Sophie and John produce PMC mini doco

Pacific Media Centre

Final year television students Sophie Johnson and John Pulu have just produced a five-minute video for the Pacific Media Centre to provide a glimpse behind the faces of the students and researchers who work there.

The mini-doco profiles the centre and some of the projects at the centre such as Pacific Media Watch, Pacific Scoop, Jim Marbrook's feature film production on New Caledonia and PMC on YouTube.

Interviews included Josephine Latu from Tonga and the centre's Asian Journalism Fellow Violet Cho from Burma.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Herald reporter - and AUT journalism graduate - Vaimoana Tapaleao has been recognised by the Human Rights Commission for her piece on New Zealand families grieving for lives lost in the sinking of the Tongan ferry Princess Ashika.

Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said the 23-year-old's four-page feature "highlighted the strong familial ties between New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and the way the pain of this Pacific tragedy directly impacted on New Zealand".

The feature ran in the Weekend Herald on November 7.

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PJR praised for 'diversity' edition

Pacific Media Watch

New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner, Joris de Bres, has awarded Pacific Journalism Review a citation in recognition of its latest edition dedicated to the theme of "diversity and identity".

The May edition of the journal, published by AUT University's Pacific Media Centre, highlights some of the complex diversity issues across the Asia-Pacific region, and De Bres says the issue "unpacks and focuses on the place and role of the media in facilitating diversity".

Topics include "culture clash" faced by Western journalists and foreign correspondents entering the Pacific region; diversity reporting in Aotearoa and the rise of "ethnic media"; and a review of the controversy over last year’s media report that Pacific peoples were a "drain on the New Zealand economy".

A feature article is written by a media "insider" in the People's Charter process in Fiji and examines censorship and its impact on freedom of expression in Fiji.

Managing editor and Pacific Media Centre director associate professor David Robie notes that “this edition provides some challenging and fresh insights into diversity reporting in New Zealand, from Fiji to Asian stereotypes … but it also celebrates some important achievements.”

Pacific Journalism Review