Pacific Journalism Review (Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology)
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Journalists’ confidential sources: Reform lessons from recent Australian shield law cases
Get PDFThat journalism, especially journalism delving into serious impropriety, relies heavily upon a journalist’s ability to honour promises of confidentiality to sources, and therefore needs protection, has been well acknowledged. Former Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in proposing protection for journalists’ confidential sources—commonly referred to as shield law—in the first such major federal level initiative, said ‘[t]his privilege is an important reform to evidence law’ (Explanatory Memorandum, 2007); and in the circumstances then prevailing ‘the protection of journalists is too important an issue to wait’ (Philip Ruddock, Second Reading Speech, 2007). In one instance the court went so far as to say that the importance of source protection was ‘entirely unexceptionable and in accordance with human experience and common sense’ (Liu, 2010, para 51). Are journalists’ confidential sources better protected with the advent of statutory protection in several Australian jurisdictions? The media does not think so (MEAA, 2013). Former Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus observed towards the end of his term of office: ‘Recent court proceedings have highlighted the inadequacy of protections for journalists in some jurisdictions and lack of uniformity in laws across Australia’ (Dreyfus, 2013). The current Commonwealth government in relation to national uniform shield law is unclear. The Australian shield law framework beckons reform and recent events indicate some potential reform areas
REVIEW: Inequality should be worrying Key
No full textBook review of: Inequality: A New Zealand Crisis, by Max Rushbrooke (ed), Wellington: Bridget Williams, 2013, 279pp. ISBN 9781927131510.This book follows international publications, such as Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickets’ Spirit Level (2009) and Joseph Stiglitz’s The Price of Inequality (2012). After 30 plus years of neo-liberal ideology mainstream social scientists and non-doctrinaire economists had reached a consensus; increasing inequality had worsened social problems without improving economic growth or development. Some well-off people were even prepared to support progressive taxes and increased social provision for the purposes of social cohesion. It was thus hard to sustain an ethical defence of neo-liberal policy programmes. Max Rashbrooke’s introduction to this edited collection notes that New Zealand is a special case. From the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s the rich-poor gap widened faster than in any other developed country (p. 1). Various authors consider the nature, causes and consequences of this development over 15 chapters. Interspersed between them are 14 unique viewpoints on wealth and poverty in New Zealand. A range of graphs, figures and tables give empirical weight to the view that inequality is structurally entrenched and socially damagin
Media freedom with integrity and ethics
Get PDFIn Fiji, too much damage had been done by tendentious propaganda by a few that had frayed the fabric of the Fijian society at so many levels of social harmony and political growth of a young democratic nation. And once a nation (and a person) suffers heart-attacks, it must take care of its daily diet and exercise both restraint and responsibility. This is never more important than during an election. This commentary argues that freedom of the press, academic freedom and parliamentary privilege, are advanced and strengthened by those who practise these with professional ethics and personal integrity and conscientiously deepen public trust, individually and collectively. When the institutions are diminished, everybody is diminished
REVIEW: Insider's view of nuclear-free NZ's 'people power'
No full textBook review of: Peace, Power & Politics: How New Zealand Became Nuclear Free, by Maire Leadbeater. Dunedin: Otago University Press, 2013, 344pp. , ISBN 9781877578588Journalism's focus on major political figures and high level negotiations leaves the more diffuse activities of grassroots politics in the shadows. So it is refreshing to see a well-researched book unapologetically placing civic groups at centre-stage. Marie Leadbeater’s thorough chronology of the last 40 years of New Zealand’s peace movement and the fight for a nuclear-free country fills some gaps in our knowledge about the mechanics of ‘people power’. It’s an insider’s view. Leadbeater, daughter of feminist and peace campaigner Elsie Locke, says activism is in her genes. She was secretary and then spokeperson for Auckland’s Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, closely involved with the nuclear free protests of the 1970s and 1980s and still demonstrating at Waihopai’s satellite communication monitoring station in 2013
Reporting suicide in New Zealand: Time to end censorship
Get PDFNew Zealand is unique in its legislative restrictions on news media reporting of suicide, with criminal penalties for breaches. Recently, in response to ongoing controversy about the effectiveness of the law in preventing imitative suicides, the government announced a review of the relevant legislation, the Coroners Act 2006. This article discusses the history of suicide reporting restrictions in New Zealand, suggests they amount to censorship, and furthermore argues that the suicide media discourse here has not taken account of nuances in suicide research which do not support such restrictions, but do justify voluntary moderation of reporting, in line with comparable OECD countries. Also, it argues that current suicide research is based on an outdated conception of media effects, which does not consider adequately the opportunity for public good messages
EDITORIAL: Captive to a political elite
Get PDFThis edition of Pacific Journalism Review is themed on the Media and Democracy in the South Pacific symposium held in Suva in September 2012. Hosted by the University of the South Pacific, the conference has provided most of the core papers for this issue, marking close to two decades of an independent research role in the region by this journal. The 2012 symposium followed two previous conferences held at AUT University in Auckland and USP in Suva in December 2010, covering topics ranging from investigative journalism and technology, peace journalism, democracy, social cohesion and various related themes
Constructing ‘dark’ celebrity: The case of Anders Breivik
No full textThis article finds that there were differences in selected Norwegian and international media coverage of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik following the 22 July 2011 killings in Oslo and Utøya Island. The Norwegian media coverage resembles Nossek’s notion of news media assuming a national-patriotic coverage after a domestic terror attack, whereas the international media coverage more closely adhered to Galtung and Ruge’s news value of ‘unambiguity’ with the portrayal of Breivik being consonant with the pre-image of him as an antagonist. As the traditional notions of fame and celebrity are conflating with infamy and the ‘dark celebrity’, it is argued that the ‘demonising’ frame employed by US and UK media in particular in the findings of this article contribute in elevating Anders Behring Breivik to celebrity status
REVIEW: The ‘woman in red’, media democracy and reviving public trust
Get PDFReview of: The Media in Transitional Democracies, by Katrin Voltmer. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013. 275 pp. ISBN: 9780745644592 (pbk); Rethinking Journalism: Trust and participation in a transformed news landscape, edited by Chris Peters and Marcel Broersma. London and New York: Routledge, 2013. 247 pp. ISBN: 9780415697026 (pbk); International Journalism and Democracy: Civic engagement models from around the world, edited by Angela Romano. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2010 & 2013. 251 pp. ISBN: 9780415961103 (hbk).When the so-called ‘woman in red’ became a reluctant icon of a people’s revolt in Turkey in June, the state violence quickly targeted the news media. Ceyola Sungur, an academic at Istanbul’s Technical University, was projected into instant global fame because of media images of her being blasted at point blank-range with pepper spray by security police. Dressed in a red summer dress, the unarmed and defenceless woman’s defiance in the face of state assaults on protesters demonstrating over plans to remove the city’s central Gezi Park adjoining Taksim Square to make way for mega property development, became an iconic symbol of resistance
REVIEW: Help at hand to navigate legal minefields
No full textReview of: The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law, 4th Edition, Mark Pearson and Mark Polden. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2011, 480 pp. ISBN 9781742370385; Blogging and Tweeting Without Getting Sued: A Global Guide to the Law for Anyone Writing Online, Mark Pearson. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2012, 222 pp. ISBN 9781742378770Over recent years in Australia we have seen a number of big stories emerge which highlight the difficult legal positions in which journalists too often find themselves. One of the biggest was Gina Rinehart’s attempts in Western Australia to have journalists reveal their sources for stories which were published regarding the legal battles she had been fighting against her own children. Another involved the 2009 counter-terrorism operations in Victoria that were apparently reported, somewhat controversially, on the front page of The Australian several hours before they had occurred. While, a third case was what Australian Twitter users dubbed the #TwitDef saga, where The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell claimed that he had been defamed by Australian journalism academic Julie Posetti, who had simply tweeted what a former News Corp journalist had said publically during the 2010 JEAA conference
REVIEW: Noted: Technology's impact on English not all bad
No full textReview of: English for journalists, by Wynford Hicks (20th ed.), London, New York: Routledge, 2013. ISBN9780415661720 (pbk); Bateman New Zealand Writer’s Handbook: An indispensable guide to getting published, by Tina Shaw. Auckland: Bateman, (6th Ed.), 2013. 208pp. ISBN: 9781869538361.English for journalists: Hicks discusses just what kind of English the book is about. As many before him have noted, the strongest influence on the language has undoubtedly been American, but latterly the influence of new technology has been considerable, and not necessarily in a ngative manner says Hicks (p.1). He quotes researchers who see many positives in the influence of social media, claiming that for as many mistakes that appear on Twitter, for example, as many people are busy pointing them out. The English language is not decaying, says Hicks, but there are still problems.Bateman New Zealand Writer's Handbook: An indispensable guide to getting published: Keen writers New Zealanders might be, and where to get published can still be a fraught exercise. On hand with helpful advice is the latest edition, the sixth, of the Bateman New Zealand Writer's Handbook from fiction writer and tutor of creative writing Tina Shaw.