New Pacific media freedom group plugs the gaps

“It’s time to stand up. Journalists have human rights too,” says Lisa Williams-Lahari, founder of a new Pacific media freedom group.

By Kara Segedin: Pacific Media Centre

The Pacific’s newest media watch group wrapped up its inaugural forum in Samoa earlier this month, but has vowed that it will not be challenging the long-established Pacific Islands News Association over press freedom issues.

“We arose out of the gaps in PINA,” says founding coordinator Lisa Williams-Lahari (pictured) of the Pacific Freedom Forum.

But, rather than compete with the established parent organisation, PFF’s goal is to act as its media freedom arm.

“We’re part of the PINA family,” she says. “In July, at PINA’s forum in Vanuatu they will decide how to engage with us.”

More than 40 delegates from 12 Pacific nations gathered at the UNESCO-funded PFF meeting dubbed “Courage under fire” at Apia on May 6-8.

The forum drew up an outcomes statement, saying all Pacific people have the right to freedom of speech and access to a free media.

It identified a growing number of threats to media freedom in the region and called on governments to act on commitments to international agreements such as the Rarotonga Media Declaration of 1990 and Article 19 of the universal declaration of human rights.

Strong links
The PFF wants to build strong relationships within the region, online and with the PINA.

Williams-Lahari says as an online forum the PFF has met the needs for monitoring abuses against journalists.

It is raising the alarm on threats to media freedom, which is ultimately linked to the freedom of people.

PFF’s Project XIX was one of three Pacific media schemes approved for funding by UNESCO through the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC).

“Only a handful of Pacific Island groups got funding. This paid for the conference.”

The PFF started off small, but Williams-Lahari says it quickly developed a following among experienced journalists. It has been a busy year and the next step is to apply for NGO status.
There is also talk of a name change.

Williams-Lahari says there is an attitude among Pacific Island journalists that the abuse and threats they sometimes face are part of the job.

“It’s time to stand up. Journalists have human rights too,” she says.

“We want to let the region know it’s not on. Let leaders know that for the development and growth of Pacific countries the media needs to be part of the process.”

Right track
There were many outcomes from the forum and Williams-Lahari says they felt a lot of solidarity from members that they were all on the right track.

She has been to a number of conferences in the past, but this one was different because while the issues were serious there was a lot of laughter.

“There was a lot of wisdom and experience,” she says. It was also a chance to put faces to some well-known names.

Williams-Lahari says one criticism of PINA is that is has not engaged with Pacific Island needs in New Zealand.

The PFF want to create ties with the New Zealand-based Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA).

“They are another slice of the Pacific, but it’s a different media industry,” she says. “We’re keen to hook up with the Pacific Island network because we’re all on the same page.”

Williams-Lahari says they want to make sure all abuses, even the ones people think are small, are reported.

The next step for the PFF is training, continued advocacy and to make sure all countries are covered, from Hawai’i to Papua New Guinea.

“Doing what we’re doing now and doing it better,” she says.

Rights and safety
Deborah Muir, programme manager of the Asia-Pacific bureau of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in Sydney, ran two days of workshops for the PFF.

The IFJ supports journalists and their unions and works against censorship, and for the rights and safety of journalists.

Muir says IFJ got involved when the PFF asked it to help with training on monitoring and reporting on media rights.

“We were invited to provide some expertise and give it a structure”.

According to Muir, there has been a vacuum of strong advocacy and freedom of expression in the Pacific.

“A lot of the problems in the Pacific Islands are similar. Fiji is an extreme example,” she says.

“Advocacy had been insufficient and the situation in Fiji brings this home,” she says. “In my understanding, the (PFF) members are requiring a much stronger advocacy approach.”

At the forum, delegates heard first hand stories of physical abuse and intimidation.

“Fiji sets such a bad example. We’re worried that other states may adopt their tactics,” she says.

Contempt for journalists
There is overt obstruction and intimidation of journalists as power holders seek to maintain control.

In the Pacific, there are difficulties with public perception and with the media itself. Muir says contempt for journalists is a common problem across the region and members of the public may object to the way the media reports issues.

The media also has weak procedures for dealing with complaints.

“At the moment it’s early days, but members are committed to setting up a system of reporting and advocacy,” she says.

“They’ve said they didn’t want to compete with PINA but fulfil the role missed by PINA. And that’s for Pacific Islands journalists to work out.”

Muir identifies a number of things that can be done to help repair the situation.

“The first step is strong advocacy and in the long term professional development and ethics.”

It is also important to network with similar associations.

Crucial time
Phil McGrath, a spokesman for PIMA, says “it’s a crucial time for media freedom”.

“Governments in the region are undertaking massive change in the way they work. Journalists and the public have the right to be informed,” he says.

McGrath says the situation in the Pacific is very delicate and it does not help that outside media are coming in with little understanding of the complexities.

“It’s good to have local people working together.”

He says PIMA members can help with training and engaging the community in New Zealand and in their home countries.

Associate professor David Robie, director of AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre, sees the forum as an enormous step forward and he hopes the centre will work closely with the PFF.

“There was a real buzz of energy and commitment about it,” he says. “I hope it continues.”

“It was an inspiring meeting. Many journalists who have suffered abuse were there to tell their stories.”

He agrees that PINA has not been meeting its obligations on media freedom issues, but says it is still the main media organisation in the region.

Dr Robie, present at the meeting as an observer for the NZ National Commission for UNESCO, is concerned the PFF will overlap with PINA and end up competing for limited funds.

PMW monitoring
Also, the PMC at AUT has been monitoring media freedom in the Pacific through the 13-year-old Pacific Media Watch news service and database started at the University of Papua New Guinea and Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.

The current PMW contributing editor, Josephine Latu, is a journalist from Tonga.

Media freedom organisations are generally independent, but there is a risk of PFF being compromised.

“Some journalists have either business or other media interests,” he says.

“There is a danger of people pushing their own barrow.

“It’s important that the Pacific is kept in perspective – it still largely a safe place for journalists and media freedom by comparison in global terms,” he says.

“There are none of the really serious threats and assaults, kidnappings or murders that journalists face in other countries such as Burma, Iraq, or even a democracy such as the Philippines.”

Dr Robie says ongoing issues for journalists in the region include cultural and political pressures, and the ease of inducements because Pacific journalists are poorly paid and often face poor work conditions.

This remains an ongoing threat.

Kara Segedin is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course.

Pacific Freedom Forum
Pacific Islands News Association
Pacific Islands Media Association
Pacific Media Watch

Europe cancels sugar grant, Fiji regime remains defiant

“There has been no civil disturbance among Fijians of either Melanesian or Indian descent. The army is well-disciplined and trained and it’s there to ensure law and order and the people have respect for this,” says Alton Shameem, president of Fiji Club of New Zealand.

By Pippa Brown: Pacific Media Centre

Thousands of Fiji Islanders will be hit by the European Commission’s decision to cancel a grant worth more than $US31 million to help the Pacific country’s ailing sugar industry just days before the harvest is due to begin.

But Fiji still refuses to be bullied after this month’s suspension from the Pacific Islands Forum on May 2 after ignoring a deadline by the Forum to set a date for elections this year.

Regime leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama maintains his stance that elections will not be held before 2014, allowing changes to the electoral system to be put in place.

He claims he is providing a better system for the Fiji people and calls the system under the previous Laisenia Qarase government biased and racist.

Bainimarama says he has extended the current media ban in an effort to maintain calm within the country.

Alton Shameem, chairman and president of Fiji Club of New Zealand, says Bainimarama is on the right track bringing democracy to Fiji the way western people want it.

Shameem is among people from Fiji who agrees with the media controls Bainimarama put in place and says Fiji needs to proceed quietly, step by step and not rush things.

He says it takes time to take a country to “freedom” and that is why the elections are not being held until 2014.

‘Anzac bullies’
Both Australia and New Zealand are refusing to engage in dialogue with Bainimarama’s regime in the absence of any internationally recognised government.

Shameem says countries like New Zealand and Australia have a condescending attitude and are trying to sabotage Bainimarama’s ideals and make it harder.

He says the foreign policies of both the Labour and National parties are similar but says the previous Labour government acted as “a very hard bully”.

Shameem thinks the New Zealand and Australian governments are deliberately acting to keep Fiji subservient.

“Fiji is a good country with lots of resources. It is doing well and they don’t want it to prosper,” says Shameem.

He says New Zealand and Australia are threatened and do not want Fiji to be “democratically independent”.

Earlier this month, leaders of the Māori Party were invited to visit Fiji but New Zealand Prime Minister John Key banned ministerial members from making visits to the military dictatorship, even in a private capacity.

The Māori Party says it does not necessarily support the Bainimarama regime as it is unclear what the interim government is doing.

The party still plans to send a delegation on a fact-finding mission to get an understanding of what is happening at grassroots level.

It does not agree with the way the New Zealand government is dealing with Fiji as being the right way forward.

Support for regime
Most Fiji Islanders support the Bainimarama regime, claims Shameem.

“There has been no civil disturbance among Fijians of either Melanesian or Indian descent. The army is well-disciplined and trained and it’s there to ensure law and order and the people have respect for this,” he says.

“The army is not committing ethnic cleansing or genocide. It is there to protect all Fijians.”
He claims New Zealand and Australia have made up their mind to bully the people of Fiji.

He cannot understand why the New Zealand government is doing everything to "make life hell" for the Fijians.

“It’s the everyday people that suffer like the vulnerable and the poor. Why are they making it harder for them,” he says.

He thinks that the Pacific Islands Forum have been pressured by New Zealand and Australia.
“Look at Tonga. It doesn’t have democracy and no one is saying anything about that,” he says.

A few days ago, Fijilive reported that Tongan Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele had asked for a rethink on Fiji’s situation after being suspended from the Forum. He thought Australia and New Zealand were acting with a heavy hand.

Chinese influence
China’s aid programmes have resulted in a sevenfold increase in pledged aid to Fiji since the coup - from $US23 million in 2006 to $US160 million in 2007.

China is ambitious to be a super power and is moving closer to the Pacific, says Shameem.

He says recently $NZ280 million was awarded to Chinese companies to build state housing in Fiji.

“The real losers will be Australia and New Zealand,” he says.

Shameem says there has been a clamp down on media because foreign media have been seen to be agitating and not telling the true Fijian story.

Most foreign journalists are “parachute journalists”, he claims.

“They think they can fly in and be experts. People can see through the fact that they are trying to just promote themselves.”

Squatter problem
Shameem claims references to an increasing squatter problem is just western media blowing it out of proportion.

“In Fiji, you can’t buy land - especially the Indo-Fijian population. When the land leased for farming expires, they need to go somewhere. The Indo-Fijians have never wanted to take land by force,” he says.

Shameem says this is a byproduct of the Qarase government which made a “real mess of everything” with allegedly corrupt and racist appointments. And it is why Bainimarama has needed to interfere.

Bainimarama did not necessarily want to go into politics, says Shameem. He is an army man and that is why he is direct.

He is not a politician but circumstances mean that he has been thrust into this situation.

Shameen says there is no undercurrent of tension. People are happy but there will be a group with a vested interest.

Bainimarama wants to give power to the people. Democracy is about people like you and me.
“Fiji is progressing fast,” he says.

“The Fijians are everyday people who just want to put food to the table,” says Shameem.
“Bainimarama is a good guy, bringing democracy, doing the right thing and making life better for the Fijians,” he says.

Dr David Robie, associate professor in communication studies and director of the Pacific Media Centre at AUT University, says the regime is saying the colonial system has failed Fiji and past politicians have failed to deliver to their people.

He believes the regime is moving toward China and Asia, particularly.

“I don’t think our political advisers are reading the situation particularly well.

Fiji is vitally important to the rest of the Pacific and excluding it is not in the region’s best interests. If we aren’t careful, it will dramatically change the balance of power in the region,” he says.

Pippa Brown is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student and she is on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course.

Europe cancels Fiji sugar grant
Fiji tightens grip, plans own media

Commentators warn on 'down side' over Pacific free trade

“The neoliberal approaches that are currently in meltdown remain the paradigm that New Zealand and Australia are foisting on Pacific countries.” - Professor Jane Kelsey

By Krista Ferguson: Pacific Media Centre

New Zealand and Australia may be considering a softer approach to free trade negotiations after recent Pacific discussions in Auckland and Vanuatu amid criticisms of being rushed into an agreement and “bullying”.

Informal meetings of trade ministers and officials discussed key issues around extending the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) to a regional trade agreement (PACER-Plus).

The coordinator of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), Maureen Penjueli, says there are concerns over developed countries negotiating with developing countries around free trade.

“There’s significant loss of government revenue from tariffs, a loss of jobs, and a loss of policy space,” she says.

“It will remove the key policy instruments like export taxes. It also removes the protection for local industries.”

On the investment side, restrictions such as the requirement for foreign investors to partner with local industries are lost, she says.

“A lot would be forfeited.”

Research commissioned by Pacific governments confirmed these potential problems, she says.

She pointed out a gap analysis undertaken for Pacific Island Forum trade ministers by Nathan Associates.

Executive director of Oxfam Barry Coates says the aid agency is hoping for a follow through on stated commitment from officials of Australia and New Zealand that the trade discussion will benefit the Pacific.

“We’re looking for reality of negotiations to echo this stated aim.”

Unequal relationship
There is an unequal relationship in capacity for negotiations, says Coates.

“Attention needs to be paid for Pacific nations to have the right people and time to research.”

The proposal from New Zealand and Australia to start formal negotiations in August is too early, he says.

The chairman of the New Zealand Pacific Business Council, Gilbert Ullrich, also says more time is needed as there are many questions still to answer.

“Vanuatu’s income comes from the tariffs on their imports. This funds government operations. What will replace this if tariffs are reduced?”

According to a PANG newsletter, Vanuatu stands to lose around 17 percent of its government revenue if tariffs are removed.

Ullrich points out that he is a great believer in free trade but says this is about fair trade with multi-lateral dimensions.

“We need to address some issues first including the exclusion of Fiji and the development of common standards across islands. The money should go into food, health and safety.

“Is PACER going to produce any jobs for the young educated people leaving school?”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade does not consult with the New Zealand Pacific Business Council, he says.

“The free trade discussions are all theory to keep a lot of bureaucrats busy.

“They haven’t demonstrated how free trade can work properly.”

Neo-colonial behaviour
Dr Jane Kelsey, an Auckland University professor of law, says New Zealand and Australia have displayed neo-colonial behaviour all along.

“New Zealand and Australia will continue to bully their way around and are likely to employ a divide and rule strategy,” she says.

Dr Kelsey says there needs to be a rethink of the model.

“The neoliberal approaches that are currently in meltdown remain the paradigm that New Zealand and Australia are foisting on Pacific countries.”

Pacific countries will remain under enormous pressure, she says.

Dr Kelsey says some Pacific countries are choosing to deflect this by negotiating with other nations, notably China.

Penjueli says PANG is extremely concerned by the interpretation of the Pacific position by Australia and New Zealand to date.

“The region is clear that they are not ready [to begin formal negotiations]. They want an Office of Chief Trade Advisor. They want to have the opportunity to undertake national consultations.”

But Penjueli also says that New Zealand and Australia are starting to show some appreciation of the issues.

No directives were given at the recent Auckland informal meeting, according to information provided to PANG by officials. Penjueli sees this as a very positive sign.

Funding support
Coates says a proposal for a Pacific negotiating office with a chief trade adviser based in Vanuatu has been put forward with a request for funding support.

New Zealand in principal agrees but they have offered insufficient funds to support this, he says.

Penjueli says the role of chief trade adviser is a critical issue.

“There’s a concern that because of the fast tracking of PACER-Plus that the technical skills for negotiation aren’t there.”

The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) secretariat has provided the technical expertise to date during trade discussions at the request of Pacific Trade Ministers.

New Zealand and Australia are members of PIF along with 14 other Pacific nations.

“There’s a clear tension there and this is a critical issue to resolve.”

Fiji excluded
At the moment, Fiji is excluded from the trade discussions.

Coates says: “It is hard to imagine a Pacific free trade agreement without Fiji.

“The country plays a crucial role as a trade route and as an exporter to other Pacific Islands. There needs to be some careful thinking around this.”

The situation in Fiji is changing rapidly so this is another reason to delay the start of formal negotiations, he says.

Ullrich also asks how Fiji will be dealt with.

“They are the largest manufacturer in the Pacific. Fiji is the hub, the centre of trade. There has been a 50 percent increase in trade between Fiji and China in January alone.”

Penjueli says that a change of thinking is beginning to emerge from New Zealand and Australia on how to engage Fiji in the trade discussions. She believes trade discussions with Fiji will be an exception to the current exclusions.

Dr Kelsey says it is typical hypocrisy that in areas where New Zealand and Australia do have interests they turn a blind eye to their positions on exclusion of Fiji.

Aid and trade
Dr Kelsey says the recent announcement from Foreign Minister Murray McCully about NZAid gives an indication that New Zealand’s aid spending would be aligned with foreign policy and that this would be geared to economic development.

New Zealand is likely to become more intransigent and use aid as leverage in trade discussions, says Dr Kelsey.

Coates says there is a fine line between development aid to facilitate trade and trade discussions.

“There should be no use of aid to sweeten a bad deal. Everyone recognises this.

“But there is a need to provide financial support for Pacific nations to aid development of their export capacity.

“There’s a fine line. Pacific nations will be looking for reassurance on this.”

Road map
Penjueli says a road map proposal developed by PIF members describes a pathway to trade through a phased approach and includes clear criteria for how to proceed.

The recent meeting in Vanuatu sought to refine this document along with the proposal for the chief trade adviser.

The road map identifies 2013 as the preferred date for formal negotiations to begin.

The next formal meeting of trade ministers will be held in Samoa in June. Following this there is a Pacific Trade Forum meeting in Cairns in August.

Krista Ferguson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course.

Pictured: Dr Jane Kelsey ... criticisms of bullying by Australia and New Zealand.

Big Brothers Behaving Badly
Aid increases as NZAID changes focus

PIMA chair resigns over Pacific media 'politics'

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Tagata Pasifika reporter Aaron Taouma (pictured) has stepped down from his post of interim chair of the New Zealand-based Pacific Islands Media Association.

The executive committee will meet later this week to discuss his successor.

Taouma announced his resignation in a letter later circulated on Pacific Islands Journalists Online, saying PIMA was “pushed towards certain political directions”. This went against the founding documents of the organisation.

He wrote that a recent PIMA news release about media freedom “may have been at odds with PIMA’s constitution and general Pacific media opinion”.

PIMA was not just a forum for journalists but everyone involved in Pacific Islands media, he added.

According to PIMA spokesperson Phil McGrath, Taouma’s statement followed PIMA’s stand in support of journalists at the Pacific Freedom Forum conference held in Samoa on May 6-8.

This was during the height of debate surrounding Television New Zealand’s controversial report by Pacific affairs correspondent Barbara Dreaver on gangs, guns and drug smuggling in Samoa.

“Barbara Dreaver, being a member of PIMA, approached the executive for support,” McGrath told Pacific Media Watch.

Supporting journalists
“Our position at the time was that we support the right of any journalist to investigate and report - without fear of attacks - either personally or professionally,” he said.

McGrath added that an executive is “all about compromise”.

Dreaver’s television exposé ran on April 6 and included footage of young Samoans smoking marijuana, wielding machetes, and discussing the drug trade in Samoa.

It also reported that guns were smuggled into Samoa from the US and drugs from New Zealand.
The Samoan government has since filed a broadcasting standards complaint against TVNZ . The government alleges the report damaged the country’s reputation as a tourist destination and that Dreaver’s crew staged interviews with “actors”.

TVNZ rejects this claim and is vigorously defending the Dreaver report.

In his resignation letter on May 10, Taouma said “recent reports have…brought to light the issues of ‘parachute reporting’ and sensationalised single-angled accounts of events in the Pacific Islands”.

However, PIMA deputy chair Chris Lakatani, who accepted Taouma’s resignation, said PIMA was not a political body and had “no advocacy issues in its constitution”.

“We haven’t come to our members and said, ‘well what do you think of [the Barbara Dreaver] issue’, because we don’t have any mandate to make statements on those issues,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

“We will not support her just because she is a member of PIMA, but just like any other regular journalist, we support her right to be protected.”

McGrath said PIMA’s statement concerned the rights and freedoms of journalists across the entire Pacific.

Several Samoan newspapers have published articles with personal attacks on Dreaver and the issue was debated at an evening talanoa session of the UNESCO-funded PFF workshop in Apia.

Pacific Freedom Forum
Pacific Media Watch
PIMA
'Gangsta paradise' vendetta against Dreaver
Dreaver story on Samoan gangs [video]

Shortland Street in another culture – responses from Fiji

By Patrick Craddock: Pacific Media Centre

It has been a popular TV programme in Fiji since the mid-1990s. But what values and ideas do Fijians and Indo-Fijians take from Shortland Street?

Dr Charu Uppal, a visitor to New Zealand, has talked with a group of academics and students about her findings on how Fiji citizens view this popular series which is broadcast several times a week during prime time television.

Dr Uppal is a former lecturer from the University of the South Pacific regional journalism programme. On joining the university in 2005 she was fascinated to hear her students and friends talk about how much they enjoyed and learned from watching the New Zealand soap opera.

She quickly found out that then Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, now deposed by the army, did not like Shortland Street. He had attacked the show saying:

The rise of promiscuity, sexually transmitted diseases and accidental teenage pregnancies is directly linked to the influence of media.

Ledua Leqaieciopia, a student at USP and a regular viewer of Shortland Street noted:

The show is filled with adult themes – adultery, infidelity, cyberspace pornography and others.

Unable to resolve her curiosity, Dr Uppal gathered together a group of people of different ages, occupations and ethnic groups for a research project to talk with them about their Shortland Street viewing.

Cultural impact
When the group met, Dr Uppal told them that she wanted to find out their perceptions of the New Zealand series on themselves and on other people they knew. She was also interested to find out, if she could, about the implications for local culture on viewing Shortland Street.

Kirti, an avid viewer, and the youngest person in the group, said she admired the clothes the actors wore.

“I loved their dressing and its something that I cannot wear myself because of the community that I have grown up in, and stuff, you know?”

Josie, a woman from a conservative family said that viewing Shortland Street helped her learn about homosexuality. She then accepted the different lifestyle of her daughters.

“Shortland Street was blamed for my girls…umm…my husband used to blame me. I was watching Shortland Street, that’s why girls turned out to be lesbians. But it’s their freedom. I am not going to stop them.”

For Jay, part of the attraction of viewing the soap opera was that he felt closer to his relatives who lived in New Zealand.

“They mention Fiji almost, like, every month…every two months… I mean my family, have migrated over there … a soap opera from New Zealand …means more to you.”

Katie and some of her friends often text each other during the broadcast to comment on the story.

‘Similar problems’
“I think it acts like a catharsis for me…so there’d be all sorts of nonsense going on in my own life and I enjoy watching people that have the same/similar problems. The social reason is that I can talk about it with people. I have some close friends, some colleagues who are actually here, who I can share with. We actually text during the show…”

Jay watches the show mainly because he thinks many of the women characters are attractive, and that the show serves as an appetiser to the 9 pm shows, which are mainly from American television.

An overall response from the group was that Shortland Street is used to relax and relieve stress. But it is also used to initiate serious discussions on themes and issues arising from the TV stories that might otherwise take years before they are openly discussed within the local culture.

Shortland Street is not available on DVD although many fans visit the website. The Fiji Television broadcast of Shortland Street in Fiji is three weeks behind that in NZ.

The website helps those who are curious learn about the show ahead of its broadcast time.

Picture: Dr Charu Uppal, formerly of the University of the South Pacific.

• Shortland Street

Digital revolution countdown stretches Kiwi community broadcasters

By Jessica Harkins: Pacific Media Centre

Do you know who your regional broadcaster is?

Did you even know you had one, just a dial-twirl away?

More importantly, do you care if they are there?

Whatever the answers to these questions, it’s likely the people involved in the country’s 13 regional broadcasters are more concerned at the apparent lack of interest from the one organisation that should be taking a good look at the local broadcasters.

These people are asking if the government cares.

This comes after the funding pool New Zealand on Air (NZoA) allocates to regional broadcasting in New Zealand was increased from around $850,000 to $1.5 million.

Regional Television Broadcasters Association chair and chief executive of Triangle/Stratos Television Jim Blackman asks if that is all regional broadcasting is worth to the government.

“Does that allow us as broadcasters to be able to tell stories? Does that allow us to generate funds from advertising and so on to promote student TV? We have to find the money somewhere,” he says.

“We get this platitudinous response that we’re getting a 68 percent increase in funding, it’s not good enough,” he adds.

Blackman outlines the real worth of this money. He says when the $1.5 million is divided between the 13 stations (which are not guaranteed a share, they have to be eligible and apply); they are left with enough to make one and a half hours of mainstream TV quality documentary.

Frugal mentality
“One and a half hours of TV among 13 networks which serve their communities, and serve them well, is lip service. Have I gone too far?” he asks.

He says the mentality at Triangle/Stratos is one of frugality,

“We’re used to running things economically,” he says.

He says the switch to the digital platform will be hard on most small broadcasters.

“They are being forced to by the government,” he says

“No real thought has gone into it.”

Telling stories is a huge part of the regional broadcaster’s mentality. They are in the community, for the community.

Carol Peters of TV North puts it best, describing the station as an incubator.

“TV North stimulates media in Whangarei. TV stations are an opportunity for people to showcase art, and get jobs, and do training. Our relationship with local business is one of support. That’s what it means to be an incubator,” she says.

“We have a relationship with the local polytechnic and with the primary schools. Kids make a show called Pukeko Echo, it’s made by kids aged five to 13 from Manaia View School.

Graduate profile
“We are hoping to have a relationship with the high schools in the future.

“The polytechnic uses the station as training, and we employ some of the graduates of the courses.”

Chrissie Staples of Tararua TV says profiling positive people and events in the community is the lifeblood of local broadcasting. But when they have to go digital, the way they frame programs will have to change.

“Things will be less home grown,” she says

“We’ll have to have in the back of our minds, as our audience gets bigger, that programmes will have to be filmed in a way that everyone can enjoy.

“Filming the local swim meet won’t be that simple anymore,” she adds.

And as for the NZoA funding increase?

“What increase?” she laughs.

“It’s contestable,” she says “so we have to put more effort into our programming, because there’s that competition.

“We don’t know what we’re competing against,

“If we can get some money, that’s awesome,” she says.

Tena Baker of East Coast TV talks about the need to forge relationships with tertiary institutions, to have students work on the station.

Student slot
“Last year our team were talking about having a programme slot for students, where they could submit something and we’d put it up.

“We think it’d be really good to profile the work of the up and coming.

“So the public can see the quality of work that is going to be produced by our future film makers and producers.

Craig Henderson of Family TV North points out the attraction of being in the industry to many young New Zealanders, and the difficulties that come with trying to facilitate new talent.

“There’s a huge amount of interest in TV production, we’ve heard that even from your [university]. There’s not enough space to cater for that,” he says.

Jim Blackman agrees, saying: “I’m convinced that no regional channel would turn away the opportunity to work with tertiary institutions, because we co-exist.”

“We can provide outlets universities don’t provide.

“We’ve given airtime to Australian filmmakers for short films, because we can’t get that breakthrough here from our institutions,

“I’ve seen some magical work done by students, and it pains me to see wasted airspace and the look on the students face when you’ve seen the work, and you know damn well that the only people that are going to see it are their tutors and their family’s, and its going to end up in the bottom of a drawer and get lost… that’s sad,” he says.

Baker also points out the importance of meetings like last month’s Regional Television Broadcasters Association, held at AUT.

“I suppose now I’ve been here, we’re going to work on a relationship, because maybe it is about people’s perception about [us as], until we lift a profile.

Solid plan
“It’s about having a relationship with a bona fide institution that gives us some credibility in regards to the industry.

“It’s about building an industry locally for us,” she says.

Peters sees the success of this years meeting as solidifying a plan that every member can agree on.

“We need to stand together,” she says.

Daryl Anderson, CEO of Television Media Group, which broadcasts TV Central, sees the meeting as an opportunity to present a united front to the government.

“It’s good to know we share the same concerns,” he says.

Anderson also talks about the need to deal with local content.

“As the world gets smaller, people are going to need community,” he says.

“We have a role to play in the future to bring local content to people,” he adds.

Carol Peters is one to agree with this idea. Just four years ago, she delved into launching TV North, along with son Alex Mason and local businessman and video producer John Gwillim.

TV North started broadcasting last August.

“It’s hard starting with no experience,” says Peters.

High definition
One advantage of being so young in this industry is that TV North is already set up to transmit digitally. All programming is already filmed in high definition.

She says the government is being vague about the switch over point from analogue to digital.

“They say sometime in 2012-2015. That’s very soon.”

But a downside and major concern for Peters is the way funding from New Zealand on Air works. As a station, TV North doesn’t qualify for any funding, as they are too new.

“We’re cut out completely,” she says.

“This attitude does not stimulate new TV stations.

She asks, “Do they want other TV stations to begin?”

“If the government is serious about being involved in local TV, we need to act on it and talk,”

“We need to be working together, not like a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde,” she says.

Blackman puts a challenge on the table.

“Regional TV has a strong future, it’s a decision for our government whether they want to be part of that future, and it’ll be fantastic to have them on board.”

Pictures (from top): Triangle/Stratos chief executive Jim Blackman, and Tina Baker of East Coast TV. Photos: Del Abcede.

Jessica Harkins is a Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours) student on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course.

NZ on Air
Regional Broadcasting Association
Triangle/Stratos Television

New Pacific journalism course to boost media opportunities

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

A new Pacific-focused journalism course is scheduled for opening next year to address a shortage of Pasifika journalists in the media industry and to help provide more cutting-edge reporting in the region.

With the core expectation of increasing the numbers of trained working journalists from Pacific Island communities, AUT University and the Pacific Islands Media Association have initiated the one-year Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism to encourage more young islanders to join the media.

A Television New Zealand digital channel presenter and author, Sandra Kailahi, says it is urgent to increase the number of trained Pacific journalists and to generate more interest in Pacific media.

“We hope this course will address the serious shortage of trained Pasifika journalists in New Zealand and to also support the education of regional Pacific journalists,” says Kailahi, a former vice-chair of PIMA.

“Another objective is to encourage palagi [non-Pasifika] students and journalists to extend their cross-cultural understanding and reporting skills,” she added.

Aaron Taouma, who recently stepped down as acting chair of PIMA, says the number of Pacific Islands people in the media generally is small - and within journalism is even smaller.

The number of trained journalists in proportion to the population is below other major demographic groups.

“Providing training in journalism therefore provides greater skills for those who wish to enter the industry and also stimulates the industry in terms of providing an avenue for training in the first place,” says Taouma.

Pasifika perspective
According to PIMA, “Pacific journalism” means journalism from the perspective of indigenous Pacific Islanders, involving stories about their affairs and issues.

This comprises several distinct ethnic populations, including Cook Island Māori, Fijian, Kiribati, Niuean, Samoan, Tahitian, Tokelauan, Tongan and Tuvaluan.

Involved in the initial stages of developing the course, Taouma says “the programme is providing an avenue for students from various ethnic groups to gain training in journalism.”

Dr David Robie, associate professor in communication studies and director of the Pacific Media Centre at AUT, who steered the new programme through the government approval process, says this type of niche course is an innovation in New Zealand.

“This new course targets Pasifika students and we hope that it will contribute to a growing number of Pacific journalists joining the media industry,” he says.

The programme will start in March 2010 and is designed for mature students, people who do not necessarily have formal qualifications but have experience in the media industry, and those who have done a degree in another field but want to get started in journalism.

It is also open to journalists from the South Pacific region.

Embedded papers
As part of the programme, students will take core journalism courses within AUT’s Bachelor of Communication Studies, as well as new papers such as Māori and Pasifika media industry and reporting the South Pacific region.

“It is a journalism course embedded in our broad journalism programme so people will get all the core journalism that everybody else gets. But they will get more than other students because they have special value-added Pacific papers,” says Dr Robie.

“The programme will also be taught by Pasifika journalists.”

Isabella Rasch, Pasifika student support adviser at AUT University, believes the journalism programme will allow a growth of indigenous voices to be acknowledged within the media industry.

“It’s important that Pasifika journalists are not being seen as a minority or as the ‘other’,” she says.

She also suggests that the curriculum make good use of Polynesian and Māori ways of knowing, storytelling, oral dynamics, and traditional speaking as a main part of the learning.

New Zealand used to have a Pacific-focused journalism course in the past but it closed in the early 1990s due to lack of funding.

Some Pasifika journalists say this has left a gap in the industry in terms of turning out a high number of Pacific journalists.

Filling a gap
Many of the leading Pasifika journalists working in the industry today in New Zealand were the products from this journalism training. They include prominent journalists such as Tapu Misa, Barbara Dreaver, Niva Retimanu, Joe Lose, Sandra Kailahi, Lito Vilisoni and John Utanga.

The programme also aims to fill a gap in New Zealand mainstream media, which critics say has been failing to sufficiently represent and reflect Māori and Pasifika voices.

“I think it would help mainstream media to break down some of the stereotypes that they portray and have about Pacific people in everyday stories,” says Kailahi.

“We can also get to tell the story the way we want to and with our own people.

“There is an increasing call for journalism education and training to help Pasifika journalists tell our stories and provide our side of the debate. This course will allow that to happen.

“Plus it will be great to see more brown faces on TV in mainstream media and in newspaper bylines,” she says.

Journalism is not high on the agenda as a career choice for many Pacific parents and some have a limited awareness of the profession - such as simply thinking it is about being on TV.

Aaron Taouma says Pasifika journalists have an indepth knowledge of their own communities in which they report and they have experienced many problems such as trials and triumphs these communities face.

“More Pacific Island journalists means there is a greater understanding and therefore greater prospects for balance and solutions to social problems within society as a whole,” he says.

Violet Cho is the 2009 Asian Journalism Fellow attached to the Pacific Media Centre. She is on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course. Pictured: Sandra Kailahi (top) and Dr David Robie.

Course information about the Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism