Budding AUT Māori, Pasifika filmmakers now have sights on media industry

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Winners at AUT University’s inaugural Flavorz09 film festival for student video makers on Friday night say they are now inspired to break into the industry.

Sophie Johnson, who won the year three prize of $350 for her 12 minute documentary, The Makings of a Kaitiaki, was delighted with her success.

“I worked quite closely with a group of eight people and I know how hard each of them worked. I feel really honoured to receive this tonight,” she said.

“It was so amazingly rewarding. Then to be able to see your images up on the big screen like this, and see people’s reactions, it is so rewarding.”

The film was a short biopic about kuia Nganeko Minhinnick, a kaitiaki of the Manukau.

Hosting the public showing of 11 Māori, Pasifika and diversity short films for AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, presenter John Utanga, a producer of TVNZ’s Tagata Pasifika programme, was impressed with the quality.

Utanga, who is also chair of the PMC, pledged to consider some of the programmes for possible broadcast.

His message to communication studies students was to strive for quality work and to have a good attitude.

‘Affectionate look’
The second-year prize of $150 went to Karleen Bidois, Ashleigh McEnaney and Natasha Munton for their four minute documentary Ka Tuituia, described as an “affectionate look at Isabella Sharrock, her whanau and her Karakeke taonga”.

Bidois said she hoped to work with Māori Television when she graduated.

“I feel emotional, excited and very surprised by the outcome. But I also know that I worked really hard to produce such a film from the bottom of my heart.”

She had not realised her passion for media before coming to AUT.

“Now I am hungry for it and I want to do it for the rest of my life.”

Organiser Dr David Robie, director of the Pacific Media Centre, said the festival was an “inspirational showcase” for quality programmes being made by students on Māori and Pasifika themes.

One film, Beyond the Ropes, also featured women’s wrestler Sangita Patel, a New Zealand-born Indian known in the business as “Alita Capri”.

Tongan music
Strong applause also greeted the documentary The Modern Afo of Tonga, directed by John Pulu, which features Tonga Kru and Three Houses Down and examines temporary Tongan music styles.

Pulu’s programme is being broadcast on the Pacific Viewpoint television show.

The festival was supported by television staff, including acting curriculum leader James Nicholson and Jim Marbrook, and Tui O’Sullivan, equity coordinator in AUT’s Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies, who also gave a mihi.

O’Sullivan said she was delighted with the festival.

“It would be great if it could be an annual event because the calibre of the work is really impressive.”

Pictured: Top: Kuia Nganeko Minhinnick in a still from Sophie Johnson's The Makings of a Kaitiaki; presenter John Utanga, of Tagata Pasifika; and television lecturer Jim Marbrook with students. More pictures on Pacific Scoop.

Violet Cho is a postgraduate journalism student from Burma in AUT’s School of Communication Studies.

Bullets and mines give Violet's job an edge

By Brenda Cottingham

The first thing Burmese journalist Violet Cho noticed about New Zealand’s news media was its different news priorities – like a burglary story on page one of the NZ Herald.

The kind of journalism she does involves avoiding being shot or having her limbs blown off by land mines.

“I couldn’t believe that a burglary would be so important that it warranted being on page one,” she told Whitireia Journalism School students during a visit to Wellington this month.

She is surprised at the New Zealand media’s lack of international coverage and focus on local issues.

Violet has emerged from the unlikely roots of a Thai refugee camp, and is in New Zealand taking her journalism education a step further.

She fled Myanmar/Burma (she uses both names) with her family to Thailand when she was seven, and says growing up in a refugee camp was not easy.

A lot of young people were depressed in the camps, which indirectly spawned journalism and led to her career.

She was taught basic journalism by a South African woman, and with the help of the camp’s community leader, was able to covertly set up a radio transmitter within her camp, which raised spirits.

Telling the stories
Since taking up journalism, she has aimed to tell the stories of the people, but says getting even a simple story could prove dangerous and difficult because of the Burmese military presence.

In 2005, she risked her life reaching a remote Burmese village.

“The Burmese conflict policy is to shoot on sight,” says Violet.

The people of the village were teaching children to use whatever materials they had, which included a large stone-face used as a blackboard.

Violet, an indigenous Karen, holds a Burmese passport, and says Burma is a corrupt country where those in power do not share the wealth, and drugs and trafficking are just a few of the problems.

After she completes her journalism studies at Auckland University of Technology, she hopes to visit her family, who now live in America, before returning to work in Thailand.

Her dream is to see a free Myanmar and to work there.

Violet - who is hosted in New Zealand on the AUT University's Pacific Media Centre inaugural Asian Journalism Fellowship supported by the Asia: NZ Foundation - would like NZ journalists to visit Myanmar to write about the lives of the people and their hardships.

Picture: Violet Cho at Whitireia. Photo: Brenda Cottingham

Brenda Cottingham is a student journalist at Whitireia Journalism School in Wellington. This story was published originally on Newswire.

Karen journalist in critical voice for change
In exile - Bryan Crump on Radio NZ National's Nights (Nov 2)

Dissident journalist tells of media perils in Burma

By Vanita Prasad:
Pacific Media Centre

Risking your life is a given when reporting in and around Burma, says the Pacific Media Centre’s first Asian journalism fellow.

A moving seminar and film screening held by the centre at AUT University this week documented the perils of being a dissident Burmese journalist.

The seminar was delivered by Violet Cho, one of Burma’s “young heroes” – as she was described by an AUT academic in the audience - who spoke candidly about her life as an exiled reporter in the border territories of Thailand and Burma.

Cho, 25, an indigenous Karen, was born in Burma and has spent most of her life exiled in Thailand.

She learnt English in a refugee camp and worked for Irrawaddy magazine and an underground radio station.

She spoke of the secretive nature of journalism in a land where the media is suppressed and information must be smuggled to the outside world for fear of being thrown into jail or death.

“It’s hard to be an ethnic minority journalist in a conflict area because it’s secret and illegal,” said Cho.

She spoke of a trip she made back with a small group into Burma to document a mountain village on the border, a trip that should only take a few hours but because the travelled by foot it took days.

Cho described the intense fear of being caught at a checkpoint and shot for carrying a camera and film equipment.

“It was very dangerous, we couldn’t use torchlight, we walked quickly and we couldn’t stop.

'Too dangerous'
“It was even too dangerous to go to the toilet, so we had to just keep walking,” said Cho.

The film that followed Cho’s seminar echoed this plight.

Burma VJ: Reporting From a Closed Country, directed by Dan Østergaard, documented the struggles and achievements of the underground journalist network Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), whose reporters risked their lives to give a voice to the silenced people of Burma.

They ran a bare bones operation using only handicams hidden in backpacks and sending their data to Oslo, Norway, to be compiled.

Their footage of the 2007 peaceful demonstrations led by monks against the junta - and brutally crushed - was used by major news networks worldwide to inform people about the dire situation of the Burmese people.

The junta then targeted DVB to shut down the operation which had exposed their brutality.

This meant that like the uprising which brought so much hope to the people of Burma, the DVB had to disband for safety.

Three of the members of the DVB were captured and are currently serving life sentences.

After the screening a discussion was held about the current situation in Burma.

Senior lecturer Alice U, an expatriate Burmese academic inAUT's School of Languages, said education was fundamental to the progress and liberation of Burma.

'Rice bowl'
“Before the military seized control Burma was considered the ‘rice bowl’ of Asia.

“Education was high and Burmese English set the precedent for neighbouring Asian countries.”

Naing Ko Ko, a prominent Burmese spokesman and council director for the Union of Burma, said the military regime in Rangoon spends less than one per cent of its budget on health and education.

Ko Ko, who spent nine years in jail as a political prisoner learnt English from a dictionary that was smuggled into his cell.

He has since gone on to complete two Bachelor of Arts degrees with honours, and is currently working on a Masters in International Relations at the University of Auckland.

Alice U said: “People who are still in the country and people who get out of Burma and get educated and risk their lives to expose the atrocities of the junta - like Violet and Naing Ko Ko - are the heroes.”

Violet Cho arrived in Auckland two and a half months ago and is doing a Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours) at the Pacific Media Centre.

As well as her studies, she files stories for the PMC website and for Irrawaddy.

Her fellowship is funded jointly by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and AUT’s School of Communication Studies.

Vanita Prasad is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student.

Karen journalist in critical force for change
Irrawaddy Magazine
Underground 'VJs' expose Burmese horror
Pacific Media Centre's Asian Journalism Fellowship

Labour MP vows to seek parliamentary support for Aung San Suu Kyi

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Outspoken Labour MP Maryann Street has vowed to initiate a motion in New Zealand’s Parliament calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all Burmese political prisoners, saying it was a responsibility of parliamentarians to “add our voices” to the international clamour.

She spoke during a vigil last night organised in support of Burmese democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on “trial” by the military regime after being accused of breaking state law.

About 40 people – including local politicians, activists and students – braved the rain and cold to attend the vigil.

Street, who is also chairperson of the NZ Parliamentarians’ Caucus on Burma, said: “It is our responsibility to add our voices to the clamour of international voices heard for Burma to move towards democracy”.

Dr Suu Kyi has been charged for breaching the terms of her 13 years of house arrest after an American Mormon John W. Yettaw swam across a lake and entered her house this month.

The trial started on Monday and is continuing. She is being held in Burma’s notorious Insein Prison in Yangon while the charges and evidence are being heard.

Many commentators believe this trial reveals that Burma’s military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), plans to justify the extension of her detention, which would have expired by the end of this month.

She could face five years’ imprisonment if she is found guilty.

“We are gathering to show our support for Aung San Suu Kyi and demand international action,” said Naing Koko, director of the National Council of the Union of Burma’s New Zealand office.

“Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 13 years and she must be freed.”

“The trial is all about keeping any voices of dissent silent in the run up to rigged elections next year.

'Exposing the lies'
“It exposes the lies the generals have been telling that elections next year will bring change. In fact, the election and constitution are all about keeping the generals in power.”

Joe Carolan, a representative of Socialist Aotearoa, gave a speech calling for New Zealand companies to stop all trade with Burma.

He also rejected the idea that international governments should play a key role in bringing change to Burma:

“Change is going to come to the region from the ordinary people, from the poor and from the student movement there, not from the likes of the British, the United States or the United Nations”.

On Wednesday, Dr Suu Kyi’s trial was briefly opened up for reporters and diplomats but generally it has been closed for the public.

Su Kyi has been in detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years.

There was a schedule for her to be freed by the end of this month after serving six years’ house arrest that started in May 2003.

To justify her security, the military placed her under house arrest after her travel to northern Burma was ambushed by pro-government mobs.

Demonstrations have been taking place this week in more than 20 cities across the globe.

Pictures: Top: The Auckland vigil (Violet Cho); middle: Aung San Suu Kyi at a Yangon rally when out of house arrest; and above: local Burmese leader Naing Koko.

Violet Cho is the 2009 Asian Journalism Fellow with AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

Burma junta bars media and diplomats from Aung San Kyi trial again

Burma's armed conflict cripples food supplies

Villagers who have fled their homes in eastern Burma keep moving. Many areas are dangerous because of landmines, military checkpoints and patrols.

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Burmese civilians and internally displaced people in eastern parts of Burma are suffering severe food shortages due to the ongoing armed conflict and an increase of state militarisation.

“The food shortage is a serious problem among internally displaced civilians and they now heavily rely on eating bamboo shoots and other food sources that they can collect in the jungle for their survival,” says Saw Steve, an executive member of Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP).

The Burmese civil society group, based on the Thai-Burma border, is working to assist communities effected by the crisis.

Burmese rights organisations are expressing deep concern for the civilians who are suffering direct consequences from the conflict between state military and ethnic resistance groups.

They also condemned the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the ruling military regime in Burma, which has intensified their military operations in ethnic minority areas.

Local rights groups claim the food crisis is a direct result of systematic militarisation and exploitation by the regime.

Saw Albert, a leading member of the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG), has been working on a recently released report on the crisis.

“The food crisis has been gradually worsening since the beginning of the SPDC's Northern Offensive in late 2005” he says.

“With increased attacks on village communities and an intensified forced relocation campaign over the last three and a half years, food insecurity is at an all-time high.

“In military-controlled areas, villagers struggle to both meet the constant demands of the SPDC and their allied military groups and provide food for their families.”

No hiding places
Because of the ongoing conflict and repression in the area, it is very difficult and dangerous to meet affected villagers and provide relief.

Villagers who have fled their homes never have a permanent place to hide – they are constantly moving so local NGOs cannot know where to find them. Many areas are dangerous because of landmines, Burmese military checkpoints and patrols and active combat with insurgent armies.

Despite these risks, CIDKP field staff secretly distribute much needed supplied to small communities hiding in the forests.

If caught with supplies like food and medicine, field staff can be killed by Burmese troops, who use a strategy of cutting supplies to insurgent groups.

It is even more risky to carry equipment like cameras and recorders, as they are only used by activists documenting abuses. KHRG staff secretly collect testimonies from villagers in hiding and photograph abuses, which they use for their reports and advocacy.

One villager explained the extent of the food crisis to an anonymous KHRG field worker: “Only two villagers out of 10 have enough rice. They are borrowing from each other just to stay alive.”

Another villager from Nyaunglebin District, in northeastern Burma, explained that villagers do not have a proper time to do their own work for their survival.

“The SPDC army camp is located beside our village, so we always have to do loh ah pay [forced labour] for them. We do not have much time to do our own work. Now we are doing their work, such as cutting bamboo poles and delivering them to their [SPDC] camp.”

Villagers in displaced areas are sharing limited food supplies with each other just to stay alive. Because they are on the run, they cannot plant crops like rice, which is their staple food.
Instead they rely on collecting food from the forest.

Paddy plants
A villager who is displaced by the on-going military offensive said that “every time when the Burmese [SPDC] soldiers have arrived at our villager, we have had to flee. So, we haven’t had time to take care of our paddy plants in the fields. They [the fields] are covered with weed. If the SPDC did not disturb us, we would have enough food every year.”

Burmese populations in eastern parts of Burma can be categorised into two groups: those living in the SPDC controlled areas and those who hide in the jungle, refusing to live in forced relocation sites under military watch.

Due to the combination of military demands in the form of forced labour, arbitrary taxation, looting and ad hoc demands for food, money or other supplies, have placed a dangerous burden on villagers' livelihoods.

The practice of land confiscation, restriction of movement (villagers are not freely allowed to go to their farm or plantation areas) and forced relocation exacerbate poverty and dramatically increase food insecurity.

Meanwhile, in areas not under the military control, the SPDC troops are forcing villagers into relocation sites through their common practice of attacking villagers and destroying food stores, burning rice fields and livestock.

Villagers who managed to escape the military attacks are facing further threats of food insecurity their unstable living condition in hiding side in the forest, according to the KHRG report.

The report also documented the regime government’s shoot-on-sight policy, planting landmines and restrictions on villagers to trade with each other also created an extreme difficult for villagers to leave their hiding site in order to collect hidden food stores, to work in their former fields or purchase food supplies.

A villager interviewed by KHRG staff, complained that they felt like they were not treated as human beings. “The SPDC doesn’t see us as villagers. They identify us as their enemy. So when they see us, they shoot to kill us all.”

By documenting the food crisis, KHRG is providing recommendations for the international community on actions that can be taken to ease the current crisis and prevent future abuse and malnutrition in rural Burma.

The recommendations include increased support for cross-border aid and local civil society organisations, which can access affected populations and support the local food security protection measures that villagers in rural Burma have already developed.

Humanitarian aid
KHRG spokeswoman September Paw called for increased humanitarian aid to villagers in rural Burma: "Villagers in Karen State are faced with a serious food crisis as the direct result of military abuse.

She explained how Burmese villagers have been trying their best seeking various ways to address this food crisis, to maintain their livelihoods and to resist military abuse. “Despite these strategies, there is a great need for humanitarian aid to be scaled up to reach these people.”

However, She confirmed that, “the locally-driven protection measures developed by villagers themselves should first be taken into account in order to effectively address this crisis.”

Like civilians in eastern part of Burma are now suffering form food crisis, Burmese people in western part of Burma, Chin State has been plagued by a severe food shortages due to the reduction of local harvest and food production.

The crisis was started in 2006 when a new cycle of bamboo flowering that occurs about every 50 years in the region.

This bamboo flowers are eaten by rats and triggering the explosion of rats population, which destroyed the crop.

This has caused serious food shortages for Burmese villagers, as they are primarily dependent on subsistence farming through shifting cultivation.

Violet Cho is from Burma and is the Asian Journalism Fellow with the Pacific Media Centre. She is is studying on the Bachelor of Communication Studies (Honours) programme. The picture of displaced Burmese villagers is from the Karen Human Rights Group report.

Food crisis: The accumulative impact of abuse in rural Burma

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

Martial law wipes out Fiji's media freedom day

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Media organisations and newspapers worldwide are ready to mark World Media Freedom Day tomorrow - but this important day has been censored in Fiji because of the military regime’s decree banning media and political meetings.

Sources at the University of the South Pacific, where an annual free speech debate was due to be co-hosted with the Fiji Media Council, said plans had to be abandoned.

“The journalism programme was working with the Fiji Media Council to organise activities as it has done through the years, but decided against it after advice from the Information Ministry,” said one organiser.

“We had already held a meeting but could not hold a follow-up meeting to continue with preparations.

“We were told that all meetings to do with the Media Council should be deferred until after period of the 30-day emergency regulations expired.

“We were further advised to familiarise ourselves with the emergency regulations.”

The Fiji Media Council, comprising the country’s leading news media organisations, was also ordered to cancel its monthly meeting.

“Media freedom is seriously curtailed in Fiji,” said TV3 reporter Sia Aston, an AUT graduate who was recently expelled from Fiji.

“Reporters there have to carry out their jobs with members of the military and police within their offices censoring stories.

“International media are given selective access to government ministers and officials, banned from attending sensitive press conferences, monitored heavily while in Fiji and told that any reporting perceived as negative will not be tolerated.

“That is not what I would consider media freedom.”

In a statement marking Media Freedom Day, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), said governments guilty of "censorship, hypocrisy, and neglect are putting press freedom to the sword world-wide”.

The president of IFJ, Jim Boumelha, said: “Governments around the world are failing to defend press freedom and the rights of journalists.

“And in the process they endanger civil liberties and democracy.”

According to the IFJ, journalists worldwide are being targeted in justification of security and counter-terrorism by authorities.

“Even democratic states are putting in place laws that constrain the exercise of journalism,” says Boumelha.

“Snooping on investigative reporters and forcing journalists to reveal sources of information is increasing. As a result, media work in an intimidating atmosphere in which censorship, direct and indirect is becoming routine.”

The Pacific regional media event, “Building courage under fire”, originally planned for Fiji has been moved to Apia, Samoa, because of martial law.

The regional event, with aim of boosting Pacific journalism’s ability to counter pressure on media freedom is being organised by the Pacific Freedom Forum, UNESCO and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.

The meeting starts on Wednesday and will run until May 8.

Other regional World Media Freedom Day activities include:

Malaysia: According to International Freedom of Expression (IFEX) exchange, Independent Journalism in Malaysia is organising a public forum on “media under Najib: Hope or Disappointment?” at the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur on May 10.

Philippines: The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) plans a wreath-laying ceremony on May 3 in memory of journalists who have been killed.

Thailand: The Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) and UNESCO Bangkok is organising an event to highlight the importance of freedom of expression and media independence after conflicts and crises ranging from Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge regime to the Philippines under Marcos.

Violet Cho is the Asian Journalism Fellow at AUT's Pacific Media Centre.

IFJ accuses governments of ‘hypocrisy’
Fiji government
Fiji Media Council
University of the South Pacific

Student report slams Burmese military’s ethnic land grabs

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

Three Burmese ethnic youth and student organisations in Thailand have strongly condemned the military regime’s policy of increasing militarisation and seizing land without compensation.

The forced land confiscations cause widespread problems for civilians throughout Burma, the movements say in a new report.

The report, titled "Holding Our Ground" - documented by the All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress, Mon Youth Progressive Organisation and Pa-O Youth Organisation, says military government mismanagement and militarisation of ethnic lands causes daily suffering for Burmese citizens who do not have enough food and water or enough income to provide education for their young.

According to the report, the regime has confiscated lands for house barracks, outposts and training sites for the troops.

The seized lands are also being used for farming and gardening in order to supplement rations and generate additional income for the troops.

The land grabbing from civilians has increased drastically due to a policy of self-reliance whereby the Burmese army must produce its own food and obtain basic materials.

Aung Marm Oo, chief author of the report, said: “The abundance of natural resources and biodiversity, together with the presence of rebel groups, have seen these three areas suffer a high level of land confiscation as part of the SPDC’s [“State Peace and Development Council”] policy of increased militarisation and the exploitation of natural resources for profit.”

Another reason for land confiscation is government construction and so-called development projects of building dams, mining and destruction of the forest for building roads.

Forced labour
These projects often use forced labour and have disastrous environmental effects in many areas.

Burmese troops have set up their posts in civilian lands to protect international corporations that are working in Burma.

A villager from near Kyauk-phyu township in Arakan state, in western Burma, said: “The army is based there not for waging war but for guarding foreign companies involved in oil and gas exploration in Arakan coastal areas.”

The military regime policy of increasing troop deployments has caused many ethnic villagers to flee, abandoning their land and property. Consequently, tens of thousands of people are fleeing Burma in search of a better life.

The Burmese military is constantly expanding to sustain the continual growth of the regime’s power.

Military infrastructure is developed while civilian needs are repeatedly neglected.

The obsession with increasing the size of Burma’s army is underlined by the fact that in the period 1993-2004, 29 percent of central government spending went on defence, while the corresponding health and education figures were only 3 percent and 8 percent respectively.

Today, the SPDC Army numbers around 490,000; having more than doubled in size since 1989. There are an additional 72,000 people in the Myanmar Police Force, including 4500 in the paramilitary police.

This corresponds to roughly one soldier for every 100 citizens, despite Burma facing no external enemies.

Violet Cho is the Asian Journalism Fellow at AUT’s Pacific Media Centre.

Irrawaddy magazine
Holding Our Ground report

Underground 'VJs' expose Burmese horror

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

REVIEW: A dramatic film exposing the struggle of underground Burmese video journalists who chronicled the monk-led Saffron Revolution has featured in this month’s New Zealand world cinema showcase.

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country is a mix of original footage of the popular and peaceful protests in September 2007 shot by Burmese video journalists, international media footage and dramatic reenactments filmed from the safety of Thailand.

The military junta brutally crushed the protests and a Japanese journalist was among more than 30 people shot dead.

The footage is strung together through the narration of Joshua, a young and enthusiastic journalist who flees Burma soon after the protests start, after getting some sensitive footage and attracting the attention of police intelligence.

He was investigated but fortunately the police did not realise who he was.

The film, shown at Auckland’s Academy cinema, follows Joshua and his group of young video journalists as they film the oppression by the military junta inside Burma and send it to the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), based in Thailand, and Norway.

It is the only Burmese independent satellite TV. It is broadcast back into Burma, providing a key source of information for citizens who otherwise have to rely on a mediascape restricted by heavy government censorship.

From Thailand, Joshua continues to coordinate a small group of video journalists who were doing daily documentation of the event. They were one of the key sources of footage for international broadcasters , such as BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera - who were denied access to Burma.

The atmosphere of the film is raw – with lots of handheld cameras and quick editing techniques, designed to give viewers a feel for what it is like being a video journalist in a closed country in crisis.

While Joshua is the main character of the film, we do not see his face – he is only shown from behind. This is for his security, so he can go back to Burma and continue working for media.

Risking lives
Apart from documenting journalists, the film effectively shows how average Burmese people are suffering from economic crisis and military mismanagement and how this was important to push people onto the streets, risking their lives in doing so.

Burma VJ was directed by Danish documentary filmmaker Anders Østergaard and has received international success, being shown at international film festivals. It won an award at Amsterdam Film Festival last December.

As a Burmese exiled journalist, I don’t feel like the film is for me – I was in Thailand reporting about the Saffron Revolution at that time, making daily phone calls so it is an all too familiar story.

I am also less interested in the views of journalists from exile like me, sitting in an office trying to comprehend events.

I would have liked to have seen more from the perspective of those working from Rangoon during that time, as they are working in the battleground.

It reminds me of a journalist friend I met in Thailand a month after the crackdown and was reporting from Rangoon secretly for exiled media.

When the government soldiers tried to crack down and shoot protesters - she was there watching soldiers shoot people and taking photos of it.

She wept when she told me about that. She also had to run for her life.

Out of fear of being arrested, she hid under a car for about two hours, because at that time carrying a camera in Burma was a serious crime.

I would like to see more from the standpoint of people like her.

Violet Cho is the Asian Journalism Fellow at the Pacific Media Centre. Burma VJ has also screened in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country, directed by Anders Østergaard. 84min.

More on BurmaVJ at Hotdocs

A tale of censorship crises – Fiji and Thailand

By Violet Cho and David Fisher: Pacific Media Centre

While the international media is relaxed about Thailand's Easter political crisis, condemnation is being heaped on Fiji's military regime. Thais and Fiji islanders have woken up to a new era of shadowy rule of law - a challenge for local and foreign journalists alike.

Geographically, Thai and Fiji politics are worlds apart - but the military dictatorship in Fiji and the barely democratic Thai government share a similar view towards independent and alternative media.

Both view media as a threat to their rule, and justify repression through maintaining stability.

Both countries are currently under a state of emergency.

In recent weeks, the fragility of democracy has again been on display in Thailand and Fiji, two popular destinations for Australian holidaymakers, noted the Melbourne Age, making comparisons between the two countries and censorship.

In Fiji, the “systematic dismantling of the planks of democracy” was certainly to the detriment of the country’s long-term interests. In Thailand, the “passionate supporters of the ‘real democracy movement — the urban and rural poor who form the bulk of the electorate” — had eased off their street protests.

On the April 10, Fiji’s President, Ratu Josefa lloilo, revoked the Constitution adopted in 1997. He repealed the state courts, postponed elections until 2014 and declared himself the head of the state.

Then he reinstated the coup leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama as prime minister and decreed a 30-day “public emergency” in Fiji.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government also introduced martial law in Bangkok and areas around the city two days later on the April 12 after a massive protest asking him to step down.

Abhisit has been under pressure to step down from the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), which is a major anti- government force in Thailand.

Emergency decrees
The emergency decrees highly affect people and allow governments to have full control over media by forcibly stopping publication or broadcast in justification to control the disorder in the country.

Since the state of emergency was introduced, at least five community radio and television stations in Thailand have been targeted with raids, arrests of staff and the confiscation of equipment.

This followed an order from the Internal Security Operations Command for community radio stations to stop inciting unrest or face closure, which was reported in Asia Media Forum.

Other stations in regional areas have reported various forms of threat and harassment by local authorities exploiting the current situation.

So far, one community radio station in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand and DStation TV based in Bangkok have been forced to close.

Under the name of state martial law, the regime in Fiji had threatened human rights defenders and government critics. The government detained and intimidated local journalists and deported three foreign reporters who were filing critical stories.

The journalists - Sean Dorney from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and New Zealand’s TV3 crew of reporter Sia Aston and photographer Matt Smith - were expelled from Fiji.

The regime detained local journalists who gave interviews to foreign media and news reporting about the situation in Fiji.

The regime also shut down two repeat transmitters belonging to the ABC in the tourist town of Nadi and the capital of Suva, forbidding Fiji journalists to speak to foreign media about the crisis in the country.

Mass resistance
Unlike the Fiji’s military crackdown on media, Thai government mainly targeted the media which clearly links to anti-government groups which – also unlike Fiji - have a presence on the street and are actively staging mass resistance.

DStation, for example, is an important part of the UDD propaganda network, as it is used to broadcast protests and speeches.

Partiality, of course, is no excuse to limit media freedom. What is alarming is how this crackdown on “pro-UDD” media and the UDD in general exposes the deep bias of the central institutions of the state, the monarchy, military, judiciary and bureaucracy, when dealing with political dissent.

No attempts were made to restrict the media of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the yellow shirt group which occupied Thailand’s Government House for three months last year and Bangkok’s international airport for eight days, causing massive damage to an economy reliant on tourism.

There was never a crackdown on the PAD and there have been no arrests of their leaders, who are part of the Thai elite and have support from the powerful old guard of Thai society.

UDD or red shirt protesters are asking for a representative democracy, and challenging a system that gives huge power to unelected courtiers. They want a system that will provide services for the majority of Thai people, not just benefits for the rich.

In contrast, PAD want an end to representative democracy, replaced by a system where a large proportion of seats in parliament are appointed by the monarchy and military. This explains why red shirt protests are crushed by the military within days, while PAD alternatively have a free hand to protests for months.

Future in doubt
The current conflict in Thailand is a fundamental one: the monarchy is in crisis because the king is old and the crown prince is unpopular, which leaves the institution’s future in doubt.

Any discussion of the role of the monarchy and succession is strictly forbidden, enforced through a lese majeste law, which is the centerpiece of the Thai censorship regime.

The monarchy is a key battleground. The institution conveyed open signals in support of the 2006 coup that overthrew the populist elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra, and directly led to the current crisis.

Thaksin has now openly accused King Bhumibol of giving his blessing to military leaders before the coup and announced that two privy councilors were the masterminds.

The 2006 coup can be seen as a favour to the king, who was threatened by the grassroots popularity of Thaksin. The monarchy gave clear signals supporting the PAD, through Queen Sirkit’s attendance at the funeral of a protester who died during clashes with police.

There was also no dissent from any royals when the PAD in part justified their actions as necessary to protect the monarchy.

The Thai background is a long and complicated story, and is too often left out of mainstream media reports of the Thai crisis. There has been a lot of praise in foreign media for the Abhisit Government’s handling of the crisis, showing restraint and sparing civilian casualties.

But since local media reporting heavier casualties have been censored, and there are no independent investigation, who knows what the story really is?

Partial justice
The “restraint” shown must be seen in comparison with the lack of action against the PAD. It then becomes obvious that Thailand has a partial “justice” system – that goes after red shirts, Thaksin and his supporters and turns a blind eye to crimes carried out by the military (the 2006 coup being an obvious one) and yellow shirts.

Rarely is the term “monarchy” used in foreign media, without descriptors attached such as “much revered”, “Buddha-like”, “loved” and “immensely popular”. How can journalists know this when criticism can lead to long prison terms?

In contrast, international media overwhelmingly condemns the actions of the Fiji government.

Thai and Fiji islanders have woken up to a new era of shadowy rule of law. This is a challenge for local and foreign journalists alike, who will have to walk carefully.

Picture: Thai anti-censorship protesters at Pantip Plaza, a popular IT mall, during a previous rally. Photo: Global Voices.

Violet Cho is the Asian Journalism Fellow at AUT University’s Pacific Media Centre.

Media freedom groups keep up pressure over Fiji censorship

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Watch

International media freedom organisations and human rights advocacy groups continue to raise concerns over freedom of the press and civil rights in Fiji.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has appealed to the Fiji’s regime to repeal its gag on the media.

On Good Friday, President Ratu Josefa lloilo abrogated the 1997 constitution, sacked the judiciary, postponed elections until 2014 and reinstated coup leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama as prime minister.

He also declared martial law for 30 days in Fiji.

Since then, the regime has gagged Radio Australia broadcasting repeater stations in Fiji, imposed censorship, and intimidated, detained and deported journalists.

The IFJ also urged the regime to avoid international isolation.

It argued that harsh government suppression of both foreign and local media risked isolation from international communities and this would “greatly harm the people of Fiji”.

“There is no right to propaganda,” said Aidan White, general secretary of the IFJ.

'Warped view'
“Fiji’s military leaders have a warped view of the role of a healthy media if they believe that they are entitled to media reporting that put them in a good light, regardless of their actions.”

The International Press Institute also condemned the regime’s crackdown on media.

David Dadge, director of IPI, said the regime’s strong control would only accelerate the problem in the country and he called for an end to censorship and the intimidation of journalists.

In response to Bainimarama, who blamed media for the Fiji political turmoil in an interview with Radio New Zealand, Dadge argued that it was a “deplorable attempt to hide the truth at a time of political uncertainty”.

Instead, he said: “Contrary to what the regime says, the media can contribute to better understanding and can ease tension in divided societies.”

The Pacific Media Centre at New Zealand’s AUT University condemned the regime’s "ruthless censorship" and harassment of media organisations.

Associate professor David Robie, director of the PMC and a former head of the University of the South Pacific regional school of journalism in Fiji during the 2000 coup, criticised the government repression of media and dissidents.

Dr Robie praised Fiji journalists for a “creative and courageous” response to martial law.

'Burmese-style system'
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) appealed to Fiji’s president and coup leader to reverse the regulation against media institutions and the Paris-based organisation also compared Fiji military government with Burma’s military dictatorship.

“The military government is heading dangerously towards a Burmese-style system where the media are permanently subject to prior censorship and other forms of obstruction,” said RSF.
The Pacific Freedom Forum, an advocacy group of journalists, criticised the intimidation and detention of journalist.

"This bullying behaviour on the part of Fiji authorities will only serve to still further focus attention on that country's situation, because the story will still, eventually be told," PFF chair Susuve Laumaea, of Papua New Guinea, said.

Amnesty International said Fiji’s military government’s “draconian measures” had systematically caused deteriorating human rights in the country and civilians were feeling insecure living in the unstable country.

A Pacific researcher for Amnesty International based in London, Apolosi Bose, said after a fact-finding visit to Fiji: “What is developing is a culture of extreme fear and intimidation.”

He added: “The government’s emergency regulations, which include exoneration of police and soldiers from responsibility for actions, even when they cause injury or death, are having a major impact.”

In the statement, Amnesty International also said that the regime had threatened human rights defenders and government critics as well as detaining reporters.

Key actions
In key developments since the repeal of the constitution on April 10:

• April 13: Three foreign journalists - Sean Dorney of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Sia Aston and photographer Matt Smith from New Zealand’s TV3 - were expelled from Fiji.

• April 13: Fiji Television reporter Edwin Nand was detained for about 36 hours over an interview he did with expelled Australian reporter Dorney.

• April 15: The regime ordered ABC to shut down its two FM transmitters in the capital Suva and in the tourist town of Nadi. This move also affected Radio New Zealand International because it also relays programmes via the ABC transmitters.

• April 16: The regime detained Pita Ligaiula, a reporter for Pacnews, a regional news agency owned by Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), over his stories filed to the international news wire Associated Press. He was released after being held for about 12 hours.

According to IPI, the regime has warned Fiji journalists not to speak to foreign media about the political crisis and some journalists have been taken into custody for questioning.

The regime announced in a change of policy it would accept “approved” foreign journalists into the country. It also asked local reporters to practise the “journalism of hope”.

Meanwhile, news media organisations in the country such as the Fiji Times, the Fiji Sun and Fiji Television have stopped publishing political stories after the regime warned the Sunday Times not to carry on publishing blank spaces or it would be closed down

Violet Cho is the Asian Journalism Fellow at the Pacific Media Centre.

Reporter for the ‘voiceless’ wins diversity award

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

With a passion to raise the voice of the “voiceless”, Fiji-born reporter Dominika White has won the Māori Television Prize and Pacific Media Centre Storyboard Award for diversity journalism for a series of articles in Spasifik magazine.

At the annual AUT University communication studies awards last night, White, who graduated as a Bachelor of Communication Studies in February, told of her strong motivation and interest in doing diversity stories.

“There are many stories out there which are newsworthy and do not get reported because they are a niche,” she said.

Not simply defining “diversity” as a term representing tangata whenua, Pacific islanders, Asians and other groups, she believes the word includes people with disabilities, elderly and those who are not necessarily in the news.

She says mainstream media needs to cover more diverse people in the society and raise their voices.

And she intends to pay attention and report about these voiceless people, which mainstream media don’t always cover.

Peter Rees, editor of Spasifik, praised White as a deserving winner of the diversity journalism awards.

“She has a good grasp of issues important in the region - and domestically - particularly indigenous issues that are making an impact in our Māori and Pacific communities which make up our core readership,” he said.

“With this understanding as her foundation, she was able to produce several thought-provoking and informative feature stories for our magazine.”

Top stories
First working as an intern student and then as part-time reporter, White spent her time working closely with the editorial team of Spasifik website and magazine, a weekly glossy magazine that has focused on the achievements of Pacific people as well as local and regional issues.

Some of the news stories she did last year included the New Zealand election which was reported from a Pacific perspective and a profile of a renowned Fijian women’s rights campaigner, Virisila Buadromo, winner of International Woman of Courage Award in 2008.

She also reported on the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts in American Samoa and interviewed some business tycoons such as Rick Fala.

Representing a sponsor of the diversity journalism award, Sonya Haggie, Māori Television’s general manager of sales, marketing and communications, said her channel supported and promoted acceptance of and respect for ethnic and cultural diversity.

“New Zealand is home to peoples from many different cultures and backgrounds, and each of us has a unique contribution to building the nationhood of our country,” she said.

“Diversity provides dynamic, interesting and inspiring perspectives, and having the freedom to be proud of who we are, where we come from and our own traditional beliefs enriches our country.”

White would like to work as a journalist in New Zealand. However, she also wants to help out her community in Fiji, which is currently ruled by a military-backed regime, and the Pacific region.
In his interview with the Pacific Media Center, Peter Rees, also encouraged Pacific journalists to be more engaged with diversity reporting.

“As Pacific journalists, their ability to draw on their own cultural background gives them a more innate understanding of diversity issues.”

“Foreign journalists not familiar with local Pacific customs are often accused of ‘parachute’ journalism. This highlights the importance of getting more Pacific people into journalism.

Better understanding
“It will help people living outside of the Pacific have a better understanding of what is going on in that part of the world.”

PMC director David Robie, who donated the East Sepik storyboard for the centre’s award three years ago, said it was really encouraging to see what an impact the winners were making on diversity reporting.

He recalled that the first winner, Qiane Corfield in 2006, had gone on to work for Mana magazine and was now deputy editor of Spasifik. Moana Tapaleao, who won in 2007, became a reporter on the New Zealand Herald and was “developing really well”.

In other diversity awards and scholarships last night, Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) deputy chair Chris Lakatani presented scholarship certificates to John Pulu (undergraduate) and Thakur Ranjit Singh (postgraduate) and Television New Zealand corporate affairs manager Peter Parussini presented a diversity journalism scholarship to Kimberlee Downs.

Asia New Zealand Foundation media adviser Charles Mabbett also presented international internship scholarships to Kristina Koveshnikova and Guanting Liu (China Daily.com, Beijing), Claire Rourke (Jakarta Post) and Keira Stephenson (Philippine Daily Star).

He spoke warmly of the four-year partnership with AUT over Asia-Pacific journalism.
A total of 34 prizes were presented to current and former students at the communication studies awards.

Katie Llanos-Small, currently in London, won the inaugural postgraduate Asia-Pacific Journalism prize for an "outstanding" assignment portfolio. Her father, John, collected the award on her behalf.

Pictures: Top: Winner Dominika White with the Storyboard Award, Māori Television's Krishan Marinas (left), Laura Quigley and PMC director Dr David Robie; centre: PIMA's Chris Lakatani (left) and John Pulu; Asia New Zealand Foundation's Charles Mabbett with China Daily's Wang Nan (left) and Violet Cho, of Burma; above: The PMC "mob". Photos: Alan Koon. More pictures.

Reporter Violet Cho, from Burma, was herself a scholarship recipient. She won the inaugural Asian Journalism Fellowship at AUT funded by the Asia New Zealand Foundation and is attached to the PMC.

Māori Television
Asia New Zealand Foundation
PIMA
Spasifik Magazine
AUT communication studies awards night - photo gallery

New ethnic paper targets Indian community

By Violet Cho: Pacific Media Centre

A new ethnic newspaper, the Indian Weekender, has been launched in Auckland – and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett was handed the first copy at the Holi Mela festival last weekend.

Chief reporter Thakur Ranjit Singh says the mainstream New Zealand media tend to cover the negative side of the Indian and other migrant communities and there is a need for something new.

“Indian people have needed their own new newspaper to help fill the gap,” Singh says.

“NZ has become cosmopolitan. A lot of migrants are coming here but you can hardly find them in the media.

“You can look at the New Zealand Herald, TV1, TV3, the Dominion Post and they hardly have any people from migrant communities to reflect the cultures, traditions and sensitivities of this country”.

Starting at 32 pages, the Indian Weekender will be published with at least 6000 copies every fortnight from now on.

But the paper plans to go weekly with 10,000 copies in the future.

The target market is predominantly at least 120,000 Indian people from the sub-continent and also diasporic communities from Fiji, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa.

Binding people
“We felt that there was a vacuum and there was a need for a paper like this. It’s important to have a community-based newspaper,” says Singh.

“Something that binds people together to give the information that's relevant to them.”
The paper was welcomed with enthusiasm by media academics, media personnel and politicians in New Zealand.

Associate professor David Robie, director of Pacific Media Centre, says a paper like the Indian Weekender can focus on issues important to the ethnic Indian community.

“Mainstream media in New Zealand fails in reporting for ethnic minority communities in the country. There are so many tremendous positive things that have been done by a whole range of communities.

“It is really important for the community to have its own media, not just relying on the mainstream.”

Parliament’s first Korean MP, Melissa Lee, former executive producer of Asia Down Under, says ethnic media is important in reflecting minority views.

But she warned that the editorial team should make sure that the standard of journalism is upheld and not to rely on publishing “advertorials”.

“The Indian community has a variety of newspapers, which I think is very important. Competition is always a good thing.”

The first edition of this paper features national and local news in New Zealand, India and Fiji, as well as business, education and entertainment.

Well-rounded
Editor Dev Nadkarni says the paper is trying to give well-rounded content produced for the people who live away from their original home.

“There are columns written by experts on IT needs for businesses, taxation, mortgages and all the valuable information that Indian experts living in NZ need.

“For women, children and young people, we have separate sections. For the first time in the newspaper here, we have two pages dedicated to children only. These talk about Indian values.
“There are also comics and illustrations for children,” he says.

Starting the newspaper during the global economic downturn is a challenge for the group, says Nadkarni.

“A lot of people say it’s probably the worst time to launch the newspaper. Everybody talks about the economic downturn which makes advertising hard to come by.

“But our management saw that it is probably the best time - we are at the bottom and we can only go up.”

Another challenge to compete with is another long–established newspaper, Indian Newslink, which is distributed fortnightly around New Zealand and has a circulation of 65,000, according to its website.

It also has similar objectives, aiming to be a platform for Indian community issues and to raise the profile of the community.

Picture: Director Bhav Dillon and Social Development Minister Paula Bennett launch the Indian Weekender at the Holi Mela festival. Photo: Violet Cho.

Violet Cho, from Burma, is the 2009 Asian Journalism Fellow and on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University.

Violet Cho on the Karen website Kwekalu.net