Showing posts with label pasifika. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasifika. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Scholarship supports Pasifika research on Fiji media freedom



By Yvonne Brill: Office of Pasifika Advancement


Former publisher of Fiji’s Daily Post newspaper and political commentator Ranjit Singh has been given the opportunity to fulfill his dreams of working on a media research project close to his heart - media freedom in his homeland.

Singh says that while he has experience in the media industry, academic study will help him “smooth out the rough diamond”.

The funding received through the AUT/Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) Pasifika Communications scholarship for his studies has enabled him to begin that journey.

Singh is the 2009 recipient of the postgraduate scholarship. Through his research, he is investigating media freedom with a focus on Fiji. Singh also has an interest in issues of fairness and balance in reporting by Fijian media.

Already tertiary qualified with an MBA from Massey University, Singh’s decision to resume study reflects his desire to see a truly ‘free press”, and stand up to what he says is “ignorance and misinformation” on the part of some journalists and media outlets.

“I have held a belief that any media in any country should be a reflection of society,” says Singh.

“My research is of great importance and significance to media studies, as it attempts to firstly remove the myth about a free, responsible and balanced press and about media freedom in a Third World country.”

Abuse of freedom
Singh says that it is not good enough for media groups and organisations to blindly blame governments for interfering with press freedom. They must also consider if any abuse of press freedom is happening within the media organisations themselves.

This is of special interest in multiracial environments such as Fiji, which has been crippled by racially divisive politics and racial overtones from politicians through the media for many decades, he says.

A key part of his research considers the responsibility of media in a developing country suffering from racial divisions. Upon completion, he plans to send his research to academics and press organisations in his native Fiji.

A chance encounter with Asia-Pacific journalism educator and director of the Pacific Media Centre, Associate Professor David Robie, prompted Singh to consider researching the media in his homeland.

After learning about the AUT/PIMA scholarships, Singh applied and won one of the two annual awards.

“I have always felt that there was a vacuum in media research on Fiji,” says Singh, who hopes his research will encourage others to conduct research in media studies.

Singh plans to work within the New Zealand media in future to add diversity to the industry.

“Had it not been for the scholarship, I would not have done it so I am very thankful. I am thankful to PIMA and AUT, and in particular David Robie, who encourages Pacific media and research,” says Singh.

Long established
The AUT/PIMA scholarships were established in 2004. AUT School of Communication Studies sponsors the scholarships, which are worth NZD$10,000 a year and cover tuition for one year of full-time study. They may be renewed depending on academic performance.

Both undergraduate and postgraduate students are eligible to apply.

PIMA executive board chair Iulia Leilua says scholarship recipients are assessed by academic performance, work experience, maturity and general commitment to Pasifika media. She adds that the scholarships reflect PIMA’s desire to encourage more Pasifika people enter the media industry.

There are 17 alumni of the AUT/PIMA scholarship, starting with the first, Leilani Momoisea - now a successful broadcast journalist working at Radio New Zealand.

At the PIMA annual general meeting on October 1, undergraduate scholarship recipients Courtenay Brooking and Jordan Puati acknowledged PIMA and AUT for providing Pasifika students with the opportunity to add to the advances in media studies.

“My ethnicity definitely has an impact on who I am as a person and will no doubt influence my career. I think it’s important for there to be more Pasifika and Maori students to go to University and to be supported and succeed” says Brooking, a Samoan/Māori student in her last year of the Bachelor in Communication Studies programme.

Applications for the 2011 scholarships close in November 2010 for undergraduate and January 2011 for postgraduate study. This year people enrolling for the new Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism can apply for the scholarship.

Yvonne Brill is a postgraduate student from AUT’s School of Communication Studies. She is completing a corporate studentship in PR/communications for the Office of Pasifika Advancement.

Pictured: (from left) AUT/PIMA Pasifika Communication Scholarship holders Ranjit Singh (postgraduate), Courtenay Brooking and Jordan Puati (undergraduate). Photo: Yvonne Brill/OPA

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

AUT seeks Pacific journalism lecturer for new course

Pacific Media Centre

New Zealand’s AUT University is seeking a Pasifika journalist and educator to join its teaching staff.

The university’s School of Communication Studies described the new post in an advertisement today as a “challenging opportunity to lead, develop and teach the new Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism programme”.

The new staff person would also contribute to other journalism papers.

Besides core journalism skills, this diploma will also offer specialist papers in Māori and Pasifika Media Industry and Reporting the Pacific Region with both Pasifika media and mainstream media internships available.

“Applicants need a thorough knowledge of reporting and production in one or more areas of the news media,” said the advertisement.

“They are also expected to have outstanding Pacific and mainstream media experience and industry connections with strong roots and mana in the Pasifika community.”

As a minimum requirement, applicants are expected to have at least five years experience in an area of Pacific journalism and an undergraduate degree. A postgraduate qualification is preferred, but not essential.

'Significant steps'
“Recruiting a Pasifika staff person and the new course are significant steps for media diversity in Aotearoa/New Zealand,” said Pacific Media Centre director David Robie.

“Finally we have some recognition of the value of cross-cultural skills and different cultural values in the news media.

“This is in line with the changing demographics in New Zealand. We want more journalists telling their own stories from their own perspective.”

He has been one of the sponsors of the new initiative, which has followed years of lobbying by the Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) for a new Pacific Islands journalism course.

"What an exciting time for journalism education and upcoming journalists,” says New Zealand Herald Pacific Affairs reporter Vaimoana Tapaleao, an AUT communication studies graduate and winner of this year’s Qantas Junior Reporter of the Year award.

“The course will no doubt attract upcoming gems in the journalism world but most importantly help to take multicultural New Zealand into the newsroom,” says Tapaleao.

Dr Alan Cocker, head of the School of Communication Studies, says: “We teach journalism in a New Zealand and Pacific context and we have, over a number of years sought to strengthen our Pacific focus.”

School support
He cited the long-standing school support for a Pasifika communications scholarship, a partnership with the Pacific Islands Media Association, establishment of the Pacific Media Centre and research journal Pacific Journalism Review as examples of this initiative.

The one-year diploma course is not for school leavers, who will continue to enter the Bachelor of Communication Studies degree programme. Instead, it is a Level 7 programme aimed at people already in the media industry but with no qualification, or mature students with life experience wanting to make a late start in journalism.

Regional Pacific journalists and students are also welcome to apply.

AUT began teaching a Reporting the Pacific Region paper this year after a postgraduate Asia-Pacific Journalism course was established in 2007.

Many of the students' stories are published on Pacific Scoop.

John Utanga interview with Radio Australia
Taking multicultural New Zealand into the classroom

Details of the new position are on the AUT new jobs webpage. Deadline: September 15

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Thousands of Pacific children 'miss out on school'

By Pippa Brown: Pacific Media Centre

Thousands of Pacific children – possibly up to 5000 – may be missing out on education in New Zealand because their parents are overstayers, says a Pasifika school trustee spokesperson.

“It is an issue that affects not just Pacific students, but all students whose parents are non-residents, no matter where they come from,” says Ben Taufua from the Pacific Island School Trustees Aotearoa.

A select committee looking into New Zealand’s relationship with Pacific Island countries has been told hundreds of Pacific children were missing out on education, according to Radio New Zealand.

Ben Taufua from the Pacific Island School Trustees Aotearoa, told the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee in Manukau City that granting overstayers amnesty might help.

Taufua later told the Pacific Media Centre that the figures were probably much higher and New Zealand needed to take responsibility otherwise thousands of children may end up without access to health or education.

He says these children have lost their voice because they have been tied into the immigration status.

“Their rights have been breached.

“It is not their choice they end up being here,” he says.

Taufua said although Dr Jonathan Coleman, who has both the Minister of Immigration and Associate Minister of Health portfolios, said on Radio New Zealand that every child had access to education, he had failed to say that every child in New Zealand can access free education and free health.

Huge problem
“It is huge,” says Taufua. “We are talking about a generation of people without education and who when they grow up might still be in our system.

“To do nothing about this issue is both immoral and criminal,” says Taufua.

He says New Zealand needs to honour its signature to the Ottawa Charter and give children free education and health.

“The Labour government initiated a law that says children born in New Zealand of non-residential parents are not automatically New Zealanders,” says Taufua. He wants to see this changed.

Taufua told the committee that they must deal with immigration issues that affect these people as their children are suffering.

According to Radio New Zealand, Makelita Kolo, from the Tongan community, said the children rarely got health care and never used their own name when they saw a doctor. Select committee chairman John Hayes responded by saying the amnesty call was beyond the scope of the committee’s brief.

Pippa Brown is an AUT Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on internship with the Pacific Media Centre.

Potential Pacific school trustees sought
Hundreds of Pacific Island children not at school
Taufua says more needs to be done to demystify university education for Pasifika peoples

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Pacific health groups tackle breast screening barriers

Many barriers face Pacific Island women over breast screening in New Zealand, including problems accessing transport, different languages and a lack of information and understanding.

By Kara Segedin: Pacific Media Centre


Front line health organisations like the West Fono Health Trust in Waitakere city are making progress directly in their communities by addressing the unique barriers to health care facing Pacific people in New Zealand.

Earlier this year, the West Fono Health Trust was recognised for services to breast screening by Health West PHO. It won an award for most improved practice for breast screening after being contracted by BreastScreen Waitamata Northland to bring Pacific women into the national breast and cervical screening programmes.

Soana Havili is from the community team working with cervical and breast screening.

“We contact women and give them information,” she says.

Havili says there are many barriers for Pacific Island women attending screening, including problems accessing transport, different languages and a lack of information and understanding.

“They don’t know where to go,” she says.

The team helps by offering support and assisting with bookings, transport, and assessment.

“Sometimes their husbands don’t want them to go because there is a lack of understanding,” says Havili.

“The women also don’t want to go to male doctor.”

Wider community
The trust visits Pacific Island groups and churches to bring information to the wider Pacific community.

Havili has seen an increase in the number of women coming for screening in the last year.

“If we do well now it will be much better in the future,” she says.

Pacific Island women in New Zealand continue to be over represented in statistics for breast and cervical cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer for Pacific Island women and has a relatively high mortality rate.

Over the past 25 years, figures from the Ministry of Health show ethnic disparities in cancer survival have increased.

In a 2004 report, the Ministry of Health said barriers to breast screening for Pacific Island women included fear, procrastination and pain, whereas a GP’s recommendation was a major motivator to get a mammogram done

Figures from the National Screening Unit (NSU) show only 50 percent eligible of Pacific Island women had mammograms in the 24 months to May 2008. To address the low rates of screening, late last year the NSU ran an ad campaign specifically targeting Pacific Island women and their communities.

The aims were to raise awareness about breast screening, increase understanding of the benefits of early detection and the importance of two-yearly screening.

Graham Bethune of the NSU says for BreastScreen Aotearoa's programme to be effective they must screen 70 percent of the eligible population.

“We are currently at 61 percent for total New Zealanders, but only 50 percent for Māori and Pacific people,” he says.

Reducing deaths
BreastScreen Aotearoa aims to reduce the number of women developing and dying from breast cancer by early diagnosis, allowing treatment to begin sooner.

The goal of their ad campaign was to encourage Māori and Pacific Island women to make appointments to have breast screenings and to show them how to do this.

A campaign that simply targeted all New Zealand women would have been unlikely to significantly increase the percentage of Māori and Pacific Island women having breast screens.

Embarrassment, a lack of understanding of the benefits and where to go all make it difficult for Pacific Island women to attend screenings.

“Many Pacific women weren’t aware it was free,” he says.

The attitudes of husbands, families and the community can be a barrier.

“The ads help get the message into all families’ living rooms,” Bethune says. “It’s on national television, it’s not hidden or secret in anyway.”

The ads could be seen on TV3, Māori Television, iwi radio stations, Nui FM radio network, Mana magazine, Tu Mai, and Spasifik. They show breast screening as an “everyday part of family health”.

While not available in other languages, their advertising material is Pacific orientated, tested with Pacific women and addressing Pacific cultural issues.

It will take 12 months to get statistics to show whether the campaign been statistically significant.

“It’s too early to say, but anecdotally it’s been really positive,” he says.

Meremana Beconici, GSL Network, worked on the advertising with the NSU. The priority audience was Māori and Pacific Island women aged 45-69 who have never been screened or who do not have regular biennial screens.

“There is a secondary target,” says Beconici.

“The family, friends and community members who support and influence these women.”

Research showed women liked straightforward messages, which removed any mysteries associated with screening. They decided to use real people, stories, and experiences.

Suzanne McNicol, marketing and communications manager of the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation (NZBCF), says “we do know that Pacific women are 20 per cent more like to die than other New Zealanders (excluding Māori)”.

She does not know exactly why Pacific Island women along with Māori are more like to die from breast cancer, but “part of the problem is late diagnosis”.

The foundation’s goals are that all Pacific Island women and all eligible New Zealand women attend biennial breast screening.

“Screening doesn’t stop breast cancer, but does reduce the chances of dying from the disease by 33 percent,” she says.

“We recommend all women are breast aware, this is recommended for women of all ages. They need to know what’s normal for them,” says McNicol, and seek assistance from their doctor if they notice any changes.

“They need to attend screenings. That’s the key thing that’s not getting through. We want women to know that biennial screening is free for all New Zealand residents.”

McNicol says they had difficulties reaching the Pacific community in the past because “we’ve been using one message for all women”.

Previous health campaigns have not recognised that “different communities need different communications”.

Māori and Pacific people are more receptive to aural and verbal messages and not the pages of data and reports usually supporting health campaigns.

The NZBCF has partnered with community groups, churches, health groups and schools to get information to Pacific people. They are also changing their model of health education to better target the Pacific Island audience.

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

NSU ad campaign [video]

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

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Demand for Pasifika interpreters hard to match



By Sylvia Giles: Pacific Media Centre


Wanted: More interpreters – especially Pasifika - for the Manukau SuperClinic, which is catering for a district more culturally diverse than any other in New Zealand.

Interpreters used by the clinic - essential for the safety of patients and medical staff - include Afghan, Arabic, Cantonese and Vietnamese.

However, the free service is still having difficulty finding qualified interpreters for core Pacific languages, such as Tongan.

The Counties Maukau District Health Board (CMDHB) has more than double the Pacific population of any other district health board.

Pacific peoples make up 21 percent of the board’s population, compared to 6 percent nationally. The district also has a growth rate of 3.2 percent, double the national average of 1.6 per cent.

Carol Cameron, Interpreting Services team leader, is charged with the task of co-coordinating the extensive interpreting service, which also provides interpreters for Middlemore Hospital, courts and police in the area.

“For the safety of the doctors and the nurses, as well as patients, they should be using the recognised source, which is the Interpreting Services,” she says.

“We need to make sure the interpreters who are out there, doing the job, are trained and that we have regular updates with them, regular meetings and that everyone is aware of their responsibilities.

“The risk of using a family member or friend is that they may not understand the situation. They might interpret the wrong diagnosis, or may interpret wrongly,” she says.

“But also there is concern that if there is bad news, or something like that, they may not tell the patient the correct information. That emotion comes into it.”

Trained role
This explains the Counties Manukau policy that any interpreting must be done through their own interpreting services - by trained interpreters.

“We cannot hire anyone without having done the certificate in liaison interpreting,” says Cameron.

While there may be no shortage of Tongan speakers in the area, the lack of speakers with the necessary qualification hinder the ability to provide the service.

“Tongan people seem to be reluctant to do the course,” she says.

At present, they have one point five Tongan interpreter permanently on staff – between all the services they cover – as well as a small pool of casual interpreters.

Ineke Crezee, course coordinator for Translation and Interpreting Studies at AUT University, has found an increased demand for trained interpreters since the course’s inception in 1990.

However, the ability to produce interpreters still rests with the speakers that enter the course.

“We do not always get applicants representing particular languages applying to do the course and if we do, we sometimes find that their command of the English language is not such that they would be able to successfully train to be interpreters,” she says.

Crezee says the high demand for Pasifika language interpreters continues to hold strong, and she has noticed an increased number of Pasifika students coming to do the course.

Samoan legal terms
“This year we have a group of three Samoan students undertaking a legal interpreting paper, which is great because it enables them to discuss the correct Samoan translation of particular legal terms with their language peers.

“Two years ago we had three Tongan students in our liaison interpreting course. However, some of these were taking the paper as part of BA studies and went into alternative employment upon graduating,” she says.

“We get the whole range in terms of age, gender and ethnic and socio-cultural backgrounds, ranging from young second generation speakers of Chinese – whose English may be much better than their Chinese, since they did not complete secondary and tertiary education in a Chinese speaking country – to mothers wanting to train for casual work, to older community leaders with excellent skills in both English and their own languages.

Andrew Gordon, ear, nose and throat specialist at the Manukau clinic, estimates that for a clinic of around 10 to 12 patients he will have one or more that needs an interpreter.

“They are indispensable. Otherwise you just become a veterinary practice, to be blunt,” he says.

“And there are certain types of problems where the medical history is everything, like dizziness or tinnitus which is relatively subjective, unlike examining a lesion,” he says.

Nicky Hopping, surgical booker for the Ear, Nose and Throat Department at Manukau SuperClinic, will book interpreters at the same time as surgeries, and has encountered the lack of Tongan translators in particular.

Cancelled surgery
In her role, the worse case scenario is a cancelled surgery. But the cultural nuances involved with the job on the whole are subtler, making the job of a qualified interpreter all the more crucial.

“Sometimes the family doesn’t want an interpreter. Culturally, they just don’t like an interpreter being in the room” says Ms Hopping.

“Or sometimes, with some cultures, a man will feel protective of his wife and will not tell her the whole story.”

Carol Cameron agrees: “The entire service relies on identifying the need for an interpreter. Unless it is recognised either by the GP, or the person booking the appointment that an interpreter is required, someone may well come in, and struggling with English. They might get half way through the appointment and the doctor might think, ‘This is not going anywhere, I actually need an interpreter.’”

These last minute requests, Ms Cameron points out, are the hardest to fill.

“It is better for us to book an interpreter, and have the patient turn up and say ‘I am OK, I don’t need that,’ rather than us allowing a consultation to happen and maybe the patient walking out and not understanding a word that the doctor said.

“And they need to be qualified so that they understand issues of confidentiality. For the purposes of clinical safety, and medico-legal issues, they are absolutely needed,” she said.

In her experience, most patients felt confident to ask for an interpreter.
“I think the general public will say if they need an interpreter,” she says.

“It is better to do that than for the patient to walk away not really understanding. And if we can’t provide an interpreter, a follow-up appointment needs to be made.”

For any patient, who might already be feeling vulnerable or fearful, being put into the situation of not understanding the doctor would be frightening.

“It is not until you visit a country yourself that you know it’s really hard making yourself known,” she says.

“So, I also too think that we, working in Counties Manukau, need to be aware and if we feel that someone doesn’t understand it is better to check. And if not, ask the patient if they would like an interpreter.”

Sylvia Giles is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University. Pictured: Manukau Superclinic.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

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