Pacific Journalism Review (Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology)
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Panel discussion—investigative case studies
Get PDFThe transcript of a panel discussion on two Australian investigative journalism case studies, moderated by Helen Vatsikopoulos: 1. Dirty Money: The Age and ABC Four Corners investigations in 2009 and 2010 into the Federal Reserve Bank and the allegedly corrupt activities of some staff of a subsidiary company, Securency—Richard Baker, Nick McKenzie and Sue Spencer; 2. Crime Does Pay: a Sydney Morning Herald investigation into how the law enforcement agency NSW Crime Commission has been sharing the proceeds of crime with organised crime figures, cutting deals that allow them to walk away with millions of dollars—Dylan Welch, Linton Besser
‘Drugs, guns and gangs’: Case studies on Pacific states and how they deploy NZ media regulators
Get PDFMedia freedom and the capacity for investigative journalism have been steadily eroded in the South Pacific in the past five years in the wake of an entrenched coup and censorship in Fiji. The muzzling of the Fiji press, for decades one of the Pacific’s media trendsetters, has led to the emergence of a culture of self-censorship and a trend in some Pacific countries to harness New Zealand’s regulatory and self-regulatory media mechanisms to stifle unflattering reportage. The regulatory Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) and the self-regulatory NZ Press Council have made a total of four adjudications on complaints by both the Fiji military-backed regime and the Samoan government and in one case a NZ cabinet minister. The complaints have been twice against Fairfax New Zealand media—targeting a prominent regional print journalist with the first complaint in March 2008—and twice against television journalists, one of them against the highly rated current affairs programme Campbell Live. One complaint, over the reporting of Fiji, was made by NZ’s Rugby World Cup Minister. All but one of the complaints have been upheld by the regulatory/self-regulatory bodies. The one unsuccessful complaint is currently the subject of a High Court appeal by the Samoan Attorney-General’s Office and is over a television report that won the journalists concerned an investigative journalism award. This article examines case studies around this growing trend and explores the strategic impact on regional media and investigative journalism
The value of accreditation of journalism programmes: A New Zealand perspective
Get PDFDoubts have been raised in both the United States and the United Kingdom about the merits of accrediting university-based journalism programmes. The accrediting agencies in those countries have been accused of being inflexible and focussing on the old world of print journalism. Accreditation of the three university-based journalism programmes in New Zealand has been through a similarly controversial period, but recently a new accord was reached allowing for a more flexible, non-intrusive form of accreditation. This article discusses how this new regime developed. It notes that the new accord is based on three main factors—the importance of accreditation to the journalism programmes, the power relationships existing between the accrediting agency and the schools, and the personalities of those involved
REVIEW: Noted: Press Freedom tribute
No full textReview of: Magnum Photos - 101 Photos for Press Freedom. Paris: Reporters Sans Frontières. 2010, 144pp. ISBN 978-2-915536-89-8.The Magnum Photos 101 volume marking RSF's 25th year presents many of contemporary history's best known photographs. Many of them iconic and have featured in the world's newspapers and magazines.
NZ watchdogs must keep up with media’s changing face
Get PDFA discussion paper released by the New Zealand Law Commission just before the end of 2011 looked into how well the regulatory framework governing the NZ media was working, and concluded that change was needed. Currently complaints must be made first to the publication or broadcaster concerned. Only if the complainant is dissatisfied with the outcome is there a right of appeal to the self-regulatory Press Council, for print media, or, for radio and television, to the statutory Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA). The commission’s recommendation is for a new single regulator created by statute to which all complaints about ‘news media’ would be directed. Unlike the Press Council or the BSA, the new regulator could intervene without any complaint being laid and—possibly—even before a story is published where there are concerns about the methods the journalist used to gather information. And, importantly, online media would be included. But debate about the issues in New Zealand have been rather muted compared to the Australian and British debates
REVIEW: Opportunities, tensions in participatory journalism
No full textReview of: Participatory Journalism: Guarding open gates at online newspapers, edited by Jane Singer, Alfred Hermida, David Domingo, Ari Heinonen, Steve Paulussen, Thorsten Quandt, Zvi Reich, and Marina Vujnovic. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, 240 pp. ISBN: 9781444332278 (pbk)The title of this book reflects the anxiety facing ‘professional’ journalists and ‘mainstream’ journalism today as a variety of personal and networking technologies facilitate the expansion of ‘produsage’ as an ethic and practice, and as the means and end of journalism. This book explores that key question—when people formerly known as the ‘audience’ engage in the making of journalism, what does this mean to the practice and the practitioners of ‘professional’ journalism
Safety vs credibility: West Papua Media and the challenge of protecting sources in dangerous places
Get PDFWest Papua Media (WPM) is an innovative media outlet established in 2007 in response to the ongoing human rights crisis in the Indonesian provinces that self-identify as West Papua. The context of its establishment included rising hope about the potential of citizen media to empower repressed publics, complaints from mainstream media about the difficulty of establishing the credibility of reports emerging from the provinces, a ban on foreign media, and political moves by Australia to prioritise its relationship with the Indonesian government over demanding an end to oppressive military behaviour in West Papua. This article documents the strategies WPM has pioneered to bolster its credibility and protect its journalists and sources who work and live in an oppressive context. It also contextualises these strategies in relation to standard journalism processes (Lamble, 2004, 2011); current best practice about the protection of journalists in conflict zones (Cramer, 2009); and emerging concepts of global journalism ethics (Ward, 2010)
Media diversity rules: Analysing the talent chosen by student radio journalists covering Islam
Get PDFThe ethnic composition of the Australian population, coupled with the pursuit of a multicultural society at the official level (Ho, 1990) emphasises the nature of the audience for Australia’s media—an audience that is ethnically, culturally and religiously diverse. Yet the content and coverage of the mainstream media does not reflect that diversity particularly in relation to Arabs and Muslims. There are few guidelines for journalism professionals and despite attempts to increase the number of journalists from Muslim or Arab backgrounds in mainstream newsrooms there appears to have been no major paradigm shifts in the way newsrooms cover stories related to Islam. Journalism students at a university in Melbourne completed two newsroom production sessions for one of the city’s major community radio stations, as part of their assessment in a semester-long subject. The researchers examined the students’ choices of interviewee and coded all bulletins produced over a six week broadcast period in 2010. The data will be used to formulate a baseline for the future study of the diversity of talent used by journalism students in the subject, and to see what lessons may be contained for journalism educators, in the breakdown of stories chosen by students and the composition of interviewees contacted by the students
Special report: Pacific media freedom 2011: A status report
No full textPacific media freedom has been under siege for more than a decade, particularly since an attempted coup in Fiji in May 2000, when a television station was attacked and ransacked, a foreign journalist was shot and wounded and a local journalist ended up being imprisoned for treason. Since then various Pacific countries, notably Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu have faced various periods of media repression. Since the military coup in December 2006, Fiji has faced arguably its worst sustained pressure on the media since the original two Rabuka coups in 1987. The Bainimarama regime in June 2010 imposed a Media Industry Development Decree that enforced draconian curbs on journalists and restrictive controls on foreign ownership of the press. This consolidated systematic state censorship of news organisations that had been imposed in April 2009 with the Public Emergency Regulations that have been rolled over on a monthly basis ever since. Promised relaxation of state censorship after the imposition of the Decree never eventuated. This research report covers the period 1 July 2010-31 August 2011 and examines the trends in the Pacific region. In addition to Pacific Islands Forum member nations, the report covers the French Pacific territories and the former Indonesian colony of East Timor and current provinces known as West Papua.
Professor David Robie is convenor of the Pacific Media Watch media freedom project; Alex Perrottet is student contributing editor of the Pacific Media Watch project
Facilitated news as controlled information flows: The origins, rationale and dilemmas of ‘embedded’ journalism
Get PDFThe article traces the origins, rationale and some of the dilemmas that have emerged in the practice of ‘embedded’ journalism. It argues that the practice emerged as a post-Vietnam response by the US military to the ‘problem’ of independent news coverage of conflicts in which the US was involved. For the post-Vietnam US military, independent news coverage was problematic because it often contradicts the official war narrative and, if left unhindered, undermines public support for the war effort. Since public support is crucial for success in a foreign war, particularly during lengthy engagements, independent news coverage is seen as a threat to the unity of the home front and therefore a threat to the war effort itself. The lesson learned from Vietnam was to restrict independent media access to battle zones, first by denying all access and withdrawing security guarantees to journalists operating in conflict theaters, and then by providing privileged but controlled access to front line units via the practice of facilitated news-gathering known as ‘embedded journalism’. As it turns out, even that practice has a downside, and there is more to the story than the military desire to control the narrative