Pacific journalists visit PMC on MFAT exchange

Pacific Media Centre

Two Pacific journalists, along with representatives from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) met with the Pacific Media Centre team on Thursday June 24th to build networks and get familiarised with the centre's activities.

Editor of the Samoa Observer Mata'afa Keni Lesa and Cook Islands News political journalist Nerys Chase were accompanied by senior diplomat and director of the Auckland MFAT office Warwick Hawker and senior policy officer for the Pacific Division Helen Tunnah.

Matangi Tonga photojournalist Linny Folau could not make it due to illness.

Over a light brunch, the visitors were shown a promo video about the centre produced by former AUT communications students John Pulu and Sophie Johnson, followed by a Powerpoint presentation by Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Josephine Latu outlining the work of the organization. This covered a range of PMC projects in journalism training, research and news production.

Highlights included the twice-annual Pacific Journalism Review academic journal published by the centre, the new Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism programme to begin at AUT next year, the on-going Pacific Media Watch project, and the increasingly popular student-driven news website Pacific Scoop, a joint venture with independent media organization Scoop.

Reliance on international collaboration and networking with universities and associates in the region was also highlighted. Discussions about media developments followed.

Present at the meeting were PMC Asia Pacific Editor and Pacific Scoop co-editor Selwyn Manning, PMW contributing editor Josephine Latu, PMW reporter Gladys Hartson-Shingles, post-graduate student Tupouseini Taumoepeau, and former Fiji Post publisher and MA student Thakur Ranjit Singh. AUT Pasifika student advisor Isabella Rasch also attended briefly with a student.

In the photo (fromt left): MA student and Fiji political commentator Thakur Ranjit Singh, Cook Islands News political journalist Nerys Case, Samoa Observer editor Mata'afa Keni Lesa, PMW reporter Gladys Hartson, PMW contributing editor Josephine Latu, AUT post-graduate student Tupouseini Taumoepeau, Pacific Scoop editor Selwyn Manning and MFAT senior policy officer, Pacific Division Helen Tunnah.

National Pacific Radio Trust is here to stay, insists chair

By Gladys Hartson, Pacific Media Watch

The chairman of the National Pacific Radio Trust is confident that the Pacific Media Network which operates Niu FM, Radio 531pi, and Pacific Radio News is here to stay.

Fa’amatuainu Tino Pereira says the outlook "can only get better from now on", despite poor attendance at Trust meetings held with Pacific communities earlier this month. Trust members and management met with members of the Pacific community in Dunedin, Wellington, Tokoroa and Auckland earlier this month.

While Pereira acknowledged that the turn out wasn’t great, he said the feedback from the community was invaluable.

Concerns raised

Concerns raised at the annual general meeting from the community, ranged from news content on the community language progammes to the future ownership of the network.

Pereira said that while people recognised it’s important to know what is happening in the Pacific, they also pushed for more local content about Pacific communities living in New Zealand.

“It’s important for the community to have their say, we try to cater to everyone’s taste, however we are never going to satisfy everyone”.

The network receives three million dollars a year to run the stations. While there has been no increase in funding allocated to NPRT in this year's government budget, Pereira said funding is confirmed for the next three years, with no decrease.

Still, even with the funding from the government, the station needs to raise $1.5 million in advertising revenue in order to keep operating.

Pereira says the market out there is very competitive: “We are going up against mainstream fully commercial stations.”

Ownership

The future ownership of the network was also raised at the AGM.

Pereira said people want to see the station in community hands, owned and operated by the people. The feedback was that “our community don’t want to rely on government funding forever”.

The network has undergone major restructuring over the last few years, and Pereira said it has had a new leadership team since August 2009.

He said NPRT has stabilised its financial position and according to its Statement of Intent, it forecasts a surplus in the next three years.

The trust is fully aware of the phenomenon of new media with the introduction of social networking sites like, Twitter, Blog sites, Face Book.

He said: “I accept it’s a new ball game and we have to accept the new digital age is upon us, that’s the way it is going.”

The veteran broadcaster said the introduction of such sites has given our young Pacific people a different medium to express their views and opinions: “I welcome this as long as it’s done with integrity and dignity without offending people.”

Pereria said the objective of the Trust members and management is to address the issues raised by the community, and to implement it in the best way they can with the resources they have.

“I have absolute trust in the staff, their talents and aspirations for the network, and our future. We are a work in progress,” he said.

Gladys Hartson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University and is working with Pacific Media Watch.

National Pacific Radio Trust Statement of Intent 2010-2013

Pacific Media Network

Inquisitive Pasifika journalist stood down from Radio 531pi

By Gladys Hartson, Pacific Media Watch

Members of the Pacific community have come out in support of a popular radio announcer after he was stood down from his weekend show Talanoa Pacific on Thursday.

According to a blog, Efeso Collins, an announcer for Radio 531pi posted a notice on Pacificeyewitness website stating he received an email from the programme director of Pacific Media Network, Pere Matai, outlining serious matters had arisen since they last spoke two weeks ago, and as a result he would be rested from presenting this weekend.

The handling of $4.8 million dollars of taxpayer’s money granted to an organization called Pacific Islands Economic Development Agency Ltd (PEDA) created huge debate amongst the listeners. (See Pacific Scoop analysis for more on this issue.)

Collins said he and many in his community wanted answers from the government and PEDA.

Collins and his colleague, host of Island time and head announcer Mary Pahi, posted blogs on the website regarding the PEDA issue expressing their difference of opinion on the matter. (See Collins’ entry) and (Pahi’s entry).

The polarised positions expressed on the website demonstrate how sensitive this issue (of PEDA receiving almost $5 million of Government funds over the next four years) has become.

“It saddens me it has come to this, and somehow I have become embroiled in this issue,” Collins added.

A masters graduate from Auckland University, he said: "If we as Pacific media are not prepared to ask the ‘hard questions’ who will? We need to stop pandering to those who control the funding”.

Pacific Media Network receives government funding.

"What kind of a message does that give our Pacific broadcasters/journalists? If you’re not nice to people of influence when you conduct an interview, they won’t continue to fund us?” he said.

Collins would not go into the details why he has been rested from the show. According to his blog he would await the outcome and would be seeking legal advice.

Pere Maitai via text said he will not be commenting on an internal staff matter.

Pacific Scoop contacted Chair of the National Pacific Radio Trust, Tino Perira, seeking clarity on why Collins was stood down from the radio station. Perira said he was aware of the issue but would not comment stating only that it is a management issue and that Radio 531pi’s management will deal with it.


Gladys Hartson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University and is working with Pacific Media Watch.

More on Pacific Scoop:

Analysis: Questions over NZ Govt's funds to PEDA raise serious concerns
Govt's $4.8million package to Pacific EDA questioned

Back to j-school a milestone for former Pacific broadcaster

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

Putting a media career on hold in order to go to back to journalism school was a tough choice, says Gladys Hartson, a former broadcaster at the Pacific Media Network currently studying at AUT University.

Hartson entered the Graduate Diploma in Journalism programme this year and recently took up a part-time stint at the Pacific Media Centre as a reporter for Pacific Media Watch.

“It’s hard being out of school for so long,” she says. “Not having a full-time job, not earning money when you’re used to an income – that’s hard.

“If anyone wants to do this, there’s a lot of sacrifice, but I’m enjoying it.”

Hartson, 37, worked as an announcer for eight years at Radio 531pi, then as an issues assistant at the Mangere Electorate office of MP Su’a William Sio in 2007.

She describes her return to school as a “milestone” in her career.

Her classes at AUT span from news reporting, journalism law and ethics, communications theory to television journalism.

“I’ve learnt that what’s good for TV or broadcasting may not necessarily be good for print.

"There’s a real practical side to broadcasting, but mastering the basic tools for journalism – that’s another story,” she says.

Pacific journalism
Her experience outside the classroom has also helped in “making sense” of academic material.

Hartson, an ethnic Samoan (Afega/Eva/Fa’asitoo’uta/Fagalii) raised in Invercargill, said that Pacific media practitioners need to put forward a strong identity in mainstream media.

“What Pacific people may deem as important may not be important in mainstream. The challenge is to be faithful to what’s important to us,” she explains.

She adds that Pacific journalists should expect to be “slammed” for reporting on certain issues and that it’s important to approach certain topics with care.

“One minute you’ll be dealing with high power leaders or academics, and the next minute you’ll be thrown in with grassroots people - in a house in West Auckland dealing with a story on domestic violence … You learn to adapt.”

While adjusting to an intense academic routine – including several hours of classes each day and a load of assignments – Hartson said the experience is “worth it”.

She wishes to bring more attention to Pacific “unsung heroes” at the grassroots level, and raise awareness in the media about struggles faced by recent immigrants from the Pacific Islands.

Josephine Latu is a postgraduate communication studies at AUT University from Tonga and contributing editor of the PMC's Pacific Media Watch project. Photo: Gladys Hartson by Josephine Latu

New Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism
Gladys Hartson stories on Pacific Scoop
Gladys Hartson stories at the Pacific Media Centre

Tribute to Elma MaUa, a Pacific journalism pioneer

By Gladys Hartson: Pacific Media Watch

Pacific Island journalists and broadcasters in New Zealand have paid tribute to veteran broadcaster and journalist Elma MaUa who has passed away after a long illness.

MaUa was one of the first Pacific Island women journalists in the NZ media industry.

Journalists and broadcasters remembered MaUa in their own way, hosting their own memorial events.

Former colleague and Pacificeyewitness website publisher Vienna Richards shared her memories.

“I first met Elma in the mid-1990s. She was doing a story on Pacific women and the issues they faced with the mainstream health system,” Richards said. “I was working in health at the time and she called me up out of the blue for an interview.”

Richards remembers thinking “this woman is on to it”. It was only after MaUa’s death on April 28 did Richards recall that it was her first experience of being interviewed by a Pacific Islands journalist - and a woman.

MaUa was known for her passion for Pacific media with her involvement with the Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA).

Richards said: “She was a real professional, and told it like it was.”

“I will miss her and it’s a real shame we won’t have her as a mentor for the next lot of Pacific journalists and broadcasters coming through.”

Pacific Radio News newsreader Jae’d Victor, a veteran of 18 years in Pacific radio, recalled his time working with MaUa at Niu FM.

“She was a woman who had so much knowledge. She was an expert in her field, particularly in sport,”he said.

“Elma was never one to mince words!” Victor added.

“Those of our Pacific journalist/broadcasters already in the media industry, need to put their foot forward and ensure the doors are open for up and coming journalists so they can make their mark like Elma did.”

MaUa, who migrated to New Zealand in the mid-1950s from the Cook Islands, was one of the first Pacific journalists to work for Radio New Zealand in the mid-1980s.

She was sports editor for the Radio New Zealand International service that was launched in 1990.

MaUa was aged 61. She is survived by her five children.

Gladys Hartson is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University and is working with the Pacific Media Centre's Pacific Media Watch.

Pictured: Elma MaUa and top (right front) with the Radio NZ International team. Photos: RNZI

Pacificeyewitness tribute