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

TVNZ helps bring colour to newsrooms through diversity scholarships

By Thakur Ranjit Singh: Pacific Media Centre

Alisha Lewis, winner of this year's TVNZ Journalism Diversity Scholarship at AUT University’s journalism school, sees a positive future for cultural minorities in the Nerw Zealand news media. She is grateful for the award which has allowed her to pursue her dreams and ambition to enter a journalism career.

“I always loved writing and was interested in journalism. While at Epsom Girls High School, I was a literary leader, organised literary events and started the school newspaper there. I had a class in writing for publication in transactional and creative writing. I had interest in both the forms and had entered competitions. Once I took this course, this fuelled my passion for journalism," Lewis said.

Lewis’s passion may not have been realised had it not been for the TVNZ Diversity Scholarship. She was getting ready to be enrolled at another university for a Bachelor of Arts course when she was called for the scholarship interview and offered the award. She is now pursuing a Bachelor in Communication Studies degree at AUT.

Her origin is India. Her parents originate from Mangalore in the state of Karnataka in India. She was born in India’s business and commercial capital Mumbai and moved with her parents to Auckland in 1995 at the age of four.

Her father is an engineer and her mother is a school counsellor. The only other sibling, a sister, has finished a law degree at Auckland University and is an intern for four months at the New Zealand diplomatic mission in New York.

Having lived in Hamilton, Napier and Auckland and undertaken primary and secondary education in New Zealand makes her well exposed to the Kiwi way of life. A very energetic, enthusiastic and motivated lass, she still regards herself as an Indian – a Kiwi Indian.

Literary activity
With a very supportive family which encourages here to work within her strength of literary activities, she equally enjoys her studies at AUT.

“I am loving my course. There is a paper called media ethics, we discuss Western news values and how stories and issues about developing nations are never deemed newsworthy, and how there is stereotyping within media,” she added.

On the concern about lack of interest by ethnic minorities in general and Indians in particular in journalism studies, she added that: “This is partly due to ingraining we have within our culture that it is a tough career choice, it is not very stable and it is not easy to get a job as a journalist, so people tend to go for more dependable degrees than journalism. May be, that is something we need to work within our cultures.”

She noted that the number of Asians and Pacific Islanders in journalism courses at AUT was increasing, and there was good hope for diversity. But she is disappointed at the fewer number of Indians pursuing studies in journalism.

Lewis believes TVNZ has added considerably in the quest for encouraging journalism among minorities. Two previous recipients of this award include Chinese Kiwi and Maori students.

“This scholarship is great because in the New Zealand mainstream media in general there needs to be huge increase in intakes of ethnic journalism students and reporters. It is a great step that TVNZ is taking by having specific diversity scholarship. There is huge room for improvement,” Alisha told the Pacific Media Centre.

Intern breaks
As a condition of her scholarship, she has to work as an intern at TVNZ during university breaks, and she enjoys every minute of it. She is very ambitious of going further in her chosen profession and her country of birth would certainly play a part in it.

“I would love to be a foreign correspondent and would love to work in India for an attachment. India is not projected properly in media; my Kiwi friends still feel that India is backward. I was there recently and saw huge developments since I was last there when I was 10. I saw huge developments and there are substantial changes. In so many ways, it is more advanced than New Zealand. Not necessarily backwards, but they do not really know how much India has progressed, that is what people in developed world fail to realise – that India will soon be one of the main powers of the world,” she added.

Lewis believes she would be able to make a difference as a journalist and is thankful to TVNZ for this opportunity. She has called on other media organisations to step up and start encouraging diversity and offer opportunities like TVNZ has offered to minority ethnicities to gain experience and start working in their respective organisations.

Thakur Ranjit Singh is a postgraduate student in Communication Studies at AUT writing for the Pacific Media Centre.

Deadline approaching for Bruce Jesson Journalism Awards nominations

Calls for nominations for the Bruce Jesson Journalism Awards will close at the end of the month (30 June). Two awards are offered each year, including one for senior journalists and one for "emerging" student journalists in New Zealand. The award is aimed at promoting critical, analytical journalism that will contribute to public debate on important issues in New Zealand.

Press Release

The Bruce Jesson Foundation was established in 1999 to commemorate one of New Zealand’s greatest political journalists, the late Bruce Jesson, by promoting vigorous political, social and economic investigation, debate, analysis and reporting in New Zealand. To this end, the Foundation holds an annual lecture and sponsors two annual Bruce Jesson Journalism Prizes for ‘Senior’ and ‘Emerging’ journalists respectively.

The Senior Journalism Prize offers an emolument of up to NZ$3,000 to assist writers aiming to produce the kind of critical and analytical journalism exemplified by Jesson’s work as a columnist in Metro magazine, as editor of The Republican and as the author of several influential pieces of book journalism. The prize is a self-nominated award dedicated to in-depth journalism projects on public issues that might not be undertaken, completed, or published without non-commercial subsidy.

The Emerging Journalism Prize recognises “outstanding recent work by New Zealand print journalism students.” It shares the senior award’s broad aim of seeking "critical, informed, analytical and creative journalism or writing which will contribute to public debate in New Zealand on an important issue or issues," but it differs in three important respects:

• It is focused more narrowly on the already published work of print journalism students (though, exceptional unpublished work may occasionally be considered).

• It seeks nominations from heads of New Zealand Journalism Schools or journalism programme leaders rather than from the student journalists themselves.

• It offers a fixed emolument of NZ$500, together with certificates of commendation for one or more runners-up.

Nominations for the 2010 Bruce Jesson Journalism Prizes are hereby sought from either the writers themselves in the case of the senior journalism award, or from heads of New Zealand journalism schools or journalism programme leaders in the case of the emerging journalism award. Nominees’ work will be assessed by members of the Jesson Foundation’s Journalism Subcommittee: Jon Stephenson (convener), Joe Atkinson, Simon Collins and Pacific Media Centre director David Robie.

Nominations together with appropriate supporting documentation including, for the emerging journalism award, copies of the nominated articles, should be forwarded by Monday, June 30, 2010 to Dr Joe Atkinson, Secretary of the Bruce Jesson Foundation by email j.atkinson@auckland.ac.nz, or in hard copy c/- Political Studies Department, University of Auckland, PB 92019, AUCKLAND.

Further inquiries to Dr Atkinson by mail or email as above or by phone (09) 373 7599 ext. 88094, or to AUT's Pacific Media Centre director Associate Professor David Robie by email delaro@clear.net.nz or phone (09) 921 9999 extn 7834
______________________________________________________

Patron: Professor Noam Chomsky
Chair: Professor Jane Kelsey
Secretary: Dr Joe Atkinson

Bruce Jesson Foundation

Media ethics high on agenda for winner of inaugural Indian Newslink scholarship

By Thakur Ranjit Singh: Pacific Media Centre

Barbara Dreaver’s Samoa “gangs and drugs” story, Voreqe Bainimarama’s controversial media decree in Fiji, and the Julian Moti saga in Australia make interesting news debates. And a common issue in the middle is media ethics.

Imogen Crispe, an Auckland University Bachelor of Arts honours graduate with a double major in philosophy and French, has a passion for ethics.

She is the inaugural recipient of the Indian Newslink Scholarship for Postgraduate Journalism. In formally receiving her award at the School of Communication Studies awards function, she acknowledged Indian Newslink for a scholarship that is seen as generous because it is an “open” one - not restricted on race, regional or other grounds.

In fact, she almost did not apply for this, assuming it was for “Indians” because of the sponsor. However, her search of the criteria for the award convinced her that she qualifies and hence should pursue her dream of becoming a journalist.

Crispe says she had an interest in writing, researching and talking to people. This was evident with blog site she used to run. While studying for philosophy at Auckland University, she developed her interest in ethics and feels strongly about ethics in media.

She sees herself as repeating the feats and travel history of her forbears. In the early 1950s, her grandparents were on overseas experience in Britain while her father was born in England to Kiwi parents.

At the age of three, her father moved over with her grandparents to New Zealand. Some three decades later, Imogen’s parents found themselves in England and saw the birth of their first daughter, Imogen Crispe in Surrey.

When she was three, her parents moved to Dubai where her father still lives and works in the construction industry. At the age of 13, she moved to New Zealand as a boarding student at Auckland Diocesan School for Girls. While away from parents since that age, she never felt lonely. This was because of her caring grandparents at Auckland and Rotorua, and uncles and aunties as well.

Imogen’s area of study and her interests go together. While initially somewhat apprehensive about whether she would enjoy journalism, her enthusiasm was quite evident and visible when she said that she made the right choice. So did the selection panel in picking somebody who is not only rooted in philosophy and ethics but also widely travelled from an early age.

As part of her one year scholarship, she is studying for the Postgraduate Diploma in Communication (Journalism). She enjoys all aspects of journalism studies such as print media, online, TV, radio and photojournalism.

The current recession has perhaps been responsible for pushing people to study who otherwise may have been in employment. This applies to her as well.

After finishing her bachelor’s degree at Auckland University, she hunted for jobs for a year but never got anything that she enjoyed doing. She started pondering about her future and it was then that her interest in writing developed with her blog site.

Her only other sibling, a younger sister is studying vertinary science in Perth at Murdoch University – coincidently named after the media mogul who owns the Fiji Times and the Post-Courier in Papua New Guinea, among others worldwide.

Photo of Imogen Crispe: Thakur Ranjit Singh

The Indian Newslink scholarship at AUT
Other School of Communication Studies scholarships