Pacific Journalism Review (Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, Auckland University of Technology)
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Strings attached: New Zealand’s climate aid in the South Pacific
Get PDFCommentary: Throughout New Zealand’s history, the nation has maintained a close and privileged relationship with its island neighbours in the South Pacific, exemplified by centuries of trade and migration. As the effects of climate change encroach on South Pacific nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, New Zealand has implemented an aid programme via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in order to mitigate the effects of the changing climate on these countries economically and socially. However, research depicts an aid programme that may do harm alongside good—by prioritising climate change mitigation over more sustainable and community-centred strategies, New Zealand has created a situation in which these countries become dependent on our solutions to their problems. By researching the controversial record of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies funded by developed nations across the South Pacific, it becomes evident that New Zealand’s programme of climate aid in the region is neocolonial and unsustainable
Spreading (dis)trust in Fiji? Exploring COVID-19 misinformation on Facebook forums
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant challenges for the health system across the globe and fueled the surge of numerous rumours, hoaxes, and misinformation regarding outcomes, prevention and cure of the virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has also had severe political, economic and societal effects and affected media and communication systems in unprecedented ways. While traditional journalism has tried to adapt to the rapidly evolving situation, alternative news media on the internet have given the events an ideological spin. These voices have been criticised for furthering societal confusion and spreading potentially dangerous ‘fake news’ or conspiracy theories via social media and other online channels. The impact of the disease and the lack of information associated with it have allowed medical misinformation to rapidly surface and propagate on various social media platforms. Previous studies have highlighted a similar trend during recent public health emergencies, mainly the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Such a phenomenon is alarming on both individual and public health levels to the extent that governments are realising the gravity and attempting to limit its effects. This article offers a unique perspective because it provides data-driven qualitative insights into Fijian Facebook posts related to infectious disease outbreaks. This study aims to understand public views and opinions on Fijian social media during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and to outline potential implications for health information
Digital divide: Mobile internet speeds in the Pacific
Get PDFThis article outlines mobile internet speeds experienced by 15 smartphone users in the Pacific region. It presents new quantitative data collected over a six-month-long period. The data were collected in order to provide a comparison of places and to look for trends over time. The research was adjusted for confounding factors like weather and building type. The findings indicate substantial differences between the internet speeds and reliability experienced in Australian cities compared to the readings in Pacific Island locations. Over the six-month-long period, there were no substantial improvements or decreases in internet speeds at any of the included locations. This finding takes into account changes in weather, time of day and surroundings. As expected, clear skies and outdoor settings were positively associated with faster internet speeds, compared to rainy periods and indoor readings in the same geographical areas
The COVID-19 pandemic: Resilience of Indonesian journalists
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced the global news industry to adapt to the current crisis. In some Global South countries, challenges have also come from an existing political instability and economic limitations. Indonesia represents a Global South country where its journalists have struggled to maintain the quality of news while many have faced layoffs. This research involved a survey data with 100 respondents, some interviews and observations, which indicated that in the COVID-19 pandemic Indonesian journalists have been severely affected and are not sufficiently equipped or prepared to face any accelerated and sudden changes caused by the coronavirus. However, in some instances, journalists have been able to deploy advanced digital technology and work collaboratively to provide quality information during the pandemic. The article argues that mastering journalism data and collaborative work should be embraced to enhance the resilience of the journalist community. 
Taliban takeover: Charlotte Bellis faces perils outside ‘enemy territory’
Get PDFCommentary: New Zealand-born Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Peter Arnett was one of a handful of journalists allowed to stay in Baghdad as the American offensive against Iraq began in 1991. Reporting first from the rooftop of the Al-Rashid Hotel, he chronicled—quite literally – the impact of the bombing campaign. But on Day Four he was taken to a bombed-out building in a suburb that was then an infant milk formula factory would later gain notoriety thanks to investigative reporter Seymour Hersh—Abu Ghraib. His report was accurate. In 2003, Arnett was once again in ‘enemy territory’ and (by his own later admission, unwisely) gave an interview to Iraqi television during the Second Iraq War. In the interview, he stated that the civilian casualties inflicted by the Coalition forces were counterproductive. In August 2021, it was the turn of another New Zealand journalist, Charlotte Bellis reporting for Al Jazeera English, to tell us what she sees. And much of the world has now seen her. The author examines the pitfalls that she may face
REVIEW: Noted: Destructive pandemic impact on Global South media: Review of The impact of COVID-19 on journalism in Emerging Economies and the Global South, by Damian Raccliffe
No full textThe Impact of COVID-19 on Journalism in Emerging Economies and the Global South, by Damian Radcliffe. London: Thomson Reuters Foundation. 2021. 142 pages.
A NEW publication from the Thomson Reuters Foundation reviews the impacts of COVID-19 on journalism in Emerging Economies and the ‘Global South’. Working on the premise that media and journalism in these regions already face even greater challenges than in the ‘West’, this report describes a worsening of the situation through effects of the pandemic. It shows that factors external to media practice and media organisations are having destructive impacts, but proposes remedies which draw on internal strengths and professionalism in journalistic practice. The work is a qualitative research project obtaining analysis from 56 journalists from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, out of 15,000 journalists who have done courses offered by the foundation, as a backer of innovation and media freedom
EDITORIAL: COVID is still with us
Get PDFIn last year’s final edition we joked that we would eventually come to use BC to stand for Before COVID and AD for After the Donald. Well, Donald Trump is out of office, but COVID-19 is still with us, laying waste to countries, engendering all sorts of insane conspiracy theories and threatening the lives of journalists trying to cover the pandemic
REVIEW: No return to ‘normal’ when the pandemic has exposed global inequalities: Review of COVID-19, Racism and Politicization: Media in the Midst of a Pandemic, edited by Kalinga Seneviratne and Sundeep R. Muppidi.
No full textCOVID-19, Racism and Politicization: Media in the Midst of a Pandemic, edited by Kalinga Seneviratne and Sundeep R. Muppidi. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2021. 230 pages. ISBN: 9781527570894
WHILE the COVID-19 pandemic’s relentless cyclone continues across the globe wreaking havoc on economies and social systems, this book sheds light on the adversarial reporting culture of the media, and how it impacts on racism and politicisation driving the coverage. It explores the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the role of national and international media, and governments, in the initial coverage of the developing crisis.
COVID-19, Racism and Politicization: Media in the Midst of a Pandemic, edited by Kalinga Seneviratne and Sundeep R. Muppid
The role of collaborative journalism in West Papua: A Jubi and Tirto case study
Get PDFIn this article, the author explores the collaboration between Tirto and Jubi in reporting on the Wamena and Jayapura riots in September 2019 in what has been described as the Papuan Uprising. The collaboration was greatly influenced by the desire of both media to improve the quality of news on human rights violations in West Papua. Tirto is an Indonesian online media outlet. Its journalists often criticise various government policies and the Indonesian political world through headlines, news and special articles. Tirto won an award as the Most Innovative Cyber Media in the 2017 Adinegoro Journalism Awards organised by the Indonesian Journalists Association. In the following year, Tirto became the only media outlet in Indonesia to receive an award from the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Jubi is a general news media service from West Papua which reports on the West Papuan conflict, especially human rights issues. At the conceptual level, one can expect an accurate and in-depth report resulting from the journalism collaboration between Tirto and Jubi. However, at the practical level, a question arises about what the collaboration means for the life of West Papuan journalists? Research results using qualitative content analysis and interviews suggest that the collaborative journalism they created was able to restore West Papuan journalists’self-esteem. These findings can contribute to the enhancement of the knowledge in the field of journalism and provide valuable information for West Papuan journalists
PHOTOESSAY: Manus to Meanjin: A case study of refugee migration, polymorphic borders and Australian ‘imperialism’
Get PDFThis non-traditional research article argues that the refugee and asylum-seeker protests in Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point between April 2, 2020 and April 14, 2021 can be viewed against a backdrop of Australian colonialism—where successive Australian governments have used former colonies in Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea as offshore detention facilities—as a dumping ground for asylum-seekers. Within the same context this article argues that the men’s removal to the Kangaroo Point Alternative Place of Detention is a continuation of this colonial policy of incarcerating ‘undesirables’ on occupied land, in this case on Meanjin—Jagera land identified by the colonial name of Brisbane. This extension of Australian sub-imperial and neo-colonial dominion and the imagining of its boundaries is viewed though the theoretical prism of a polymorphic border, a border that shifts and morphs depending on who attempts to cross it. In a departure from orthodox research practice, this article will use visual storytelling drawn from photojournalism praxis alongside more traditional text-based research prose. In doing so, it will use photo-journalistic artifacts and the visual politics that surround them, as core dialogical components in the presentation of the article as opposed to using them as mere illustrations or props