Pacific Journalism Review (Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology)
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REVIEW: Solid grounding on race in sport issues
No full textThis slim volume is in the Routledge tradition of highly current but also academically reputable overviews of important media studies and political issues. Overall it lives up to expectations as a useful guide to theory. Recent racial issues in European sport, particularly football, have highlighted the need to think more deeply about the problem and overcome the widely-held notion that racism is somehow now behind us
REVIEW: Shameful exposé of Afghan war but not enough media grunt
No full textNew Zealand's war in Afghanistan is our longest-ever foreign engagement. Our troops have been there for 10 years—more than World Wars One and Two combined. It has cost the country around $300 million, and one soldier has died for every year the New Zealand military has been there. And for what? That is one of the questions this documentary, perhaps the first serious attempt on film to question New Zealand involvement in the International Security Assistance Force, tries to answer.
FRONTLINE: Journalism as a research discipline
Get PDFThis article reviews recent debate about the performance and impact of the Excellence for Research in Australia (ERA) evaluations in 2010 and 2012 on the field of journalism research, in particular discussion of the relationship between research in journalism and that in the fields of communication, media and cultural studies. In response to that discussion and the initiation of the Frontline section in this journal (Bacon, 2012; Abplanalp, 2012; Gooch, 2012; Fitzgerald, 2013) it strongly argues that journalism is a distinct field of academic research practice. It identifies and briefly canvasses a range of methodological issues arising from Stuart Adam’s (1994) characterisation of journalism research as addressing the real, the present and the public (p. 13), and issues arising from shifting technologies and editorial/peer review processes. It indicates a range of methodological literature in cognate disciplines that can be used to ground journalism as a distinct research practice among the humanities and arts disciplines
Press freedom, social media and the citizen
Get PDFOn 3 May, 2013, AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre marked the 20th anniversary of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day with the inaugural event in New Zealand. The event was initiated by UNESCO’s Programme for Freedom of Expression, Democracy and Peace with the first seminar on ‘Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Media’ in Windhoek, Namibia, on 3 May, 1993. The journalists participating in that event drew up the Windhoek Declaration which highlighted that press freedom should be understood as a media system that is free, pluralistic and independent. They insisted that that this dispensation was essential for democracy and development. The Declaration became a landmark document in the fight for press freedom around the world. This address argues that new ethical codes of practice are now needed that are inclusive of serious bloggers and citizen journalists. The author of this address states: ‘The printing press spawned free expression’s offspring—the right of “press freedom”—as pamphleteers fought censorship by governments in the ensuing centuries. Events are unfolding much more quickly now. It would be an historic irony and a monumental shame if press freedom met its demise through the sheer pace of irresponsible truth-seeking and truth-telling today’
REVIEW: Local focus is a plus
No full textReview of: So You Want to be a Journalist? Unplugged, (2nd Edition). By Bruce Grundy, Martin Hirst, Janine Little, Mark Hayes, Greg Treadwell. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 304. ISBN: 978-1-107-69282-4After reading dozens of journalism textbooks to find one for our introductory students, I was relieved to find So You Want to be a Journalist? Unplugged. Unlike others in the education marketplace this year, it is straight-forward, practical, and more importantly, it focuses specifically on Australia and New Zealand. Students will be engaged with local examples, case studies, and newsroom practices
‘Endangered species turned dangerous’: Rena Owen and celebrity in Aotearoa/NZ
No full textThis article argues that Rena Owen’s star persona has been constrained, and ultimately undermined, by essentialist definitions of her status as Māori on the part of print media, in particular women’s magazines, in response to her role as Beth in Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, 1994), a role that thrust her into the international limelight. These ancillary texts served to emphasise two stereotypes, positioning her either in relation to the traditional Pacific Island female type of the ‘dusky maiden’ or focusing on her criminal past and current scandalous behaviour. These representations of the actress detracted from her considerable talents and were undoubtedly a factor in determining a career trajectory that failed to fulfil its early promise. The scandal mongering of the tabloids expressed the uneasiness with which Aotearoa/New Zealand viewed public personalities that embraced a cultural past that included both Māori and European identities. Unlike the international press, which compared Owen’s performance to that of a range of film stars noted for their dramatic and charismatic capacities and presence, from Bette Davis to Anna Magnani, the New Zealand press portrayed her as ‘Beth’—as a social victim rather than an accomplished thespian
Suzanne Paul: Scandal, celebrity and the selling of an infomercial queen
Get PDFInfomercial queen, recording artist, bankrupt, dancing victor; Suzanne Paul was a fixture on New Zealand television for more than 15 years and has been celebrated, valorised, critiqued and embraced. Yet, perhaps because of her ‘low-end’ appeal, Paul’s place on our screens has not been rigorously investigated. In this article, we argue that Paul’s importance lies in three main areas. First, during the 1990s, she was responsible for the paradigmatic televisual form—the infomercial. Second, she can be understood as a liminal figure, and one who encapsulates the dilemma of cultural production as a ‘new New Zealander’. Third, her story offers a case study of how the nominally famous can move from using themselves to sell products to selling themselves as a product—the ultimate selling (of) celebrity. Further, we argue that Paul cannot be understood without reference to the centrality of scandal to her persona and, indeed, narrative as a celebrity. The first ‘act’ of her career saw the television (and advertising) industry scandalised by her undercutting their standards with cheap, almost deliberately unironic infomercial marketing; the second saw her attempt a transition to the mainstream before a spectacular business failure and bankruptcy; in the third she embraced her disgrace, remodelled her persona and won a reality television dancing programme. Ultimately, we contend that Paul’s career depended on a constant interplay between the carefully constructed appeal she projected and her responsibility for, and responses to, a semi-permanent state of scandal
REVIEW: Noted: Old hands advise the new
No full textReview of: Interviewing: A guide for journalists and writers, by Gail Sedorkin (2nd edition). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2011, 206 pp. ISBN 978-174237094.The best journalists are invariably good interviewers, whether they are interrogating a Cabinet minister or getting a shy refugee to open up about her struggle to find work. Excellence in interviewing comes with experience. So when the visiting scientist lapses into technical jargon at his press conference, it’s usually the most experienced journalist in the room who asks ‘the dumb question’
REVIEW: Noted: Pacific climate change doco lacks ‘media impact’
No full text"On the night the The Hungry Tide was screened on Māori Television in New Zealand, our family was having a farewell party for our relatives returning to Kiribati the next day. We sat cross-legged on a mat in a circle while women prepared meals for everyone... of course our family members were going to watch the 'movie' rather than a documentary. They were going to re-connect their memories of Kiribati through this film. Not suprisingly, climate change and sea level rise are already a disaster on the minds of these people.
Mobile phones and media use in Madang Province of Papua New Guinea
Get PDFA mobile phone service was not available to the majority of the population in Papua New Guinea (PNG) until mid-2007. Since that time, commercial competition has been introduced into the mobile telecommunication sector and coverage has spread across many parts of the country. While the focus of this article is on mobile phones, the research has also explored media access and media usage more generally. Analysis in this article adopts the ‘circuit of culture’ model developed by du Gay et al. (1997). The article is based on data from a survey conducted in 2009 in eight rural villages in Madang Province. The research occurred during the primary stages of mobile phone adoption in these places, providing a rare opportunity to gauge early adoption behaviour and attitudes