Mohan Balaji's Fiji article - factual errors

Mohan: re: pmw5701 re: Fiji's political development

Good article on Fiji but some factual errors.

Three corrections:
First Coup 1987 (not 1986)
Independence 1970 (not 1969)
NZ did not impose Transit Visa bans - to the contrary, it lifted these bans
for the purpose of the Fiji delegation attending the Forum.

Also, the opinion on the Constitution and Electoral System is incorrect - the current 1997 Fiji Constitution (and its electoral system) was put together after wide discussion, consultation and debate.

It is not the Constitution or the voting system that is flawed, but the people who take the law into their own hands when the system does not deliver into Parliament them or their preferred 'partners'.

The Fiji Constitution has provisions for ethnically balancing the composition of Parliament, and has power-sharing mechanisms which allows for successful major political parties to form Governments in partnership.

It is not the Constitution that is Fiji's problem, but successive bad (and corrupt) leadership, lack of transparency, unethical practices, and poor governance. The current illegal regime is no exception.

Kind Regards

Nik Naidu

Robert Fisk on PMC's YouTube

If you missed out on the inspiring luck with British foreign affairs journo Robert Fisk at AUT University on Tuesday, then check us out at the Pacific Media Centre YouTube channel and also our stories on PMC Online. Te Waha Nui has also provided some coverage by its editor, James Murray. Fisk's video about the US "Warrior Ethos" was been top-rated within a couple of hours of it being posted.

• Robert Fisk on the US Warrior's Creed
• PMC's YouTube channel

A breathtaking view from the PMC's guy in China

Hi all,

Here's a pic of the breath-taking Great Wall that quite literally does stretch further than the eye can see. Really amazing - thin and even quite low in some places, it once stretched over 5000km over the tops of the tallest hills. Some parts have been fixed, others not really.

Then come the Terracotta Warriors. For those of you that don't know, they were made by the king who first unified China over 2000 years ago. He got arrogant and wanted to continue ruling even after his death, so he had 170,000 people work on building this army of life-sized, individualised (right down to facial expressions and ranks, see the pictured general - you can tell rank by armour and headress) and battle ready (in formation, once upon a time armed with real weapons and wooden chariots, which disintegrated etc). There are over 6000 warriors in one pit but most are still buried (they were placed in tunnels just under ground level and found in 1974 by a farmer digging a well, poor guy sits in site shop signing books all day).

Once they were fully painted but within three days of being unearthed the paint faded, they have left most buried till they can work out technology to keep the paint.

Shortly after the king died suddenly during an inspection, one of his generals led a revolt and his men found and looted the Terracotta Warrior halls, stealing the weapons and destroying most of the warriors so most of the ones seen today have been fixed up. There are in fact three pits - one command centre, one fast response unit made up of calvary, chariots and archers, and one mostly comprising the military and chariots with the main army in battle formation.

Phenomenal!

Now some of the media stuff I'm doing if you are interested. Here's a link to see our multimedia news output:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-08/29/content_6982573.htm

Also, follow this link for a column piece written about why I think the Chinese - and most internationals - support Obama:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2008-08/30/content_6983958.htm

I hope you're all well,

Cheers

Dylan (in Beijing)

Yvonne joins PMC team for a week

By Dominika White: Pacific Media Centre
Yvonne Sargayoos is getting a taste of Pasifika as a student journalist at the Pacific Media Centre this week – and she hopes this will help provide a ticket to a career in international reporting.
Completing her postgraduate diploma in journalism at University of Canterbury this year after earlier completing a degree in political science and mass communications, Sargayoos volunteered for the first internship after hearing about the new AUT University-based research centre earlier this year.
After being involved with Te Amokura – the red-tailed tropic bird, as the centre is known - for only three days, Sargayoos says she has already built up more contacts than during her first semester at university and is enjoying the experience.
Sargayoos, 23, says she has also gained knowledge about the Pacific region - something she believes is important for New Zealand journalists. Full story and photo by Dominika White.

• Full story on PMC Online
• Pacific-style stories with an eye to the world

Pacific Media Watch - an antidote for parachute journalism

By Dominika White/Pacific Media Centre www.pacmediawatch.aut.ac.nz
Parachute journalism is inevitable, says Scoop.co.nz co-editor Selwyn Manning. However, he believes AUT University’s unique new media database may help provide more depth to covering Asia-Pacific issues.
The DSpace digital database, named Pacific Media Watch, was launched by AUT’s Office of Pasifika Advancement director Pauline Winter on June 9.
Manning says it is an “exciting” resource that contains accurate information for journalists to use and will help the quality of regional journalism by identifying issues in topics in which journalists have little knowledge.
Manning’s own experience in Fiji in 2006 proved to him how valuable online information is to international journalists.

• An antidote to parachute journalism - full story
• PMW database
• Original PMW website

Pacific Media Watch - the A-G summons to the Fiji Times

To Whom It May Concern,
Re: A-G Summons: A quick question to clarify the relationship here between the Fiji government and the media: Is there not public information or public relations personnel working for the government? Shouldn't this rather be their job instead of the leaders?
Thanks for the article,
Clare

Congratulations to the CI News team!

Congratulations to John Woods for his new role!
And especially to Phil and Wendy for keeping the Cook Islands News daily going through an economic crisis - something I wasn't able to do - and providing one of the stronger examples of media independence in the face of years of political interference in the industry.
Look forward to hearing some day what will be their next venture.
But in the meantime, some well deserved rest is long overdue!
Kia manuia,
Jason Brown