Taieri MP Ingrid Leary reflected on her years in Fiji as a television journalist and media educator at a Fiji Centre function in Auckland celebrating Fourth Estate values and independence at the weekend.

It was a reunion with former journalism professor David Robie — they had worked together as a team at the University of the South Pacific amid media and political controversy leading up to the George Speight coup in May 2000.

Leary, a former British Council executive director and lawyer, was the guest speaker at a gathering of human rights activists, development advocates, academics and journalists hosted at the Whānau Community Centre and Hub, the umbrella base for the Fiji Centre, Auckland Rotuman Fellowship, Asia Pacific Media Network and other groups.

She said she was delighted to meet “special people in David’s life” and to be speaking to a diverse group sharing “similar values of courage, freedom of expression, truth and tino rangatiratanga”.

“I want to start this talanoa on Friday, 19 May 2000 — 13 years almost to the day of the first recognised military coup in Fiji in 1987 — when failed businessman George Speight tore off his balaclava to reveal his identity.

She pointed out that there had actually been another “coup” 100 years earlier by Ratu Cakobau.

“Speight had seized Parliament holding the elected government at gunpoint, including the politician mother, Lavinia Padarath, of one of my best friends — Anna Padarath.

Hostage-taking report
“Within minutes, the news of the hostage-taking was flashed on Radio Fiji’s 10 am bulletin by a student journalist on secondment there — Tamani Nair. He was a student of David Robie’s.”

Nair had been dispatched to Parliament to find out what was happening and reported from a cassava patch.

“Fiji TV was trashed . . . and transmission pulled for 48 hours.

“The university shut down — including the student radio facilities, and journalism programme website — to avoid a similar fate, but the journalism school was able to keep broadcasting and publishing via a parallel website set up at the University of Technology Sydney.

“The pictures were harrowing, showing street protests turning violent and the barbaric behaviour of Speight’s henchmen towards dissenters.

“Thus began three months of heroic journalism by David’s student team — including through a period of martial law that began 10 days later and saw some of the most restrictive levels of censorship ever experienced in the South Pacific.”

Leary paid tribute to some of the “brave satire” produced by senior Fiji Times reporters filling the newspaper with “non-news” (such as about haircuts, drinking kava) as an act of defiance.

“My friend Anna Padarath returned from doing her masters in law in Australia on a scholarship to be closer to her Mum, whose hostage days within Parliament Grounds stretched into weeks and then months.

Invisible consequences
“Anna would never return to her studies — one of the many invisible consequences of this profoundly destructive era in Fiji’s complex history.

“Happily, she did go on to carve an incredible career as a women’s rights advocate.”

“Meanwhile David’s so-called ‘barefoot student journalists’ — who snuck into Parliament the back way by bushtrack — were having their stories read and broadcast globally.

“And those too shaken to even put their hands to keyboards on Day 1 emerged as journalism leaders who would go on to win prizes for their coverage.”

Speight was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned in 2024.

Leary said that was just one chapter in the remarkable career of David Robie who had been an editor, news director, foreign news editor and freelance writer with a number of different agencies and news organisations — including Agence France-Presse, Rand Daily Mail, The Auckland Star, Insight Magazine, and New Outlook Magazine — “a family member to some, friend to many, mentor to most”.

Reflecting on working with Dr Robie at USP, which she joined as television lecturer from Fiji Television, she said:

“At the time, being a younger person, I thought he was a little bit crazy, because he was communicating with people all around the world when digital media was in its infancy in Fiji, always on email, always getting up on online platforms, and I didn’t appreciate the power of online media at the time.

“And it was incredible to watch.”

Ahead of his time
She said he was an innovator and ahead of his time.

Dr Robie viewed journalism as a tool for empowerment, aiming to provide communities with the information they needed to make informed decisions.

“We all know that David has been a champion of social justice and for decolonisation, and for the values of an independent Fourth Estate.”

She said she appreciated the freedom to develop independent media as an educator, adding that one of her highlights was producing the groundbreaking 1999 documentary Maire about Maire Bopp Du Pont, who was a Tahitian student journalist at USP and advocate for the Pacific community living with HIV/AIDs.

She became a nuclear-free Pacific campaigner in Pape’ete and was also founding chief executive of  the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation (PIAF).

Leary presented Dr Robie with a “speaking stick” carved from an apricot tree branch by the husband of a Labour stalwart based in Cromwell — the event doubled as his 80th birthday.

In response, Dr Robie said the occasion was a “golden opportunity” to thank many people who had encouraged and supported him over many years.

Massive upheaval
“We must have done something right,” he said about USP, “because in 2000, the year of George Speight’s coup, our students covered the massive upheaval which made headlines around the world when Mahendra Chaudhry’s Labour-led coalition government was held at gunpoint for 56 days.

“The students courageously covered the coup with their website Pacific Journalism Online and their newspaper Wansolwara — “One Ocean”.  They won six Ossie Awards – unprecedented for a single university — in Australia that year and a standing ovation.”

He said there was a video on YouTube of their exploits called Frontline Reporters and one of the students, Christine Gounder, wrote an article for a Commonwealth Press Union magazine entitled, “From trainees to professionals. And all it took was a coup”.

Dr Robie said this Fiji experience was still one of the most standout experiences he had had as a journalist and educator.

Along with similar coverage of the 1997 Sandline mercenary crisis by his students at the University of Papua New Guinea.

He made some comments about the 1985 Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap in the Marshall islands and the subsequent bombing by French secret agents in Auckland.

But he added “you can read all about this adventure in my new book” being published in a few weeks.

Biggest 21st century crisis
Dr Robie said the profession of journalism, truth telling and holding power to account, was vitally important to a healthy democracy.

Although media did not succeed in telling people what to think, it did play a vital role in what to think about. However, the media world was undergoing massive change and fragmentation.

“And public trust is declining in the face of fake news and disinformation,” he said

“I think we are at a crossroads in society, both locally and globally. Both journalism and democracy are under an unprecedented threat in my lifetime.

“When more than 230 journalists can be killed in 19 months in Gaza and there is barely a bleep from the global community, there is something savagely wrong.

“The Gazan journalists won the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize collectively last year with the judges saying, “As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”

“The carnage and genocide in Gaza is deeply disturbing, especially the failure of the world to act decisively to stop it. The fact that Israel can kill with impunity at least 54,000 people, mostly women and children, destroy hospitals and starve people to death and crush a people’s right to live is deeply shocking.

“This is the biggest crisis of the 21st century. We see this relentless slaughter go on livestreamed day after day and yet our media and politicians behave as if this is just ‘normal’. It is shameful, horrendous. Have we lost our humanity?

“Gaza has been our test. And we have failed.”

Dr Robie praised the support of his wife, social justice activist Del Abcede, and family members.

Other speakers included Whānau Hub co-founder Nik Naidu, one of the anti-coup Coalition for Democracy in Fiji (CDF) stalwarts; the Heritage New Zealand’s Antony Phillips; and Multimedia Investments and Evening Report director Selwyn Manning.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Taieri MP Ingrid Leary reflected on her years in Fiji as a television journalist and media educator at a Fiji Centre function in Auckland celebrating Fourth Estate values and independence at the weekend.

It was a reunion with former journalism professor David Robie — they had worked together as a team at the University of the South Pacific amid media and political controversy leading up to the George Speight coup in May 2000.

Leary was the guest speaker at a gathering of human rights activists, development advocates, academics and journalists hosted at the Whānau Community Centre and Hub, the umbrella base for the Fiji Centre and Asia Pacific Media Network.

She said she was delighted to meet “special people in David’s life” and to be speaking to a diverse group sharing “similar values of courage, freedom of expression, truth and tino rangatiratanga”.

“I want to start this talanoa on Friday, 19 May 2000 — 13 years almost to the day of the first recognised military coup in Fiji in 1987 — when failed businessman George Speight tore off his balaclava to reveal his identity.

She pointed out that there had actually been another “coup” 100 years earlier by Ratu Cakobau.

“Speight had seized Parliament holding the elected government at gunpoint, including the politician mother, Lavinia Padarath, of one of my best friends — Anna Padarath.

Hostage-taking report
“Within minutes, the news of the hostage-taking was flashed on Radio Fiji’s 10 am bulletin by a student journalist on secondment there — Tamani Nair. He was a student of David Robie’s.”

Nair had been dispatched to Parliament to find out what was happening and reported from a cassava patch.

“Fiji TV was trashed . . . and transmission pulled for 48 hours.

“The university shut down — including the student radio facilities, and journalism programme website — to avoid a similar fate, but the journalism school was able to keep broadcasting and publishing via a parallel website set up at the University of Technology Sydney.

“The pictures were harrowing, showing street protests turning violent and the barbaric behaviour of Speight’s henchmen towards dissenters.

“Thus began three months of heroic journalism by David’s student team — including through a period of martial law that began 10 days later and saw some of the most restrictive levels of censorship ever experienced in the South Pacific.”

Leary paid tribute to some some of the “brave satire” produced by senior Fiji Times reporters filling paper with “non-news” (such as haircuts, drinking kava) as act of defiance.

“My friend Anna Padarath returned from doing her masters in law in Australia on a scholarship to be closer to her Mum, whose hostage days within Parliament Grounds stretched into weeks and then months.

Invisible consequences
“Anna would never return to her studies — one of the many invisible consequences of this profoundly destructive era in Fiji’s complex history.

“Happily, she did go on to carve an incredible career as a women’s rights advocate.”

“Meanwhile David’s so-called ‘barefoot student journalists’ — who snuck into Parliament the back way by bushtrack — were having their stories read and broadcast globally.

“And those too shaken to even put their hands to keyboards on Day 1 emerged as journalism leaders who would go on to win prizes for their coverage.”

Speight was sentenced to life in prison, but was pardoned in 2024.

Leary said that was just one chapter in the remarkable career of David Robie who had been an editor, news director, foreign news editor and freelance writer with a number of different agencies and news organisations — including Agence France-Presse, Rand Daily Mail, The Auckland Star, Insight Magazine, and New Outlook Magazine — “a family member to some, friend to many, mentor to most”.

Reflecting on working with Dr Robie at USP, which she joined as television lecturer from Fiji Television, she said:

“At the time, being a younger person, I thought he was a little but crazy, because he was communicating with people all around the world when digital media was in its infancy in Fiji, always on email, always getting up on online platforms, and I didn’t appreciate the power of online media at the time.

“And it was incredible to watch.”

Ahead of his time
She said he was an innovator and ahead of his time.

Dr Robie viewed journalism as a tool for empowerment, aiming to provide communities with the information they needed to make informed decisions.

“We all know that David has been a champion of social justice and for decolonisation, and for the values of an independent Fourth Estate.”

She said she appreciated the freedom to develop independent media as an educator, adding that one of her highlights was producing the groundbreaking documentary Maire about Maire Bopp Du Pont, who was a student journalist at USP and advocate for the Pacific community living with HIV/AIDs community.

She later became a nuclear-free Pacific parliamentarian in Pape’ete.

Leary presented Dr Robie with a “speaking stick” carved from an apricot tree branch by the husband of a Labour stalwart based in Cromwell — the event doubled as his 80th birthday.

In response, Dr Robie said the occasion was a “golden opportunity” to thank many people who had encouraged and supported him over many years.

Massive upheaval
“We must have done something right,” he said about USP, “because in 2000, the year of George Speight’s coup, our students covered the massive upheaval which made headlines around the world when Mahendra Chaudhry’s Labour-led coalition government was held at gunpoint for 56 days.

“The students courageously covered the coup with their website Pacific Journalism Online and their newspaper Wansolwara — “One Ocean”.  They won six Ossie Awards – unprecedented for a single university — in Australia that year and a standing ovation.”

He said there was a video on YouTube of their exploits called Frontline Reporters and one of the students, Christine Gounder, wrote an article for a Commonwealth Press Union magazine entitled, “From trainees to professionals. And all it took was a coup”.

Dr Robie said this Fiji experience was still one of the most standout experiences he had had as a journalist and educator.

Along with similar coverage of the 1997 Sandline mercenary crisis by his students at the University of Papua New Guinea.

He made some comments about the 1985 Rainbow Warrior voyage to Rongelap in the Marshall islands and the subsequent bombing by French secret agents in Auckland.

But he added “you can read all about this adventure in my new book” being published in a few weeks.

Biggest 21st century crisis
Dr Robie said the profession of journalism, truth telling and holding power to account, was vitally important to a healthy democracy.

Although media did not succeed in telling people what to think, it did play a vital role in what to think about. However, the media world was undergoing massive change and fragmentation.

“And public trust is declining in the face of fake news and disinformation,” he said

“I think we are at a crossroads in society, both locally and globally. Both journalism and democracy are under an unprecedented threat in my lifetime.

“When more than 230 journalists can be killed in 19 months in Gaza and there is barely a bleep from the global community, there is something savagely wrong.

“The Gazan journalists won the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize collectively last year with the judges saying, “As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”

“The carnage and genocide in Gaza is deeply disturbing, especially the failure of the world to act decisively to stop it. The fact that Israel can kill with impunity at least 54,000 people, mostly women and children, destroy hospitals and starve people to death and crush a people’s right to live is deeply shocking.

“This is the biggest crisis of the 21st century. We see this relentless slaughter go on livestreamed day after day and yet our media and politicians behave as if this is just ‘normal’. It is shameful, horrendous. Have we lost our humanity?

“Gaza has been our test. And we have failed.”

Other speakers included Whānau Hub co-founder Nik Naidu, one of the anti-coup Coalition for Democracy in Fiji (CDF) stalwarts; the Heritage New Zealand’s Antony Phillips; and Multimedia Investments and Evening Report director Selwyn Manning.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

In the middle of the Pacific, Fiji journalists are transforming their practice, as newsrooms around Suva are requiring journalists to become multimedia creators, shaping stories for the digital age.

A wave of multimedia journalists is surfacing in Fijian journalism culture, fostered during university education, and transitioning seamlessly into the professional field for junior journalists.

University of the South Pacific’s technical editor and digital communication officer Eliki Drugunalevu believes that multimedia journalism is on the rise for two reasons.

“The first is the fact that your phone is pretty much your newsroom on the go.”

With the right guidance and training in using mobile phone apps, “you can pretty much film your story from anywhere”, he says.

The second reason is that reliance on social media platforms gives “rise to mobile journalism and becoming a multimedia journalist”.

Drugunalevu says changes to university journalism curriculum are not “evolving fast enough” with the industry.

Need for ‘parallel learning’
“There needs to be parallel learning between what the industry is going through and what the students are being taught.”

Mobile journalism is growing increasingly around the world. In Fiji this is particularly evident, with large newsrooms entertaining the concept of a single reporter taking on multiple roles.

Fijian Media Association’s vice-president and Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley says one example of the changing landscape is that the Times is now providing all its journalists with mobile phones.

“While there is still a photography department, things are slowly moving towards multimedia journalists.”

Wesley says when no photographers are available to cover a story with a reporter, the journalists create their own images with their mobile phones.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) also encourages journalists to take part in all types of media including, online, radio, and television, even advertising for multimedia journalists. This highlights the global shift of replacing two-person teams in newsrooms.

Nevertheless, the transition to multimedia journalists is not as positive as commonly thought. Complaints against multimedia journalism come from journalists who receive additional tasks, leading to an increase in workload.

Preference for print
Former print journalist turned multimedia journalist at FBC, Litia Cava says she prefers focusing on just print.

She worked a lot less when she was just working in a newspaper, she says.

“When I worked for the paper, I would start at one,” she says. “But here I start working when I walk in.”

Executives at major Fijian news companies, such as Fiji TV’s director of news, current affairs and sports, Felix Chaudhary, also complain about the lack of equipment in their newsrooms to support this wave of multimedia journalism.

“The biggest challenge is the lack of equipment and training,” Chaudhary says.

Fiji TV is doing everything it can to catch up to world standards and provide journalists with the best equipment and training to prepare them for the transition from traditional to multimedia journalism.

“We receive a lot of assistance from PACMAS and Internews,” Chaudhary says. “However, we are constantly looking for more training opportunities. The world is already moving towards that, and we just have to follow suit or get left behind.”

More confidence
Fortunately for young Fijian journalists, Islands Business managing editor Samantha Magick says a lot of younger journalists are more confident to go out and produce and write their own stories.

“It’s the education now,” she says. “All the journalists coming through are multimedia, so not as challenging for them.”

University of South Pacific student journalist Brittany Louise says the practical learning of all the different media in her journalism course will be beneficial for her future.

“I think that’s a major plus,” she says. “You already have some sort of skills so it helps you with whatever different equipment it may be.”

Catrin Gardiner 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

With more than 50 Fijian villages earmarked for potential relocation in the next five to 10 years due to the climate crisis, Fijian journalists are committing themselves to amplifying the voices of those who face the challenges of climate change in their everyday lives.

Vunidogoloa village on the island of Vanua Levu was home to 32 families who lived in 26 homes. As early as 2006, floods and erosion caused by both sea-level rise and increased rains started to reach homes and destroy crops that fed the community.

The situation worsened in the following years, with water progressively taking over the village. The mangroves that used to cover the coast where they lived were absorbed by the sea completely.

The Fijian government began the mission to relocate Vunidogoloa in 2014. Not only did people in the community walk away from their homes, they left the place where their traditions and stories were passed down. Since Vunidogoloa was relocated, five other Fijian villages have faced the same fate.

Several projects have been established in response to such pressing threats, with an aim to increase the amount of climate journalism in Fijian media.

University of the South Pacific journalism coordinator Associate Professor Shailendra Singh has previously expressed concern about the lack of specialisation in climate reporting in the Pacific and says the articles produced can often come from “privileged elite viewpoints”.

Dr Singh continues to harbour such concerns in 2024. He notes that Pacific news media organisations have small profit margins, so rather than face the expense of sending out teams to talk to everyday people, their stories tend to focus on presentations and speeches that are cheaper to cover.

“This refers to the plethora of meetings, conferences, and workshops where the experts do all the talking and presenting,” he says.

“Ordinary people in the face of climate change are suffering impacts and do not get as much coverage.”

Training journalists to specialise in climate reporting will give them an in-depth understanding of both talking to experts and ordinary people experiencing the effects of climate change, Dr Singh says.

Blessen Tom’s climate change ‘ghost’ village report on Vunidogoloa for Bearing Witness in 2016. Video: Pacific Media Centre

“It brings focus, consistency and knowledge if done on a regular basis. Science has its place, but let’s not forget that people dealing and living with the effects of climate change are experts in their own right.”

Up-and-coming journalists, USP students Brittany Nawaqatabu and Viliame Tawanakoro say they see it as a good journalists’ responsibility to prioritise climate stories.

“Journalism provides people with the opportunity to be the vessel of message to the world. We are the captain of the ship that delivers the message,” Viliame says.

Brittany criticises Western media that considers climate change as a “debatable” topic.

“You have to put yourself in the shoes of a Pacific Islander to know what it’s really like. You can’t be debating it because you’re not the one going through it,” she says.

It’s important for Fijian media to continue to put the climate crisis on the front page and not let the stories become lost in other news, she says.

“If we are not going to become strong advocates as Pacific islanders for climate change and what our island homes are going through, then it’s only going to go downhill.”

Brooke Tindall is 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 is published as the first of a series under our Asia Pacific Journalism partnership with QUT Journalism.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Wansolwara Staff

Solomon Islands student journalists impressed at the annual University of the South Pacific media awards marking the 50th year of the Fiji-based regional institution.

The 18th USP student journalist awards on Friday night featured 14 prizes and more than $6000 in cash awards for excellence in journalism.

Solomon Islands students collected seven awards.

USP’s 50 YEARS

Final-year journalism students Elizabeth Osifelo from the Solomon Islands, who is also president of the Journalism Students Association, and Koroi Tadulala from Fiji scooped the premier award, Tanoa Award for the Most Outstanding Journalism Students, sponsored by Fiji Sun.

“The most important thing for us is being a responsible journalist – journalism has taught us not be passive but active – to pay attention to detail, to always be on your feet and to ask questions,” said Osifelo, who was in New Zealand earlier this year and visited AUT’s Pacific Media Centre and other news sites on a Pacific Cooperation Foundation scholarship.

“We learnt that we must read to develop our thinking.

-Partners-

“At USP, we learnt that as journalists, we have a very important role to play in society. We got first-hand experience by reporting for our Wansolwara newspaper and website.

More confident
“Some of us came to USP fresh out of school with no skills or experience. After three years, we are much more experienced, far more confident and more ready than ever before to take on the world.

“We are sad to be leaving but we will remain family, no matter where in the world we end up.”

The Pacific Media Centre’s Professor David Robie speaking on the contemporary dangers of journalism. Image: Harrisson Selmen/Wansolwara

Keynote speaker Professor David Robie, director of AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, spoke about the global dangers for journalists and reflected on his time at the university when he set up the USP Journalism Students Awards.

“It is with pride that I can look back at my five years with USP bridging the start of the millennium. Among high points were gaining my doctorate in history/politics at USP – the first journalism educator to do so in the Pacific – and launching these very annual journalism awards, initially with the Storyboard and Tanoa awards and a host of sponsors,” he said.

“When I look at the outstanding achievements in the years since then with current journalism coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh and his colleagues Eliki Drugunalevu and Geraldine Panapasa, it is with some pleasure.

“And USP should be rightly delighted with one of the major success journalism programmes of the Asia-Pacific region.

Filipino students protest over the killings in the presidential “war on drugs”. Image: From Dr Robie’s “future of journalism” awards talk

“Wansolwara newspaper, which celebrated two decades of publishing in 2016, has been a tremendous success. Not many journalism school publications have such sustained longevity and have won so many international awards.”

MASI president
USP journalism alumni and president of the Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI), Charles Kadamana, was also a guest speaker at the event.

MASI president Charles Kadamana (right) on the USP journalism awards night. Image: Harrisson Selmen/Wansolwara

He said the awards event was a fitting occasion for USP’s 50th anniversary.

“To those who received awards, I congratulate you. You deserve it. For others, do not be discouraged, rather you should be motivated to do better next time,” he said at the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies pavilion where the event was held.

“USP, over the past 50 years, has been the breeding ground for nurturing future journalists to meet the needs of the region. Many graduates have taken up leadership role within the government, private sectors, institutions and in the media industry.

“My message to students is that you carry a big responsibility. My advice is to make good use of your time while studying at USP. Every year thousands of students across the region struggle to secure scholarships to pursue journalism as a career so you should regard yourselves as the luckiest ones.”

Part of the crowd at the USP journalism awards. Image: Harrisson Selmen/Wansolwara

Organised by the University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme, the event is the longest running journalism awards in the region. It is the only awards for journalism in Fiji at the moment.

Dr Singh said the event recognises and rewards students who excel in their coursework, which includes producing news for print, online and broadcast media.

Other sponsors of the awards include Fiji Times Limited, Fiji Television Limited, Mai TV, FijiLive, Communications Fiji Limited, Islands Business, Pacific Islands News Association as well as international non-profit organisation Internews and Earth Journalism Network.

Pacific Media Centre’s professor David Robie, Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley and USP journalism coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh on the USP awards night. Image: Wansolwara

Recipients of the 14 awards were:

FijiLive Most Promising First Year Student Award – Fredrick Kusu (Solomon Islands)
FijiLive Best Online Reporting Award – Chris Ha’arabe (Solomon Islands)
Communications Fiji Limited Best Radio Student Award – Rosalie Nongebatu (Solomon Islands)
Fiji Television Limited Best Television Student Award – Sharon Nanau (Solomon Islands)
The Fiji Times Best News Reporting Award – Mereoni Mili and Anaseini Civavonovono
The Fiji Times Best Sports Reporting Award – Mitieli Baleiwai and Venina Tinaivugona
Islands Business Award for Best Feature Reporting – Laiseana Nasiga
Mai TV Award for Best Editor – Drue Slatter
Internews/Earth Journalism Network Awards for Best Mojo Documentary (Individual and Group) – Jared Koli (Solomon Islands for the Individual award) and Group 4 winners Kaelyn Dekarube (Nauru), Sharon Nanau, Eliza Kukutu (Solomon Islands), Harrison Selmen (Vanuatu) and Kirisitiana Uluwai
Pacific Islands News Association Encouragement Award – Dhruvkaran Nand
Wansolwara Award for Most Improved Student – Virashna Singh
The Fiji Times Storyboard Award for Best Regional Reporting – Rosalie Nongebatu and Semi Malaki (Tuvalu)
Fiji Sun Tanoa Award for the Most Outstanding Journalism Students – Koroi Tadulala and Elizabeth Osifelo

University of the South Pacific journalism graduating class of 2018. Image: Harrisson Selmen/Wansolwara

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

A short documentary, Banabans of Rabi – A Story of Survival, by Hele Ikimotu and Blessen Tom of Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre, has been selected for the 2018 Nuku’alofa Film Festival in Tonga next month.

This is a film produced out of the three-year-old Bearing Witness climate change project, a research and publication collaboration between the PMC and its documentary partner Te Ara Motuhenga, and the Pacific Centre for Environment-Sustainable Development (PaCE-SD) and the Regional Journalism Programme at the University of the South Pacific.

According to the filmmakers: “During the Second World War, the inhabitants of the island of Banaba were forcibly displaced to Rabi Island in Fiji due to phosphate mining by the British Phosphate Commission.

“The island of Banaba was decimated and the Banabans had to start afresh in Rabi. The documentary follows the people in Rabi and sheds light into the problems that they face now, especially with climate change.”

Film maker Blessen Tom said on the documentary’s Facebook page: “It’s an amazing news for all of us. The festival will be the first time the full documentary is screened in public.

“Super excited for the Pacific screening. If you’re in Tonga on November 22-23, be sure to visit us.”

Documentary maker and senior lecturer Jim Marbrook said: “This is great and it’s a very cool first step,” adding that plans should be made for other film festival entries.

Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie said: “This is a tremendous achievement for starters and a reward for the really hard work that Blessen and Hele have put into making this quality and inspirational doco.”

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Elizabeth Osifelo in Suva

The first edition of the University of the South Pacific’s student journalist training newspaper Wansolwara for the year has hit the news stands and celebrates the institution’s half century of achievements as one of the most successful regional organisations with more than 63,000 alumni and 26 international accreditations.

The university has presented 64,000 qualifications over the past 50 years and more recently was seeking initial accreditation with the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).

The 24-page special edition focused on USP’s 50th Anniversary and the “people power” behind the institution is one of two publications planned for the year and was printed as an insert in the Fiji Sun newspaper on Friday.

Wansolwara’s May edition hit the news stands today as an insert in the Fiji Sun. Image: Koroi Tadulala/Wansolwara News

Wansolwara supervising editor-in-chief Geraldine Panapasa said the publication was dedicated first and foremost to the people who had made USP what it has become today.

She said the first edition focused on academics, support staff and the people who, over time, had become a part of the USP family.

The second edition is expected to feature various graduates and their contribution to society.

-Partners-

Final-year journalism students worked closely with the editorial board on the production of the newspaper.

The editorial board comprises USP journalism programme co-ordinator Dr Shailendra Singh, broadcast teaching assistant Eliki Drugunalevu, Panapasa and student editor Drue Slatter.

The award-winning Wansolwara newspaper is the longest surviving student publication in the region with the largest circulation (more than 20,000) of any student newspaper in the Pacific and Australasia.

An e-copy of the publication can be found on www.wansolwaranews.com or on ISSUU.

Elizabeth Osifelo is a final-year journalism student at USP.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Laiseana Nasiga in Suva

Final-year student journalists at the University of the South Pacific took centre stage at this year’s World Press Freedom Day celebrations in Fiji by participating in a panel discussion about media freedom and the challenges being faced.

USP’s journalism programme gave student journalists the platform to speak on these pressing issues yesterday rather than be spoken to.

Carolyn Kitione, a journalism and psychology double major, highlighted the risks and conflicts that journalists faced in their profession.

“When we are out in what people like to call the real world, you’re forced to realise that the things that you read about in the newspapers are a possibility of things that might happen to you as journalists,” she said.

“People talk about the glamour of having to travel but nobody wants to talk about the stones that are constantly thrown at us. People want to glamourise the interviews that we had with someone but not the substance of what is said or written.

“In the sort of environment that we live in, there is genuine concern of people getting hurt both physically and emotionally.

-Partners-

“There are chances that we could never work a day of our lives in the field that we choose because of one mistake.

Risks faced
“There are essentially risks that we face and conflicts that we are exposed to and when we talk about conflicts we are not necessarily talking about violence, we’re in the profession of watching our backs.”

There was also a discussion about media freedom in Vanuatu which was shared by Telstar Jimmy, who studies journalism, and literature and language.

Jimmy said although there was more press freedom in Vanuatu, there were also serious risks.

“In the 2013 Global World Press Freedom ranking, Vanuatu came seventh out of the 14 Asia Pacific countries and that was due to little regulation or censorship on the media,” she said.

“Even though this was so, the media workers were threatened and assaulted by people in power and that continued to rise from 2010 up to 2015.”

Jimmy also highlighted ta threat of citizen journalism for professional journalism.

“Even though we have one of the most free press environments in the Pacific, there is also a threat in terms of upcoming challenges. One of these would be that through citizen journalism, online media would give rise to more fake news and therefore degrade professional journalism in mainstream media,” she said.

Online freedom
Another student journalist, Elizabeth Osifelo, talked about freedom of information online, the challenges and the way forward for the media in the Solomon Islands.

Contrary to the challenges faced by the media in Fiji, Osifelo said media was free in the Solomon Islands, although there were certain challenges that existed.

“Social media today in Solomon Islands has a really good flow of information but the challenge here is that it only serves a small fraction of our population. The mainstream media also heavily relies on these networks for information,” she said.

“Another big challenge is the ‘big man’ system in the Solomon Islands and asking sensitive questions of the people regarded as a ‘big man’. Culture is a very challenging element for journalists in the Solomon Islands.

“When you do that, compensation is bound to happen and you will end up having truckloads of people arriving at your doorsteps [asking for] compensation.”

Fiji’s Media Industry Development Decree 2010 and its influence on press freedom were also discussed by student journalist Koroi Tadulala, who also majors in literature and language.

“In order for us to achieve press freedom, we must advocate for the removal of constraints that hinder the work of the media. We can talk about press freedom as much as we want, for however long we want, but as long as the constraints are in place, we will never be able to achieve true media freedom,” Tadulala said.

Tadulala also called for the removal of some provisions of the Media Decree.

People’s voices needed
USP’s deputy vice-chancellor (learning, teaching and support services), Professor Richard Coll, said it was important to recognise World Press Freedom Day because most citizens believed it was an important part of a democratic society where people’s voices needed to be heard.

Dr Coll said academics were also encouraged to make social commentary on areas within their expertise.

“I think that is an important part of the university as a media policy and since it deals with media issues, it’s better to speak about your area of expertise,” he said.

Journalism programme coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh said it was important for student journalists to participate in the World Press Freedom Day event because it was part of their studies and a platform to create awareness about issues facing the media.

“It also informs them about the situations in other countries and allows them to make comparisons with their own counties,” he said.

Laiseana Nasiga is a final-year student journalist at the University of the South Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

The people of Natawaru Settlement in Fiji have seen their humble livelihoods grow more precarious as the effects of climate change take their toll.

From rising seas, depleted fish stocks and rising temperatures, the community is faced with a struggle for survival.

However, the people, who live near Fiji’s second city Lautoka on Viti Levu island, have declared themselves a “violence free community”.

Tide of Change is a short documentary film by student journalists at the University of the South Pacific: Koroi Tadulala, Aachal Chand, Mitieli Baleiwai, Venina Rakautoga and Kaelyn Dakuibure

Producer: Dr Olivier Jutel

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation’s news bulletin featuring interviews with the awardees at USP’s Journalism Awards 2016. Video: FBC

The University of the South Pacific hosted its annual journalism awards this month, honouring some of the top students who report for the journalism programmes multi-award winning student newspaper.

Wansolwara, USP’s training newspaper, was also commemorated for its 20th year of publishing.

Journalism student Chrisnrita Aumanu received the award of Best Wansolwara Editor, sponsored by Fiji publication Business Melanesia.

She told Asia Pacific Report that she enjoyed her role as student editor this year and was humbled to receive the award.

‘Challenging times’

“There would be challenging times, for example, running out of stories to put on the pages and looming deadlines. But at the end of the day when the challenges are dealt with, and with the great help from our tutors, it’s a great feeling.”

She said one of the successes for 2016 was this years first edition of the newspaper, when  student journalists dedicated two-pages of the publication to TC Winston, the biggest cyclone ever to hit the Fiji islands.

Aumanu said being an editor has pushed her out of her comfort zone. Originally from the Solomon Islands, she hopes to bring her experience home to give back to her country.

She also acknowledged the team of student reporters and photographers who worked tirelessly on the newspaper this year.

‘Wansolwara’

“Wansolwara is a great news outlet, as it is a great platform for student journalists to put on paper what they have been taught in classrooms. Moreover, Wansolwara moulds budding journalists like us to write better stories each and every time with a sense of pride when we see our bylines.”

Another big winner of the night was former Wansolwara student editor, Sonal Singh, who won the Fiji Sun Tanoa Bowl Best Graduating Student Award.

‘Biggest success’

He told Asia Pacific Report, the award is his biggest success this year.

“Since 2014, when I first came to know about the awards, it became one of my goals to win the best graduating student award. I could say that my consistency brought me closer to this.”

“This awards means that I am on the right track.”

Singh said the biggest challenges for the year have been managing his role as the president of the USP Journalism Students Association (JSA), as well as a six-week attachment, and his commitment to Wansolwara.

“However through the understanding and help from family, friends and my lecturers, I was able to overcome my obstacles.”

‘Revived’

Singh, together with fellow journalism students have also successfully “revived” USP’s JSA by raising enough funds to improve the facilities in their newsroom.

Asia Pacific Report asked Singh what advice he would give to other aspiring Pacific journalists: “My advice would be that if you have the will and courage to stand and speak for what is right to improve our society, then become a journalist. It’s more exciting and satisfying than you think.”

Chief guest

The chief guest at the awards night was former USP lecturer Dr Philip Cass who founded Wansolwara in 1996 and now teaches at UNITEC in Auckland.

“Wansolwara has gotten more ambitious, covering issues from across the Pacific region,” Cass said in a statement featured in the Fiji Times.

“I think over the years, Wansolwara has become a lot better and has certainly won a lot of awards. This certainly has reflected the hard work done by my successors and all the staff who have worked on it over the years.

“This is a very special moment for me to think that it has survived this long and has prospered this much. I was very touched and I am very grateful for this invitation.”

Wansolwara is now the longest surviving student publication in the Pacific region and continues to cover serious news on a quarterly basis.

USP journalism coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh said the awards have been an important event in university’s journalism calendar, since it was introduced by the Pacific Media Centre’s Professor David Robie.

‘Well supported’

“The awards are well supported by the news media industry in Fiji who sponsor the prizes,” Dr Singh said.

“News media industry representatives attend the function and present the prizes in person, which is a boost for the future journalists of the region.”

Dr Singh said the need for well-trained journalists had increased with the onset of social media and citizen journalism, especially in the face of the ongoing development problems faced by the region.

‘Young journalists’

“It is very important to encourage potential young journalists by recognising, incentivising and rewarding good examples of journalism,” said Dr Singh.

“Towards this end, the awards have become an important occasion in the USP journalism calendar over the years, given USP’s critical role in nurturing the future journalists to meet the needs of the region.”

The USP Journalism Programme has produced more than 200 graduates. Many are now working in various media roles throughout the Pacific and beyond.

By a special correspondent in Manila

To mark the 44th anniversary of Martial Law in the Philippines today and to call to mind the atrocities it had inflicted on its victims, thousands of youth and students from across the country have joined street protests as part of the “Youth Action Day for Education, Peace, and Human Rights”.

In a news release, militant youth group Anakbayan said that thousands of university students walked out of their classes to join the protest actions.

Students from various universities in Metro Manila, Baguio City, Pampanga, Laguna, Cebu, Iloilo, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and other major regional centers walk out of their classes to press their demands for free education, peace talks, and respect for human rights.

“We are here in the streets to urge President Rodrigo Duterte to bring his promised ‘change’ to the education sector by taking decisive actions against tuition hikes,” Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo said.

Among Metro Manila campuses that held walkouts were the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) main campus in Sta. Mesa, UP Diliman, UP Manila, as well as several private schools in the University Belt in Manila.

The protest action included a caravan, with the assembly point at the University of Santo Tomas area, which was set to proceed to historic Mendiola Bridge near the Malacañan Palace.

Anakbayan condemned the Marcos dictatorship not only for its corruption and human rights violations but also for initiating the deregulation of the education sector resulting in a 5,000-7,000 percent hike in tuition from P700-P2,600 (up to NZ$75) a semester in 1982 to P40,000-80,000 (NZ$1145 – $2290) this year.

Duterte encourages activities
Earlier in the day, Malacañang said that President Duterte encouraged activities to mark the event as long as the protesters won’t cause inconvenience to the public.

“We understand some groups would mark the anniversary through public assembly,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.

“The President encourages various activities to commemorate the occasion as long as they are peaceful and no public inconvenience or destruction of properties may ensue,” he added.

Andanar, meanwhile, reminded that September 21 was a regular working day.

At the University of Santo Tomas at the weekend, veteran communications professor Crispin Maslog gave a compelling presentation on “Martial law for the millenials”, showing some highlights of the injustices and atrocities under the dictator Ferdinand Marcos under Martial Law between 1972 and 1981.

He noted that of more than 400 people present, mostly student journalists and faculty, only half a dozen had been alive at the time of Martial Law.

Visiting professor David Robie, director of New Zealand’s Pacific Media Centre, also gave a lecture on a “digital publishing strategy for human rights” featuring Asia Pacific Report.

GMA News Network