Pacific Journalism Review (Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology)
Not a member yet
1090 research outputs found
Sort by
Public actors in new spaces: A case study of digital Malaysia in transnational public deliberation
Full text linkThis article examines the role of new transnational public actors and their influence on public deliberation processes in Malaysia. Malaysia is one of the world’s most social media-connected countries where online platforms greatly influence the Malaysian public sphere. Our study suggests considering digital news portals as specific ‘public actors’ since they enable new political debates in an otherwise fragile national public sphere. While national media are controlled by the state, digital news portals offer not only an alternative news perspective but are a stage for a diversity of voices. Furthermore, they link the Malaysian civic discourse to transnational political debates, such as human rights and ethnic interests. Results from eight in-depth semi-structured interviews with news journalists and editors of traditional media and independent digital news portals provide insights into their perceptions concerning the implications of digital news portals for new aspects of public discourse in Malaysia
SPECIAL REPORT: The world according to China: Capturing and analysing the global media influence strategies of a superpower
Full text linkThis project captured and analysed Chinese strategies seeking to influence global media in its coverage of China. While there is ample literature defining some of these strategies, there is a lack of empirical data tracking the strategies in practice. The project addressed this by surveying officials from journalism unions in 87 countries on their perceptions of Chinese influence on the media in their country. The surveys were complemented by focus groups with senior journalists and editors in six countries. The findings illustrated how China’s global media outreach policies have grown increasingly sophisticated and how the country utilises a multi-pronged approach to influence global media. Dukalskis’ (2017) authoritarian public sphere (APS) framework was used to conceptualise the studies and to analyse the findings. It is argued that China is attempting to offer its APS as an alternative to the traditional Habermasian (1989) public sphere
OBITUARY: Jill Jolliffe: Running for her life : 7 February 1945 - 2 December 2022
No full textJournalist and author Jill Jolliffe’s work took her around the world, including 16 years in Portugal, reporting on corruption and injustices, including the killing of five Australian, British and New Zealand journalists at Balibo on the eve of the Indonesian invasion of Timor-Leste in 1975. Her commitment to East Timorese independence endured over decades. Paying tribute, Timorese leader Xanana Gusmão, said: ‘Jill was an activist, a rebel and a fighter . . . She is one of us.
Government loudspeakers: How Indonesian media amplifies the state's narrative towards the Free West Papua movement
Full text linkIn early 2021, the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security, Mahfud MD, made a statement that all armed actions in West Papua carried out by individuals or groups with the aim of liberating themselves are ‘acts of terrorism’. This was the moment when the Indonesian government formally labelled the Free West Papua Movement as ‘terrorist suspects’ and ‘terrorist organisations’. Indonesian online media responded by providing extensive coverage of Mahfud MD’s statement and the excesses after this statement. Indonesian online media tend to use the term ‘terrorist’ in their reporting to label ‘separatist’ West Papua movements, those seeking independence or self-determination. The term ‘terrorist’ replaces Armed Criminal Group—Kelompok Kriminal Bersenjata (KKB). This study shows how six Indonesian mass media organisations frame cases of labelling terrorists against West Papuan pro-independence groups. This study, using quantitative framing analysis, examines framing conducted by six national online media which are dominant in Indonesia and have the most audience share: Okezone, Detik, Kompas.com, Tribunnews, CNN Indonesia and Tirto. This study also elaborates the experiences and perceptions of journalists who write on the issue of West Papua, particularly in terms of labelling West Papuan ‘separatist’ groups as ‘terrorists’ by the government and how the media frames West Papua. The findings of this study show that the media tend to only be a ‘loudspeaker’ for the government, use all discourses issued by the government, and even participate in using the term terrorist to replace the KKB. 
REVIEW: Peace researcher who was a global trailblazer: Review of Peacemonger: Owen Wilkes: International Peace Researcher, edited by May Bass and Mark Derby
No full textPeacemonger: Owen Wilkes: International Peace Researcher, edited by May Bass and Mark Derby. Wellington: Raekaihau Press, 2022. 196 pages. ISBN 978191153869196.
THIS volume of essays provides a committed overview of the life of the extraordinary Aotearoa New Zealand peace campaigner and co-founder of the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, Owen Wilkes. Drawing on contributions by those who knew him and co-edited by his long-time partner, May Bass, who was for many years editor of Peacelink, it tells the somewhat complicated -- and ultimately tragic --- story of his life.
 
EDITORIAL: He waka eke noa: 'In a time of crisis, we're all in this together'
No full textOur roots are firmly based in the Wansolwara—the Pacific—but this edition truly reflects our global range of interests, with contributions from authors in Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, Hawai’i, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. We are delighted to bring you a range of global perspectives on the media and journalism and to connect scholars and practitioners, covering everything from conspiracy theories and corruption to newsroom practice, employment, training and much more in between. Although we are separated geographically we all share common interests and common concerns. As this edition of Pacific Journalism Review, once again produced under the auspices of the Asia Pacific Media Network, goes out, the world continues to face threats from war, climate change, disease and the resurgence of rightwing regimes
REVIEW: Learning from Oceania peace activists: Review of Peace Action: Struggles for a decolonised and demilitarised Oceania and East Asia, edited by Valerie Morse
No full textPeace Action: Struggles for a decolonised and demilitarised Oceania and East Asia, edited by Valerie Morse. Te Whanganui-A-Tara (Wellington): Left of the Equator Press, 2022, 178 pages. ISBN 9780473634452.
THE AIMS of Peace Action as stated by the editor, Valerie Morse, are ‘to make visible interconnections between social struggles separated by the vast expanse of Te Moana Nui-A-Kiwi [the Pacific Ocean] … to inspire, to enrage and to educate, but most of all, to motivate people to action’ (p. 11). It is an opportunity to learn from the activists involved in these struggles
OBITUARY: Shirley Shackleton: A Timor-Leste hero's quest for truth: 26 December 1931 – 15 January 2023
Full text linkShirley Shackleton said that after her husband Greg was killed in Timor-Leste in October 1975, for seven weeks she became a campaigner for justice for the journalists murdered in Balibo, then after Indonesia invaded in December 1975 she became a campaigner for justice for all the East Timorese too. Shackleton saw the Australian government treatment of the killings as a litmus test of Australian East Timor policy. She continued to pressure the government for a Federal Police investigation of those responsible for the deaths, culminating with Australian politicians and diplomats being put in the dock and scrutinised under oath in a Coronial Inquiry in 2007
Intersections of media influence: Radical conspiracist ‘alt-media’ narratives and the climate crisis in Aotearoa
No full textThis article explores a neglected, but important aspect of the misinformation challenge posed by some alternative media platforms in Aotearoa: namely, the spread of denialist or denialist-adjacent discourse on climate change, featuring messaging which aligns with the broad themes of medical misinformation and anti-vaccination propaganda seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. As will demonstrated through a case study of Aotearoa New Zealand’s 2021 ‘Groundswell’ protests, locally-based influencers and ‘alt-media’ platforms have disseminated conspiracist, unscientific narratives on both COVID and global warming to audiences likely to be receptive to these associations. The authors identify some of the tropes and narratives circulated by influencers during the demonstrations as bearing the fingerprints of radical right-wing discourse originating in the USA. The case is made that there is a high degree of cross-pollination of ideas at play within the phenomenon of anti-authority, conspiracist protest movements in Aotearoa, of which ‘Groundswell’ was an instructive example (uniting rural protesters with anti-vaccine demagogues); the discourse is infused with emotionally potent falsehoods and American-style ‘culture wars’ language. While these narratives remain relatively fringe, their toxic messaging may become more influential as more people turn to ‘alt-media’ sources for news. Indeed, the extent to which some of the influencers and language from this movement are edging closer to the outer boundaries of mainstream media and politics may represent an early warning sign for the future trajectory of this phenomenon. Finally, the authors tentatively pose some recommendations for professional media engagement with the growth of 'content that misrepresents critical social challenges. 
REVIEW: Award-winning account of Taranaki taonga’s long journey home: Review of Te Motonui Epa, by Rachel Buchanan
No full textTe Motonui Epa, by Rachel Buchanan. Wellington: Bridget William Books, 2022. 251 pages. ISBN: 9781990046582.
TE MOTONUI EPA is a brilliant account of how five carved panels that were smuggled out of New Zealand were recovered after a long struggle and prompted major reassessments in official attitudes towards preserving Indigenous artefacts. The story begins during the Musket Wars when Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua rivalry led to clashes in which warriors armed with European weapons fought for dominance in the North Island. As war spread to the Taranaki, Te Ātiawa hapū dismantled their most important public buildings and hid significant pieces in the Peropero swamps