealand in the long term, but it’s a risk he obviously thinks is worth taking.

Cross Kwansing has spoken about prioritising cooperation and mutual respect over ego and political posturing. Absolutely right — except that this piece of helpful advice should also be taken by her own government. It works both ways for the sake of the people.

Barbara Dreaver is of Kiribati and Cook Islands descent. She was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2024 for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities. This TVNZ News column has been republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week.

The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from the Vanuatu government.

The 7.3 magnitude quake struck on Tuesday, and more than 200 people were injured.

Searchers were racing against time to find survivors in the rubble, Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver reported for 1News Breakfast from Port Vila.

She also said that aftershocks continued to shake the country, making search efforts more difficult.

“Our team has integrated with the Australians, that is to make the most of this very small window that they have now to find survivors,” she said.

“Time is not on their side, so they’ve really got to make the most of it.

“It’s a very volatile situation still, we’ve been speaking to some very distressed people trying to get home.”

Volunteers and rescue teams arrive at Ifira, a small island off Port Vila, after the #earthquake that hit #Vanuatu. The area is obstructed by large rocks resulting from #landslides. The death toll rose to 14, with dozens injured.#extremeweather#nature#climate pic.twitter.com/ZBapgvDM6p

— Genesis Watchman Report (@ReportWatchman) December 18, 2024

The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) said late last night that a flight carrying 93 passengers, almost all Kiwis and their families, had left Port Vila at about 7.45pm New Zealand time.

“A small number of foreign nationals are also being assisted on this flight,” the NZDF said.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters confirmed the flight’s arrival overnight.

He wrote on X at about 5.30am today: “We are pleased to have evacuated 93 people from Port Vila on a @NZDefenceForce flight overnight.

“The passengers were mostly New Zealanders and their families, but also included around 12 foreign nationals from Samoa, the United Kingdom, Singapore, France and Finland.

“Our consular team continues to assist New Zealanders affected by the earthquake in Vanuatu.”

Any Kiwis still in Vanuatu were urged to call MFAT on +64 99 20 20 20.

“New Zealand’s efforts to aid Vanuatu with its earthquake response, through the provision of personnel and relief supplies, continues,” Peters said.

Australian couple describe earthquake ‘mayhem’

Australian couple Susie Nailon and her partner Tony Ferreira told 1News about the “mayhem” of being inside the Billabong shop when the quake hit.

“It sort of started to rumble a little bit and I looked up in the ceiling and saw the ceiling start to come down on the fluorescent light. But it wasn’t just a shake, it no longer shook left or right, the whole ground started to wave,” said Ferreira.

“The whole roof had caved down . . .  It just felt like a deck of cards. [It came] straight down, flattened everything.

“And the force of it just pushed all the windows, plastered glass straight out in the road from all that weight,” he said.

He said there were about six or seven others in the shop with them at the time, and said the couple only made it out by “literally seconds”.

“If my rack had been a couple more metres in, then there’s no chance. It was that quick. There was no warning,” he said.

Nailon said the aftershocks had been really triggering, and as soon as she felt something she was “straight out the door”.

“No one has a chance if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said.

Kiwi helping out in Vanuatu

New Zealander Jason Horan, who lives in Port Vila, told 1News it was “just chaos” in the aftermath of the quake.

“There [were] people lying on the ground everywhere, buildings falling down, so it was pretty scary,” he said.

He said he watched the road move “like a wave”.

Since the quake, Horan said he had been helping others simply because he wanted to.

“I’ve been running everybody around, just trying to supply everybody with food and water. So I go around to every hotel and resort making sure they know who to talk to and stuff like that.”

He said he wanted to do his part in “making sure people are okay”.

“All the locals are pulling together though . . .  they’re resilient, so it’s really good.”

“Our team has integrated with the Australians, that is to make the most of this very small window that they have now to find survivors.

“Time is not on their side, so they’ve really got to make the most of it,” she said.

“It’s a very volatile situation still, we’ve been speaking to some very distressed people trying to get home.”

NZ High Commissioner on quake and what comes next

New Zealand High Commissioner to Vanuatu Nicci Simmonds said the commission was in the top storey of a three-storey concrete building.

“I was at my desk at the time [of the quake], so that’s about as far away from the entry/exit as you can get,” she said.

“So you follow your schoolgirl training and you just get under the table, holding on while it jumped around a lot. A lot of noise.”

She said there was dust everywhere when the shaking stopped. She tried to check on a colleague.

“Very close to her desk, the building had completely separated. There was a three-storey drop.”

Everyone managed to get out of the building, Simmonds said. Initially, communications were the biggest challenge, she added.

“Now, it’s making sure that reliable safe drinking water, power, and basic infrastructure is up and running.”

Simmonds said the impact was “highly localised”, based on aerial surveillance.

“It’s a significant, major event in Port Vila, but it doesn’t appear that there have been villages buried by landslides elsewhere, so that’s been an enormous relief.”

She said the response was “the kind of job that surges, and peaks, and changes”.

Republished from 1News with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House, reports 1News.

She has been the Pacific correspondent for 1News since 2002, breaking many stories uncovering social and economic issues affecting Pacific people living in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

Her investigative journalism has exposed major fraud, drug smuggling, corruption and human trafficking that has led to multiple arrests and government action.

Dreaver said it was “quite emotional” to receive the honour.

“I didn’t realise how special it was going to be until it actually happened. I’m so honoured, it’s hard to put it into words which is unlike me.”

Dreaver received the honour for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities in a ceremony at Government House today.

‘Incredible’ family
Receiving the honour in front of her family “meant everything”, she said.

“You don’t get what you get without friends and family. My family are just incredible and my parents right from the beginning have been there for me, and I think that’s a big part of it.”

When asked what was next, Dreaver told 1News it was “back to work”.

“Keep doing what we do, telling New Zealand stories, telling Pacific stories is something we have to keep doing, and I will.”

Republished from 1News.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Television New Zealand’s chief executive has been challenged by the public broadcaster’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver at a fiery staff meeting over job cuts and axing of high profile programmes, reports The New Zealand Herald.

Writing in his Media Insider column today, editor-at-large Shayne Currie reported that Dreaver, one of TVNZ’s most respected and senior journalists, had made the challenge over the planned layoffs and axing of shows such as the current affairs Sunday and consumer affairs Fair Go.

Dreaver reportedly asked chief executive Jodi O’Donnell if she would apologise to staff — “apparently for referring to her watch during an earlier staff meeting on Friday”.

“TVNZ would not confirm specific details last night, but it is understood O’Donnell pushed back during yesterday’s meeting, along the lines that perhaps she might also be owed an apology,” wrote Currie, a former Herald managing editor.

“One source said she talked at one stage about the response she had been receiving.”

Media Insider quoted a TVNZ spokeswoman as saying: “We expect sessions like this to be robust, but to give all TVNZers the opportunity to be free and frank in their participation, we don’t comment on the details of these internal meetings to the media.”

Dreaver told 1News last night: “We need really strong leadership and we expect to get it. And I’m quite happy to call out and challenge it [and] my own bosses when we don’t get that, just as I would a politician or any other person who deserves it.”

A ‘legend, icon, queen’
Media Insider reported that in a social media post today, Sunday journalist Kristin Hall had described Kiribati-born Dreaver as a “legend, icon, queen” for her Pacific reporting.

Legend, icon, queen 👑

So proud to call @barbaradreaver a colleague https://t.co/FNksH6ih2f

— Kristin Hall (@kristinhallNZ) March 11, 2024

In November 2022, Dreaver was named Reporter of the Year at the New Zealand Television Awards and in 2019 she won two awards at the Voyager Media Awards for her coverage of the Samoa measles outbreak.

In this year’s New Year Honours, Dreaver was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to investigative journalism and Pacific communities.

Yesterday’s TVNZ meeting came amid a strained relationship between the TVNZ newsroom and management over the way the company has handled the announcement of up to 68 job cuts, as least two-thirds of them journalists.

The shock news followed a week after the US-based Warner Bros Discovery announced that it would be closing its entire Newshub newsroom at the end of June.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Newshub, one of the key media companies in Aotearoa New Zealand, is to close its newsroom on June 30, reports RNZ News.

Staff were told of the closure at an emergency meeting today.

Newshub is owned by US-based global entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery which also owns Eden, Rush, HGTV and Bravo.

In 2020, it took over the New Zealand channel’s assets which had been then part of Mediaworks.

Staff were called to a meeting at Newshub at 11am, RNZ News reported on its live news feed.

They were told that the US conglomerate Warner Brothers Discovery, owners of Newshub, was commencing consultation on a restructuring of its free-to-air business

This included the closure of all news operations by its Newshub operation

All local programming would be made only through local funding bodies and partners.

James Gibbons, president of Asia Pacific for Warner Bros Discovery, said it was a combination of negative events in NZ and around the world. The economic downturn had been severe and there was no long hope for a bounce back

Revenue has ‘disappeared quickly’
“Advertising revenue in New Zealand has disappeared far more quickly than our ability to manage this reduction, and to drive the business to profitability,” he said.

He said the restructuring would focus on it being a digital business

ThreeNow, its digital platform, would be the focus and could run local shows

All news production would stop on June 30.

The consultation process runs until mid-March. A final decision is expected early April.

“Deeply shocked’
Interviewed on RNZ’s Nine to Noon programme, a former head of Newshub, Mark Jennings, said he was deeply shocked by the move.

Other media personalities also reacted with stunned disbelief. Rival TVNZ’s Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver said: “Thinking of my friends and colleagues from Newshub.

“So many super talented wonderful people. Its a terrible day for our industry that Newshub [will] close by June, we will be all the much poorer for it. Much aroha to you all.”

Newshub has broken some important Pacific stories over the years.

Jennings told RNZ a cut back and trimming of shows would have been expected — but not on this scale.

“I’m really deeply frankly shocked by it,” said Jennings, now co-founder and editor of Newsroom independent digital media group.

He said he expected all shows to go, including AM Show and investigative journalist Patrick Gower’s show.

Company ‘had no strategy’
“I think governments will be pretty upset and annoyed about this, to be honest.”

“Unless they have been kept in the loop because we’re going to see a major drop in diversity.

“Newshub’s newsroom has been, maybe not so much in recent times, but certainly in the past, a very strong and vibrant player in the market and very important one for this country and again as [RNZ Mediawatch presenter] Colin [Peacock] points out, who is going to keep TVNZ’s news honest now?

“I think this is a major blow to media diversity in this country.”

“First of all, Discovery and then Warner Bros Discovery, this has been an absolute shocker of entry to this market by them. They came in with what I could was . . . no, I couldn’t see a strategy in it and in the time they owned this company, there has been no strategy and that’s really disappointing.

“If this had gone to a better owner, they would have taken steps way sooner and maybe we wouldn’t be losing one of the country’s most valued news services.”

Loss of $100m over three years
Jennings said his understanding was the company had lost $100 million in the past three years, which was “really significant”.

“I wonder if it had been a New Zealand owner, whether the government might have taken a different view around this, but I guess because it’s owned by a huge American, multi-national conglomerate, they would’ve been reluctant to intervene in any way.”

He said Broadcasting Minister Melissa Lee, a former journalist who ran the Asia Down Under programme for many years, faced serious questions now.

“It’ll be her first big test really, I guess, in that portfolio.”

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

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Moungavalu family in Aotearoa New Zealand are grateful to be alive.

Their Māngere home in Auckland, along with others in their street, was hit hard by flooding with chest-deep water sweeping down the road.

Mohe Mougavalu says the water went down their no exit street but because there was no outflow at the other end, it came back twofold on the homes.

“We weren’t going to leave the house but the only way to survive is to get out. It’s really testing, especially me deciding the fate of our family,” he said.

“We actually have to hold on to the fence and make our way up the street and get out.”

The family returned at 6am today to start cleaning and are devastated at the level of damage. They’ve lost nearly everything they own.

Community advocate Dave Letele and his community group BBM were first on the scene to offer help.

Arranging replacements
Through his contacts, he is arranging for furniture and damaged appliances to be replaced. He has also delivered food parcels and rugs to where the family is sheltering with one of their aunts.

Barbara Dreaver’s report on the Moungavalu family.     Video: 1News

It’s much appreciated as there are 19 people there.

This isn’t an isolated case — it’s unknown how many homes are affected in South Auckland but it’s believed to be widespread.

Letele says that’s the issue.

“It’s the people who are already struggling – that’s the issue here. The areas that are hit, these people are already struggling.”

The BBM team has sprung into action and a call for volunteers and donations has brought a steady stream of people wanting to help.

Te Aroha Isaia is one of them. She and her family have brought baby items, clothes and food.

‘Stand up and deliver’
“I like to think if we were in need people like ourselves, if they have something to give them, why not?”

Letele says the support from the community wanting to help is incredible.

“We do what the community does best and we stand up and deliver in times of need,” he said.

Just as well, as everybody 1News spoke to felt South Auckland had been left to fend for itself.

Tuala Tagaloa Tusani, chairperson of charity group ASA Foundation says it’s disgraceful that little official focus was put on the area.

“It’s bloody late. The community again is trying to find solutions to the problems.”

The ASA Foundation and Graeme Avenue Pharmacy teamed up to deliver prescribed medication free of charge to those who needed it today.

Tusani says he is concerned about how struggling families will be able to cope with replacing flood-damaged items and repairs on homes.

“School is supposed to start next week so a lot of our money has already been put into school fees,” he said.

There’s no doubt families like the Moungavalus have taken a financial hit, but they say at least they can rebuild together as a family.

Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As the New Zealand government confirmed it would apologise for the 1970s Dawn Raids against Pacific Islanders, memories have surfaced for those traumatised by them, including one elderly man.

The politically-driven crackdown on overstayers from the Pacific Islands involved special police squads raiding homes and workplaces, often in the early morning.

Savelio Ikani Pailate, 93, remembered being chased by dogs in the middle of the night.

He said they had to run to away to Manurewa, to places “where there were no houses”, with some being injured because they fled in bare feet.

Pailate’s case was before the court at the end he was allowed to work, but the police ignored it and deported him anyway.

He dreamt of buying his family a home and getting his children educated

He achieved that after returning to New Zealand and working until age 82, refusing to listen to the many voices against him.

The crackdown on Pacific overstayers. Video: TVNZ News

Racially profiled
Racially profiled and picked up randomly by police, workplaces were raided and homes stormed.

“They’d call it the Dawn Raids but they actually raided just after midnight cause our families would be up and gone before dawn because that’s what they did, they worked at the crack of dawn,” Pakilau Manase Lua of the Pacific Leadership Forum said.

Pacific People’s Minister ‘Aupito William Sio wiped away tears as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed she would apologise for the Dawn Raids next week.

‘Aupito described what the apology would mean, and the significance of restoring mana for the victims of the raids.

The Pacific People’s Minister, whose family moved to New Zealand in 1969 from Samoa, spoke of being raided, having “memories about my father being helpless”.

“We bought the home about two years prior. To have someone knocking at the door at the early hours with a flashlight in your face, disrespecting the owner of the home, with an Alsatian dog frothing at the mouth wanting to come in without any respect for the people living there.”

‘Aupito described it as “quite traumatising”.

“The apology is about helping people heal. People who have been traumatised.”

Ardern and the government will formally apologise for the 1970s Dawn Raids that targeted the Pacific community on June 26 in the Auckland Town Hall.

This article is republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pasifika family or just an Auckland family?

There has been much debate over whether it was wrong to identify the family at the centre of New Zealand’s covid-cluster as a “Pasifika family”.

As Pacific correspondent let me make this clear – it would have been the absolute peak of irresponsibility not to.

READ MORE: Covid spread could ‘decimate’ Pasifika, Māori communities, warns Tukuitonga

And here’s why.

Pasifika live and breathe community – we interact widely with each other, we share, we are big churchgoers, we live in intergenerational homes – and 40 percent in overcrowded conditions.

Unlike most other communities, Pacific families do not live in isolation.

To not share the information that the affected family was one of our own and interacting in our community circles for days before being tested was unfathomable.

My business is not to keep information hidden or censored because people might be upset or feel targeted. People’s lives are at risk, there is too much on the line for tippy toeing around people’s sensitivities.

Barbara Dreaver reports. Video TVNZ

Keeping Pasifika families safe
The information was given not to victimise Pasifika – but to give our vulnerable community crucial information they were entitled to to keep them safe. It is about helping people living near a new covid-cluster to make life-saving decisions.

And it was important that information be given as quickly as possible so Pasifika could be extra vigilant and be aware that unlike the first wave, covid-19 is being transmitted within our circles.

In the first wave, Pasifika had low infection rates – only 85 cases, five percent of the total number. They were easily traceable.

This situation is not. It is different and unless immediate action is taken we are looking at an unfolding tragedy in our community.

We hear about how covid-19 does not discriminate. Well it doesn’t in terms that anyone can be infected.

But it is the Pacific community who are most at risk because of the way we live, interact, work on the frontline and have high rates of underlying health issues contributing to covid-19 deaths.

In the US, Pasifika are infected at ten times the rate of white Americans in many states and we are not pretending otherwise. The people there are facing an unravelling situation for many reasons – we do not want to be in that place.

The family of six have connections all around the locked-down city – and outside of it. Video: TVNZ

It was not their fault
It was important to me not to reveal the ethnicity of the affected family despite knowing it from the get go as it would have likely identified them. It was not their fault, they didn’t magically contract covid-19 from Tinkerbell. It came from somewhere and any of us could have been in that same position.

Their ethnicity is not relevant as they had no overseas travel, but the fact they interacted in the Pasifika community, in ways which are just now becoming clear is.

It is unfortunate that the government of the island country the family originated from put out a media release confirming their ethnicity and that information was put to air in that country, is all over social media and other media outlets.

That island government got its information from the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

Despite this 1 NEWS chose not to reveal the family’s ethnicity and will continue not to despite it being public information.

South Auckland community ‘hugely disappointed’ after local family contracts Covid-19

The very thing – community interaction – which makes Pasifika vulnerable to covid is also a huge strength. Pasifika know how to look after each other and work together.

Leaders inspiring hope
Add to that a team of leaders who have been working on the frontline such as Dr Collin Tukuitonga, Pakilau Manase Lua from the Pacific Response Coordination Team, Taleiai Edwin Puni from the Pacific Leadership Forum, Auckland counsellor Efeso Collins and the many outstanding health professionals, church, community and political leaders who inspire hope.

But make no mistake… there are grim times ahead. If you feel upset over “Pasifika” being used as being the centre of this covid cluster, it’s time to have a long think and work out what’s more important.

Pacific lives matter.

Barbara Dreaver is of Kiribati and Cook Islands descent. This TVNZ News column has been republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Television New Zealand’s journalists have come out on top at the annual Voyager Media Awards last night, scooping a number of awards in key categories, reports TVNZ 1 News.

1 News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver was recognised for both the Best TV/Video News Item and Best Coverage of a Major News Event for her leading coverage of the Samoan measles crisis last year.

Sunday’s Jehan Casinader was awarded Broadcast Reporter of the Year and Best TV/Video Current Affairs, Short, for his feature Black Friday.

READ MORE: Voyager Media Awards 2020

Grief in Samoa ‘next level’ as measles epidemic claims at least 68 lives – TVNZ 1 News

TVNZ’s online news and current affairs platform Re: rounded out the Best TV/Video Current Affairs Category, winning the Long section for the feature Rediscovering Aotearoa: aroha/love.

The runner-ups for those categories were TVNZ’s Seven Sharp for Harri Brown’s story and Sunday’s feature on The Numbers Game.

In other categories, Re: reporter Cass Marrett won Best Video Journalist – Junior, while Mava Enoka received the Peter M Acland Fellowship, which will see her undertake a placement at Al Jazeera international television network Southeast Asia headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The 1 News design team won Best Artwork/Graphics, with their high-end augmented reality work featuring highly on 1 News’ news bulletins.

The major media awards were conducted remotely this year due to the covid-19 corovavirus pandemic gathering restrictions.

Other major categories include Newspaper of the Year and Website of the Year, both of which went to The New Zealand Herald.

All winners at the Voyager Media Awards 2020

Best headline, caption or hook  – Barnaby Sharp, Nelson Mail/Stuff

Best artwork / graphics – 1 NEWS Design Team, TVNZ

Best interview or profile – Michelle Langstone, NZ Herald/NZME

Cartoonist of the Year – Toby Morris, The Spinoff

Opinion Writer of the Year – Emma Espiner, Newsroom

Reviewer of the Year – Paul Little, North & South/Bauer Media

Travel Journalist of the Year – Mike White, North & South/Bauer Media

Editorial Executive of the Year – Annabelle Lee-Mather, The Hui GSTV for MediaWorks

Best feature or current affairs video – single video journalist – Luke McPake with “Death Bed: The Story of Kelly Savage”, RNZ

Best video journalist – junior – Cass Marrett, Re: / TVNZ

Video Journalist of the Year – Lawrence Smith, Stuff

Best TV/video documentary – Stuff Circuit/Stuff and Māori Television, “Infinite Evil”

Best TV/video news item – 1 NEWS/TVNZ with Barbara Dreaver, “Measles lockdown”

Best TV/video current affairs, short (up to 10 mins) – Sunday/TVNZ with Jehan Casinader, “Black Friday”

Best TV/video current affairs, long (between 10 mins and 20 mins) – Re:/TVNZ, “Rediscovering Aotearoa: aroha/love”

Reporting – crime and justice – Blair Ensor, The Press/Stuff

Reporting – social issues, including health and education – Emma Russell, NZ Herald/NZME

Reporting – general – Patrick Gower, Newshub/MediaWorks

Best reporting – Māori Affairs – Te Aniwa Hurihanganui, RNZ

Environmental/Sustainability Award – Kate Evans, New Zealand Geographic/Kōwhai Media

Science Journalism Award – Eloise Gibson, newsroom.co.nz

Best individual investigation – Patrick Gower for “Exposing white supremacy in New Zealand”, Newshub/MediaWorks

Best team investigation – Stuff, “Product of Australia”

Best (single) news story / scoop – Melanie Reid, newsroom.co.nz

Best coverage of a major news event – 1 News/TVNZ with Barbara Dreaver, “Samoan measles crisis”

Best editorial campaign or project – newsroom.co.nz, “Oranga Tamariki uplifts”

Best Reporter – junior – Logan Church, RNZ

Student Journalist of the Year – Ashley Stanley, newsroom.co.nz

Community Journalist of the Year – Virginia Fallon, Kāpiti Observer/Stuff

Regional Journalist of the Year – Hamish McNeilly, The Press/Stuff

Sports Journalist of the Year – Dana Johannsen, Stuff

Business Journalist of the Year – Tim Hunter, NBR

Political Journalist of the Year – Audrey Young, NZ Herald/NZME

Broadcast Reporter of the Year – Jehan Casinader, Sunday/TVNZ

Reporter of the Year – Guyon Espiner, RNZ

nib Health Journalism Scholarship – junior – Emma Russell, NZ Herald/NZME

nib Health Journalism Scholarship – senior – Nicholas Jones, NZ Herald/NZME

Regional Journalism Scholarship – Natalie Akoorie, NZ Herald/NZME; Aaron Leaman, Waikato Times/Stuff

Peter M Acland Foundation Fellowship – Mava Enoka, TVNZ; Charles Anderson, Vanishing Point Studio

Feature writing – crime and justice – Mike White, North & South/Bauer Media

Feature writing – social issues, including health and education – Florence Kerr, Stuff

Feature writing – general – Steve Braunias, NZ Herald/NZME and newsroom.co.nz; Duncan Greive, The Spinoff

Best first-person essay or feature (no word limit) – Tayi Tibble, newsroom.co.nz

Best feature writer – junior (no word limit) – Joel MacManus, Stuff

Feature Writer of the Year – short form (up to 3500 words) – Nicholas Jones, NZ Herald/NZME

Feature Writer of the Year – long form (3500+ words) – Aaron Smale, RNZ

Best magazine cover – HOME New Zealand/Bauer Media

Best magazine design – HOME New Zealand/Bauer Media

Best newspaper-inserted magazine – Sunday Magazine, Sunday Star-Times/Stuff

Best trade/specialist publication, free magazine and/or website – Air Force News/Defence Public Affairs

Magazine of the Year – Metro magazine/Bauer Media; New Zealand Geographic/Kōwhai Media

Best photography – features (including portraits, fashion, food and architecture) – Braden Fastier, Nelson Mail/Stuff

Best photography – news – George Heard, The Press/Stuff

Judges’ prize for the single best news photo – Stacy Squires, The Press, Dominion Post, Sunday Star-Times/Stuff

Best photography – sport – Mark Baker, Associated Press

Best photo-story/essay – Cameron McLaren, New Zealand Geographic/Kōwhai Publishing

Photographer of the Year – Alan Gibson, NZ Herald/NZME

Best newspaper front page – The Press/Stuff

Community Newspaper of the Year – The Beacon/Beacon Media Group

Newspaper of the Year (up to 30,000 circulation) – Waikato Times/Stuff

Newspaper of the Year (more than 30,000 circulation) – NZ Herald/NZME

Weekly Newspaper of the Year – Sunday Star-Times/Stuff

Voyager Newspaper of the Year – NZ Herald/NZME

Podcast – Best narrative/serial – “White Silence”, RNZ and Stuff

Podcast – Best episodic/recurrent – “He Kakano Ahau”, RNZ and Ursula Grace Films; “Out of My Mind”, Stuff

Best innovation in digital storytelling – “Fighting the Demon”, NZ Herald/NZME and Greenstone

Best news website or app – nzherald.co.nz/NZME

Website of the Year – nzherald.co.nz/NZME

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Two significant events happened at the 49th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) earlier this month – climate change and ratification of the Boe agreement (a regional security pact that succeeded the 2000 Biketawa agreement), says Barbara Dreaver, a veteran journalist with 20 years’ experience covering the Pacific.

Dreaver made headlines herself by being detained and questioned for four hours after interviewing an asylum seeker from a detention centre on Nauru.

The centres were declared a forbidden area when Nauru approved journalists’ accreditation for the forum on September 3-6.

READ MORE: Climate change, at the frontlines

Initially, Nauru revoked Dreaver’s accreditation but reinstated it, so she could cover the forum proper, and she did not allow it to detract from doing her job.

Climate change is a growing burden for the Pacific and was the key discussion point at the forum.

Central to this is the demand by the Pacific Island countries that the United States return to the Paris climate agreement of 2015.

In short, the Paris Agreement is an ambition to keep the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 °C – and to limit the increase to 1.5 °C – as called for by the smaller island states at the forum.

Plea to the US
“Pacific leaders have also called on the US to return to the Paris agreement,” says Barbara Dreaver.

The call comes on the back of US President Donald Trump announcing his intention in June 2017 to withdraw. Under the agreement, the earliest possible withdrawal date for the US is November 2020, although moves have been afoot for the US administration to withdraw from the agreement.

Climate change has become such an important problem for Pacific Island nations that it had to take centre stage at the forum.

“Yes, this was the main thrust of the forum. The leaders have formally requested the United Nations appoint a special adviser on climate change and security and they have also called on the UN Security Council to appoint a special rapporteur to produce a regular review of global, regional and national security threats caused by climate change,” Dreaver told Asia Pacific Report.

Most of the controversy at the forum centred around Nauru, which was once a phosphate-mining mecca now virtually stripped dry and reduced to playing an off-shore role as a detention centre for asylum seekers to Australia.

Nauru is set to receive nearly A$26 million from Australia in Official Development Assistance  in 2018-19, which is almost a quarter of its gross domestic product.

“The money Nauru receives from Australia is valuable to this cash-strapped nation. It’s not only in cash terms – buildings have been improved etc. For Nauru, while it’s a headache, it’s also a godsend,” says Dreaver.

Sensitive refugee discussions
Sensitive discussions around the detainees did take place under muted conditions and away from the media, she noted.

“The discussion around the detainees on Nauru took place in the bilaterals and only at a general level.

“There was some sensitivity given it’s a domestic issue for the most part and Nauru had made it clear it did not consider it part of the forum – even if others did.

“It should be noted that the bigger non-government organisations like World Vision or Amnesty, which would have brought up the issue at side events [civil society discussions)] were refused visas to Nauru.”

Incarcerated children on the island, kept in conditions widely considered inhumane, hardly rated a mention at the forum.

“The children on Nauru are staying put – I understand there are now approximately 109 of them,” says Dreaver.

An Australian decision
New Zealand did discuss the potential resettlement of some of the asylum seekers but were told it was an Australian decision.

“Jacinda Ardern (Prime Minister) discussed it with Nauru at the bilateral discussions but at the end of the day, if Australia doesn’t agree with the transferral of refugees to NZ it won’t happen. The decision is not the Nauru governments’ to make,” says Dreaver.

That was not to say New Zealand did not have a contribution to make at the PIF, even though one commentator in New Zealand likened Pacific countries to “leeches”.

“Most of New Zealand’s contribution was behind the scenes. For example, like some of the other member countries it had input on the Biketawa Plus or Boe Declaration,” she said.

“New Zealand’s presence must not be underestimated… the only times a New Zealand Prime Minister has not attended a forum has been when it has been close to an election.

“While fellow leaders have always publicly expressed their understanding, they have also made it clear New Zealand is missed and it doesn’t go down well.

“New Zealand is strong on fisheries in the region and its input in this area is strong,” she says on a food source that is dear to the heart of all Pacific Islanders.

Climate change priority
Again, there was no getting away from climate change and the security of the region, as Dreaver points out.

“Yes, the Boe declaration was ratified (named Boe as this is name of the President of Nauru’s [Baron Waqa] village where it was signed).

“The leaders had to go back to the table in the evening as Australia had some concerns over the language about climate change which other leaders describe as the single greatest threat to the region.

“There is a strong agreement for resources for cash-strapped nations, particularly in the area of cybercrime – it’s expected New Zealand and Australia will provide specialist and technical knowledge to help small island nations combat this,’’ Dreaver says.

Progress was made at the 49th sitting of the Pacific Islands Forum despite it being held in the controversial venue of Nauru.

Sri Krishnamurthi is a journalist and Postgraduate Diploma in Communication Studies student at Auckland University of Technology. He is attached to the University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme, filing for USP’s Wansolwara News and the AUT Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

While controversy dogged Nauru’s detention of TVNZ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver during the Pacific Islands Forum earlier this month, some critics question how the reporting “overshadowed” climate change and other critical Pacific issues.

New Zealand journalists have expressed their outrage against the holding of Dreaver during the summit, but Massey University’s Pasifika director Associate Professor Malakai Koloamatangi says reporting of important issues discussed at the forum was sidelined by attention focused on media freedom.

“Because of what happened to Barbara Dreaver, and the lack of access to refugees, it was kind of a distraction and it detracted from maybe covering the main business at the forum,” he says.

READ MORE: Barbara Dreaver: Mana counts in the Pacific

Dr Koloamatangi says issues such as climate change, regional security, immigration and trade are significant concerns for the Pacific and the forum.

However, these issues had been “outmatched by the spotlight” on Dreaver and Nauru’s refugee camps.

“The refugee issue is probably not as important in the Pacific as it is in New Zealand and Australia, that’s really the reality of the situation.

People here and Australia have a lot of time to be concerned about the refugees in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, but unfortunately for Pacific Islanders themselves there are other pressing issues like poverty and domestic violence, third world diseases and so on that they are probably more concerned about.”

Highly sensitive
Dr Koloamatangi says the refugee issue is a highly sensitive one for Nauru.

He says he does not condone limiting press freedom, but it is a sensitive and complicated issue which needs to be looked at from many points of view.

“All journalists need to be respectful of the laws and regulations of the countries where they work…but on the other hand you have people who have decided that this is the way they’re going to work, regardless of the fact that they will be punished by the law.

“Some of them have been to prison, so it’s a choice.

“Obviously when Barbara decided not to follow the directions given by the Nauruan government she was obviously taking a risk, and with risk come possibilities of penalties and punishment…but it’s what makes her the quality journalist that she is.”

Nauru issued a statement explaining Dreaver’s detention by police, saying her accreditation and access for the Pacific Islands Forum had been revoked due to a breach in visa terms, but was reinstated the next day.

Dreaver said the interview she held with a refugee was outside a restaurant, not inside a camp.

Detained three hours
However during the interview she said she was questioned by police and held at a police station for three hours for breaching her visa.

“I was under the impression, and I know, we were allowed to talk to refugees. I think it probably shows that things are a wee but sensitive here. In fact, a lot sensitive.”

Nauru’s statement said the government expected media to portray the detention of Dreaver as preventing press freedom.

“We have only asked for co-operation from the media in order to preserve public safety, and this is not unreasonable.”

Nauru President Baron Waqa said media attending the forum were not interested issues in the Pacific – only issues for their own nations and they should have had a stronger focus on the forum.

“How many leaders here? But we’re having to deal with these other issues which do not even touch on the concerns of the Pacific and the rest of the leaders. It disappoints us,” he said.

“Don’t tell me about refugees being an issue. How can it be an issue for Tonga, for Kiribati? No, it’s an issue for Australia and for all those refugee advocates out there.”

‘Selling news’
President Waqa said journalists were invited and came to Nauru to report on the forum but chose to report on other issues on the island.

He said the “media are impressing your will on us” and “sell our news”.

However, Radio New Zealand journalist Gia Garrick, who reported on the forum, rejected the President’s statement.

“Sell the stories? For money? Well, being part of [public broadcaster] RNZ I would completely refute that.

“It’s kind of a double standard from the President because on the first day he invited journalists to go and talk to refugees in the community, saying things along the lines of the refugees here live harmoniously, they live in the community, we’re not going to stop access to them, we invite you to talk to them and you’re more than welcome.”

A journalist who attended the forum provided Pacific Media Centre with the guidelines issued to journalists covering the event which states:

“You are only authorised to report on, or take photos or videos of, the PIF (Pacific Islands Forum). Any other subjects must be approved by the RON (Republic of Nauru).”

Mixed messages
Garrick said journalists were sent mixed messages from the get go because guidelines were vague and as the refugee situation was raised at the forum it was not clear what the restrictions were.

“There was no way a set of very vague visa guidelines and a direction from the media person was going to stop us from reporting the story.

“We still covered the forum as we would previous years, but there was also the matter of the refugees, the 900 refugees that they were keeping in detention centres on the island.”

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAT) supported Dreaver after her detention by Nauru police, stating in a release that her detention was unacceptable.

MFAT spokesperson Todd McClay said: “Freedom of the press is a fundamental part of any democracy and journalists must be free to tell important stories.”

Union E Tū, stood by the TVNZ Pacific correspondent, welcoming the support shown by MFAT, while challenging Australia for its alleged role in her detention.

“This is a story of huge public interest to audiences across the world and Barbara did not shy away from tackling it, even though it has always been clear authorities in both Nauru and Australia are not keen on a light being shone on the issue, E Tū said.

“While Barbara was detained by Nauru police, Australia too must take some responsibility for this attack on press freedom.”

Maxine Jacobs is a postgraduate student journalist on the Asia Pacific Journalism Studies course at AUT University.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ Pacific

The Nauru government has taken to Twitter to warn journalists they are not above the law as they cover the Pacific Islands Forum.

Journalists covering the Forum are operating on visas with restrictions on reporting – in particular about the Australian-run detention camps.

New Zealand Television Pacific affairs journalist Barbara Dreaver lost her accreditation yesterday after Nauru said she had violated visa regulations.

READ MORE: Media freedom commentators condemn Nauru ‘gag’ actions

The TVNZ reporter was detained for more than three hours and stripped of her Forum accreditation – however that was reinstated today.

She had been interviewing a refugee outside a restaurant on the island when she was asked to go to a police station.

-Partners-

The Nauru government said journalists from New Zealand were not above the law and walking into certain areas unannounced increased risk.

The Nauru government’s ‘you aren’t above the law” media warning via Twitter. Image: PMC

The government also tweeted about the need for journalists to follow the rules, and accused some of reporting misinformation.

News reports disputed
At a news conference as part of the Forum President, Baron Waqa disputed news reports about what happened to Dreaver.

“No she wasn’t detained, she was taken in for questioning,” he said.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who is also in Nauru, said freedom of the press was critical to democracy.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrived earlier for the main day of the Forum and said she would be asking more questions about what happened during the course of the day.

She is joining other leaders in the traditional retreat, after which they will sign the Boe Declaration, making commitments about action on regional security, including transnational crime, illegal fishing and cybercrime.

RNZ political reporter Gia Garrick said journalists there did get a warning of sorts yesterday.

‘Wrong issues’
“We did have a warning. I guess that there was some displeasure or unrest from the Nauru government about the New Zealand reporting while we are here,” said Gia Garrick.

“We had an MFAT official sit the seven of us down, or actually it was the six of us minus Barbara [Dreaver], she wasn’t back at this stage …and tell us that the Nauru government would like to pass on a message to us that it would prefer if we reported on the Forum instead of just focusing on the one issue here.

“The government felt that we had not been reporting on the Forum to its satisfaction and been focusing on the wrong issues and so he wanted to pass on that it would be going against our visa conditions should we be going into these refugee camps and it was just a few hours later that Barbara Dreaver was detained or was taken to the police station.”

The Pacific Islands Forum ends today.

This article is republished under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz