Auckland University of Technology (AUT)

This 28-page report emerges from a Media-Asia Research Group conference held in November 2006 at the Curtin University of Technology (Perth, Western Australia) titled "Media: Policies, Cultures and Futures in the Asia Pacific Region". In it, journalist and educator David Robie reflects on media trends in the South Pacific, with a focus on the Melanesian sub-region. His key premise is that simplistic notions and prejudices about the region are increasingly posing challenges for journalists in this region who are attempting to report with depth, context, and analytical skill.

The issue, Robie indicates, is that some analysts - and the journalists who are guided by their thinking - have emphasised recent instability in the region related to coups (Fiji), ethnic conflict (Solomon Islands), paramilitary revolts (Vanuatu), and secessionist rebellion and civil war (Bougainville-Papua New Guinea and the Southern Highlands. Among the impacts of the sociopolitical and cultural dimensions of such conflicts are, according to Robie, increasing pressures and dilemmas for South Pacific's news media. For instance, "[w]hile the media in some countries are refreshingly outspoken and courageous, in others there is a worrying trend towards self-censorship."

In addition to drawing on his own experiences as a journalist in exploring this trend, Robie points to thinkers such as James Tully, who argues that New Zealand coverage of Pacific affairs has been eroded by relatively few resources devoted to foreign news and many reporters failing to go beyond a dichotomised view of events. Tully elaborates: "This reduction in the use of foreign correspondents, with their greater depth of understanding, has seen an increased reliance on what has been variously called 'hit and run' or 'parachute' journalism. This is when people who have a relatively small
knowledge of a particular nation or political issue are dispatched for a short-period to file ongoing daily coverage and then some kind of analytical wrap-up at the end of the week or fortnight. The coverage is usually of some sort of conflict - political or
military - or a natural disaster."

Following a number of case studies highlighting the complexities of covering the news in this region, Robie indicates that the training of Pacific journalists has increasingly become a challenge. At the time of this writing, only 2 countries in the region had university-level journalism schools - Fiji (University of the South Pacific) and Papua New Guinea, or PNG (Divine Word University and the University of Papua New Guinea) - which are also the nations with the largest economies and most diverse media, according to Robie. He cites research indicating that, between 1998 and 2001, the proportion of PNG journalists with a degree or diploma climbed from 73% to 81% percent, almost 3 times higher than journalists in Fiji (in the same 3-year period, the number of Fiji journalists with a degree or diploma rose by more than a third, but from only 14% to 26%). Robie attributes this difference to the growing number of graduate journalists entering the workplace from the University of the South Pacific. Conversely, the proportion of journalists without basic training or qualifications also climbed slightly in both countries - to almost half of all journalists in Fiji (49%) and 14% in PNG. However, almost 1 in 4 Fiji journalists of the survey respondents indicated they had completed professional and industry short courses run by regional or donor organisations.

As part of Robie's critique of coverage in the region in an era of globalisation and increased preoccupation with security, he notes that "[f]ew Pacific journalists adequately background or research stories, or provide the context that is needed to make sense of a news or current affairs development. Investigative journalism is rare." In addition to lack of education, he attributes this problem to low wage structures for journalists, as well as to corruption ("there has been a dramatic rise in junkets and freebies being used as inducements to win over journalists" by people such as "unscrupulous politicians").

In conclusion, Robie highlights the position of some New Zealand thinkers, who argue that the region should be conceived as less threatening - not as an "arc of instability". In this context, he argues that "[t]he Pacific needs journalists with the skills necessary to address globalisation and 'the new regionalism'....Pacific journalists need to be provided with the philosophy, socio-political, historical and contextual knowledge to match the technical skills of being effective communicators and political mediators in their developing societies. And managements must develop fair and equitable salary structures for career journalists if they hope to keep staff with the vital training and skills....Some media industry observers argue that reclaiming Pacific images and 'envisioning a future without coups, conflicts and contraband' is now more urgent than ever (Thaman, 2001)."