Asia Pacific Report - a new venture for independent journalism

Alistar Kata's video about the Pacific Media Centre.

By David Robie

Comments from the AsiaPacificReport.nz and video launch in Auckland tonight.

OUR new adventure really began back in 2007 when Selwyn Manning joined the Pacific Media Centre as the founding advisory board chair, but really took a big leap forward when he initiated the Pacific Scoop concept and we developed that together, launching it at the 2009 Māori Expo.

Over the next six years, Pacific Scoop played an inspiring role in independent journalism alongside the main Scoop Media website, providing a range of Asia and Pacific stories and analyses.

A significant core of this project was its role as the official output from AUT’s postgraduate Asia Pacific Journalism course. We have sent students all over the Pacific on key story and research assignments over the years. Some of these stories have won awards.

While at AUT, Selwyn did two innovative postgraduate honours degrees – producing ground-breaking documentaries for both, Morality of Argument and Behind the Shroud, which are featured on AsiaPacificReport.

Video insights into Asia-Pacific political journalism

ASYLUM SEEKERS in the Pacific, media freedom issues, post-elections Fiji, climate change, the climate of impunity in the Philippines and investigative documentaries in Timor-Leste, Australia and New Zealand were among the wide-ranging topics featured at a three-day political journalism in the Asia-Pacific conference last month.

The conference marked 20 years of publishing the research journal Pacific Journalism Review.

This video features the conference opening, video premiere Sasya Wreksono's min-doco The Life of Pacific Journalism Review, the Ampatuan massacre in the Philippines, and media freedom issues in the Pacific and Fiji. Speakers include: Walter Fraser (AUT's Head of Pacific Advancement), Sasya Wreksono (NZ/Indonesia), Del Abcede (Philippines), Barbara Dreaver (NZ/Pacific), Ricardo Morris (Fiji).

• More stories about the PJR2014 conference

Young reporters offer fresh insights into Pacific 'truths'

REFRESHING to see some younger journos not weighed down by the political baggage of the Asia-Pacific region giving some fresh insights into media challenges - such as Fiji barely a month away from facing its first election in eight years, and also West Papua.

Coup master Voreqe Bainimarama's fleeting visit to New Zealand at the weekend, for the first time since he staged his military putsch in 2006, was crowned by a heady FijiFirst "festival" in Manukau.

Several mainstream media organisations would have us believe that this event was dominated or disrupted by hecklers and protesters.

The truth, unpalatable as it may seem, was actually a resounding success for Bainimarama with most of the 1000 crowd barracking for him, and this was more accurately depicted by Radio Tarana.

A couple of journalists on the Inclusive Journalism Initiative (IJI) programme and Asia-Pacific Journalism course, including a Pasifika broadcast journalist, with a fresh approach, provided a much more balanced and nuanced print story and video report. Well done Alistar Kata and Mads Anneberg!

On a similar theme, Struan Purdie, also at IJI and APJ, filed an excellent report on the realities of media freedom and human rights in the Indonesian-ruled West Papua region. This followed comprehensive and quality news features from Pacific Media Watch editor Anna Majavu. Kudos to you both too!

• Protesters picket Fiji coup-leader's NZ rally
• Media 'freedom' on West Papua exposed
• Two arrested French journalists working on 'freedom' doco
• West Papuan editor appeals for real 'open door' for foreign journalists
• NZ, Jakarta 'colonisers talking to colonisers', says Mana

Timor-Leste raises bar in media suppression with new law

Graphic from the latest edition of Index on Censorship with a profile on the new law.
Image: Shutterstock/Index on Censorship

JOURNALISTS and civil society critical of the flawed Fiji mediascape in the lead-up to the first post-coup general election in September should also be up in arms over the attempts to muzzle the press in Timor-Leste.

A new law passed by the National Assembly in Dili early last month raises the Asia-Pacific bar in suppression tactics against probing media.

The law, not yet endorsed by the president, severely limits who can qualify to be “journalists” and could potentially curb overseas investigative journalists and foreign correspondents from reporting from the country as they would need advance state permission.

It also sidelines independent freelancers and researchers working for non-government organisations in quasi media roles.

In a fledgling country where the media has limited resources, media officers and other researchers working for NGOs have been providing robust reporting and analysis of the country’s development progress – especially over the oil producing industry.

Asia-Pacific reporting with a fresh angle

Student journalists at AUT University are digging up some good stories these days, especially on diversity topics that barely get a look in with the mainstream Pakeha/Palagi press. A group of them working on the Asia-Pacific Journalism postgrad paper have just turned in the following batch:
Overcoming the ‘dairy owner’ and other gender stereotypes
Migrant women have had to struggle against stereotypes for years. Carly Tawhiao talks to an author whose new book Sari challenges these stereotypes and offers a message for the future.
West Papuans forge alliance to push for independence
Groups seeking independence for West Papua have in the past been divided. Now, reports James Murray, unity is the buzzword and activists have joined forces.

Mama Mamas told to make way for ‘New York-style’ city

The Jayapura Mama Mamas, a group of women market workers, face eviction from their trading place in the centre of West Papua’s capital city. Carolyn Thomas talks about their lives to Judith Crimmins, who has recently returned from West Papua.

And Dylan Quinnell is on his way back from Jakarta after some remarkable experiences in Indonesia over the past few months. He even speaks passable Bahasa, I'm told. I'll check it out when he gets back. Next stop for him? China. Who said New Zealand j-schools should only be training for NZ media? In these days of globalisation, our graduates go anywhere - wherever the market is ready for their well-developed skills.
Check out Dylan's account of his experiences.

The student journo Asia-Pacific stories (another batch will be online at the Pacific Media Centre on Monday) are also featured under the PMC logo on Scoop World.

NZ's Pacific minister praises AUT over Pasifika boost

Opening AUT University's new Pacific Media Centre officially last week, NZ Associate Minister for Pacific Island Affairs Luamanuvao Winnie Laban was full of praise for the university's diversity media initiatives. She says AUT has "stepped up to the plate" to take the lead in the sector. She acknowledged the efforts being made in media research and curriculum development and challenged other j-schools, media and universities to follow a similar path. AUT has:

• supported local industry group Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) since it was established in 2001;
• published the research journal Pacific Journalism Review - NZ's only such journal;
• sponsored scholarships for Pasifika undergraduate and postgraduate media students (nine so far - half of them already working in the media industry);
• established a new postgraduate Asia-Pacific journalism paper this year - the country's first;
• initiated international scholarships in Beijing, Jakarta and the Pacific; and
• provided impetus for Maori, Pasifika and other NZ media research.

Says Laban: "This centre demonstrates commitment to our cultural diversity, but also to critical thinking and the pursuit of excellence." Pictured: Luamanuvao and PMC director David Robie at the unveiling of the PMC plaque. Photo: Alan Koon.

• Minister's full speech
• PMC slideshow
• AUT media release

Global citizens and the al Jazeera experience

Nightly catching up on the al Jazeera English perspective on world events is so refreshing, especially after the mundane stuff being served up on Television NZ and TV3. So it was a cool experience for those of us who had the chance to share with four feisty Asia-Pacific woman journos this week, especially al-Jazeera's pair, Kuala Lumpur-based presenter Veronica Pedrosa and Trish Carter (actually now exAJ). Trish talked about the immense challenges about starting the Asia-Pacific bureau of the Qatar-based satellite channel from scratch. Veronica, daughter of a famous exiled mum who fell out with Imelda Marcos over a no-holds-barred book about the totalitarian era first lady, gave a superbly entertaining and insightful look behind the scenes at al Jazeera. There is a determined commitment by its dedicated staff to report the many under-reported stories ignored by other media. Veronica describes herself as a "global citizen - Filipina by heart, Euro by habit"! The quartet were rounded off by Sagarika Ghose from India and Charlotte Glennie, dumped by TVNZ and NZ's only Asian resident television correspondent, and now based in Beijing for the ABC in Oz. Thanks to Charles Mabbett and the Asia:NZ Foundation, many journos and a sprinkling of j-students from AUT University got the chance to be inspired by their experiences and insights. But what happened to the 40-odd journos who signed up for the seminar but were no-shows? No wonder NZ media is so depressingly parochial and smug. Pictured: Veronica Pedrosa and Russell Brown. Photo: Jomine Neethling (AUT Journalism - Pacific Media Centre)

• Top al Jazeera women
• Veronica Pedrosa's story
• Big changes needed for women
• Russell Brown on Hard News - 'A highlight'
• More photos

Our ignorance of Asia is off like old sushi

Louise Williams, of the SMH, who recently spoke at the Pacific Media Centre, took a sideswipe at the Australian ignorance of Asia in an interesting piece in her newspaper (she must have filed from NZ): "The first step towards solving a problem is admitting you have one. But, what's not so useful is getting stuck standing up the front, confessing your weaknesses over and over again. In the case of Australians' [... read Kiwi] scant knowledge of Asia, we've had decades of tut-tutting committees and urgent recommendations, but too little to show for them." Her advice to journo graduates wanting to report on the Asia-Pacific region is in the Global Watch section on the PMC website.