Pacific Journalism Review (Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology)
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The case for using electronic technology in Fiji’s general elections
Get PDFOn 5 December 2006, the Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, announced he had assumed executive power: he dismissed the elected government and declared a State of Emergency. One month later, on 4 January 2007, Bainimarama was appointed interim prime minister by the President of the Fiji Islands and set out the broad objectives of his interim government, which included a commitment to electoral reform. On 20 February 2007, the interim Cabinet approved a ‘road map’, which committed Fiji to a general election and full restoration of parliamentary democracy by 2010. The announcement included the provision for a population census to be carried out by the Bureau of Statistics in 2007 and the consequent determination by the Boundaries Commission of new geographical constituencies. In addition, the Elections Office will be expected to examine a new system of ‘polling, voting, vote counting and declaration of results’. This article argues that, as planning for the road map progresses, the Fiji Elections Office should give serious consideration to the expanded use of the ‘new’ technologies -the internet, the worldwide web and mobile telephones - when considering changes to the voting system. Attempts were made, primarily by the Elections Office and some political parties, to use the new technologies to inform citizens about their voting options during the 2006 election campaign but the available technology was not used to its fullest. Electronic technology is widely available throughout Fiji and creative ways need to be developed by all political actors to reach citizens, especially young people
Powerful Fiji doco shocks on urban poverty: Review of Struggling for a Better Living: Squatters in Fiji. Directed by Larry Thomas
No full text"Fiji's squatter population was on the recieving end of some uncomplimentary comments during 2006. The then State Minister for Housing, Adi Asenaca Caucau, likend them to 'thieves because they lived illegally on someone else's land'. She urged police to make 'every effort to round up and remove' them. Reporters in Fiji are guaranteed a lively quote or two when Caucau opens her moutn. She one liked Indo-Fijians to weeds waking up too much space...
The Post-Courier and media advocacy: A new era for Papua New Guinean journalism?
Get PDFThe Papua New Guinea media is often described as ‘free’ and ‘vibrant’ compared to other media in developing countries in the region. The style of journalism and the news values are based on the Western model familiar in developed countries, where objectivity is one of the conventions of journalism practice. This is a result of influence on the PNG media by Western news values through a history of ownership of the local media and training in journalism provided at the workplace and at journalism schools in PNG. However, the coverage of two major national issues by PNG’s national daily Post-Courier has signalled a shift in reportage style in PNG to one of advocacy journalism. The two major issues are the National Superannuation Fund of Papua New Guinea (NASFUND) corruption crisis and an anti-gun campaign. Although at present both issues have dropped out of the media, they have yet to reach satisfactory conclusions. The prosecution of people involved in the NASFUND mis-management is pending while the anti-gun campaign report has been tabled in Parliament, but nothing has been heard about it since. This article examines the role of the Post-Courierand its coverage of the two issues and why it chose to use advocacy style journalism for its coverage. The coverage has drawn criticism from sectors of society and other journalists. The article also examines the views of journalists in Papua New Guinea about the Post-Courier’s coverage and advocacy journalism
Elite sources, journalistic practice and the status quo: REPORTING THE FIJI COUPS
No full textIn a time of crisis, when there is a signifi cant amount of uncertainty about the means and motivations of those involved, news sources have the ability to determine how an event is represented to an entire society. But who are these sources, and what kinds of institutions do they speak for? Do elite sources dominate the news, and if they do, what is the impact? In the 20th anniversary year of the two Sitiveni Rabuka coups in Fiji, this article takes a mixed methods approach to an investigation of the Australian coverage of the coups in 1987 and 2000. Three Australian broadsheet newspapers—The Australian, The Canberra Times and The Sydney Morning Herald—provide the sample for a content analysis, which focuses on the kinds of sources used in the coup coverage. In particular, it highlights who the sources were and the kinds of institutions they represented. Fifteen journalists who covered the coups in Fiji were interviewed about the experience of covering the coups, including the task of fi nding reliable, credible sources. Their answers are compared with the results of the content analysis in order to gain a broader understanding of how the Fiji coups were covered
Defending journalism and the foundations of democracy: Media and digital democracy
No full textEven as journalists look forward to the benefits that technology will surely bring to digital democracy and journalism, they need to also reflect on the approaching ‘shadows’. These shadows are cast by three fundamental crises that threaten the free and independent practice of journalism and the very craft of journalism itself. These intertwined crises are: a crisis of press freedom, a crisis of safety and a crisis confronting the way journalists work. These crises are putting pressure on all journalists. But journalists and media workers are fighting back. The two commentaries over the next few pages outline some of these issues from the broad issue of media freedom in the Asia-Pacific region to women’s ‘suitcase’ broadcasting in the Pacific
Who let the blogs out? Media and free speech in post-coup Fiji
Get PDFFiji’s fourth armed seizure of government on 5 December 2006 delivered more than a new administration - it heralded the onslaught of a new media environment. With a heavy military crackdown on dissenting opinion and subsequent self-censorship of mainstream media, anonymous weblogs became a safe option for expressing anti-coup views. But because some anonymous blogs allowed racist, defamatory and provocative views to flourish, the role of the press and journalistic ethics was also seen as important. This article examines how a new—and uneasy—media combination kept freedom of expression alive in the months following the coup d’état.
Cartoon: © Malcolm Evan
The big NZ journalism survey: Underpaid, under-trained, under-resourced, unsure about the future – but still idealistic: Profile 2007
No full textThis survey (n=514) updates and extends previous surveys of New Zealand journalists, by measuring attitudes to resourcing, news coverage, ethics and standards, changing technology, ownership and other topics. Reasonably broad coverage of print, broadcast and internet journalists was achieved. Low pay and a lack of support and training, rather than staff numbers, were the standout concerns. Most respondents believed coverage of local, political, business and features was good, while sports achieved the highest rating and foreign coverage the lowest. Respondents generally rated ethics and standards as important, and while they had concerns about sensationalism, they did not seek more regulation. They considered the media was generally performing its watchdog role well, but had concerns about the impact of decreasing resources (especially staff numbers, levels of experience, and time to develop in-depth investigations) on that watchdog role, as well as the impact of changing technology, commercial and advertising pressures. They were evenly divided between antagonism and tolerance in their stances towards public relations. Respondents’ political views were generally neutral or slightly left. There were significant differences across gender, job status, employer and age in many of the results. Demographic data suggest the workforce is becoming more feminised, (as earlier surveys have suggested), with disproportionate numbers of younger women and older men, and an apparent pay disparity between males and females.
Note: The PJR published version did not include the politics section. A second full text file is linked with the politics section included
Jihad and cross-cultural media: Osama bin Laden as reported in the Asian press
Get PDFIn southeast and east Asia, terrorism is not new. A number of the region's nations have had to deal with full scale insurgencies of their own. The region contains a heady mix of core US allies, fledgling democracies and an emerging superpower. Many of these countries were themselves being challenged by militant Islamists. To what extent have regional journalists been influenced by American ideas and definitions in its 'war on terror'? This article considers how Osama bin Laden's media event was reported in the English language press of five Asian states: China (an authoritarian non-sectarian state with a flickering Muslim insurgency); Malaysia (a democractic multicultural society with an Islamic majority); the Philipines (a democractic former US protectorate with a Muslim insurgency); Singapore (a one-party city state, which has been targeted by al Qaeda offshoots); and Thailand (a never colonised democracy with a restive Muslim majority). 
The paradox of two countries called Fiji: Review of Stopover, by Bruce Connew
No full textThis book, Stopover, is a poignant documentary of the lives of the cane families and a story of migration. It is illustrated with some 59 sepiatoned Connew portraits and other studies, seven diaspora snapshots, two grainy Speight television images and a faded image of two unkown men, earlier descendants (c. 1940's) of the girmitiya, 19th century indentured labourers brought to Fiji by the British colonialists to establish the sugar plantations. 
EDITORIAL: A cooperative future
Get PDFWELCOME to the first issue of Pacific Journalism Review to be jointly edited by the editors of PJR and Australian Journalism Review. The trigger for this cooperative editorial venture was the major conference held in Auckland in December 2006, involving the Journalism Education Association of New Zealand (JEANZ) and Australia’s Journalism Education Association (JEA). Anyone who has been to New Zealand will appreciate that it is an excellent destination for a conference, and that Auckland is a beautiful part of New Zealand in which to locate it. Titled ‘Journalism Downunder: The future of the media in the digital age’, the conference was hosted (and very well organised) by AUT University in Auckland. It produced a high standard of trans-Tasman discussion and debate, in the process drawing attention to our many areas of common interest and few points of difference