Back Issue
Abstracts of Vol 15(1), May 2009
Editor
David Robie
Editorial
Free speech in Fiji
David Robie, pp. 5-8
Theme
DIVERSITY, IDENTITY AND THE MEDIA
1. Commentary: Observer or participator? Diversity challenges for the role of the media profession
Selwyn Manning pp. 10-18
In the post 9/11 era there is considerable opportunity for the media profession to give insight into what has compelled one side to act in a way that has enraged and empowered another side to act in a manner that further caused hostility or anger to become entrenched. When a crisis is on the rise, journalists, and the wider network of media, are often in a unique position to access areas where others are forbidden. Through skilful reporting journalists can elicit the specific points of justification from decision-makers and leaders. Where irony or illogic is discovered, seeking to discover the reason for this often identifies a vital link between ignorance and compulsion. When that connection is reported, the opportunity exists to inform.
2. Commentary: A clash of cultures for foreign correspondents
Murray Masterton pp.19-30
When the author of this commentary was teaching or consulting —but not ‘foreign correspondensing’—in Malaysia, Singapore and later India, as he was in the early and mid 1990s―he met and spoke with many journalists who were employed as correspondents to report on events in those countries for Australian newspapers and broadcasters. None of them considered their colleagues to be total masters of the art of delivering an accurate and informed report on Asia-Pacific events in which Australia (and also New Zealand) should be interested. It was not a case of defaming the opposition, since every one of them admitted that at times they might fall short and themselves commit one of the sins of which foreign correspondents have so often been accused. The author believes that when they read today’s newspapers or watch today’s television, they find that today’s foreign correspondents still face the same cross-cultural problems they faced in the past and are guilty of the same shortcomings.
3. Commentary: Pacificness – telling our own side of the story
Sandra Kailahi pp.31-37
Pasifika people face increased marginalisation if they do not become active participants in any media discourse. Newer, portable technologies open opportunities for smaller societies to become part of the media landscape. There are now more opportunities for smaller voices to express their Pasificness and be heard over the din of the mainstream. As a community, this commentary argues, Pacific people must make sure their side of the story is told in the digital era.
4. Commentary: Drawing fire
Malcolm Evans pp. 38-44
While cartoonists at a ‘Cartoons for Peace’ conference generally claimed that freedom of expression was a byword in their respective newspapers, many, in the same breath, identified the cartoon work of others that they would not dare submit. This divergence, argues the author in this commentary, suggests that cartoon taste and acceptability are based on learned or innate cultural traits and sensibilities and that self-censorship perhaps plays a bigger role in the thinking of cartoonists than many might admit, or even realise. So just as one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, so the attitudes of cartoonists are likely to have a similar range.
5. Commentary: Fragments from a coup diary
Patrick Craddock pp. 45-66
Fiji has endured four coups in the past 22 years. On 10 April 2009, President Ratu Josefa Iloilo suspended the Constitution, sacked the judiciary, postponed any general election until 2014 and appointed himself as head of state. He reinstated 2006 coup leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama as interim Prime Minister, who in turn reappointed his cabinet in defiance of international condemnation. A censorship crackdown on the media and civil society followed. The author is a media educator and journalist who worked for a total of 11 years at the University of the South Pacific, including experiencing both the 2000 and the 2006 coups. He later returned to Fiji as social media educator for the National Council for Building a Better Fiji (NCBBF). The Council was critical of the media during the period it developed a draft of the People’s Charter. It recommended changes to the law to establish a Media Tribunal, which was also planned to encourage qualified local personnel for editorial, subeditorial and publisher positions; provide a wide diversity of local programmes for television media and develop community radio and community television through a media tax. While the People’s Charter was seen as a necessary and constructive contribution to the future of Fiji, the leadership of Bainimarama was questioned after the repeal of the constitution. This article, opening with the author’s open letter to Bainimarama after the Easter putsch, offers reflections from a coup diary.
6. Diversity reportage in Aotearoa: Demographics and the rise of the ethnic media
David Robie pp. 66-91
For more than two decades, diversity has been a growing mantra for the New Zealand news media. Initially, the concept of biculturalism—partnership with the indigenous tangata whenua—was pre-eminent in the debate, but as the nation’s Pasifika and ethnic media have flourished and matured and demographics have rapidly changed, multiculturalism has become increasingly important and challenging. The regional media relationship in the context of contested notions such as the ‘arc of instability’ and the impact of coups and crises on journalists has become critical. Projected demographics by Statistics New Zealand indicate that the country’s Asian population will almost double by 2026. The Pasifika and Māori populations are also expected to grow by 59 and 29 per cent respectively. Māori, Pasifika and ethnic media in Aotearoa/New Zealand are also steadily expanding with implications for the media industry and journalism educators. This article examines the regional trends and how initiatives such as the Pacific Media Centre and new journalism courses with an emphasis on diversity are addressing the challenges.
7. Media diversity: The challenge of ‘doing it better'
Arlene Morgan, Ana Tapiata, Bharat Jamnadas, Taualeo’o Stephen Stehlin, Pere Maitai pp. 93-113
On 25 August 2008, media practitioners, policy makers, journalists and media educators gathered on Ngā Wai O Horotiu Marae at New Zealand’s AUT University to consider the state of diversity in the news media and the challenges for ‘doing it better’. Supported by the Human Rights Commission and the Pacific Media Centre, the keynote speaker was Arlene Notoro Morgan, associate dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, New York, and author of The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity (2006). Other speakers included Ana Tapiata, of Kawea Te Rongo and the HRC; Bharat Jamnadas, senior journalist, Asia Down Under, Taualeo’o Stephen Stehlin, executive producer, Tagata Pasifika, Television New Zealand; and Pere Maitai, news director, Pacific Media Network. The forum, chaired by Gilbert Wong, canvassed culturally sensitive, accurate and well-crafted reporting on ethnicity issues and examined the challenges for the future. This transcript was compiled by Christine Lukhelo Williams, postgraduate student from Zimbabwe.
8. Reporting diversity in New Zealand: The ‛Asian Angst’ controversy
Grant Hannis pp. 114-130
A recent cause célèbre in the reporting of diversity in New Zealand was ‛Asian Angst’, an article published by leading magazine North & South. Following the influx of Chinese immigrants into New Zealand over recent years, ‛Asian Angst’ painted a picture of consequent rampant Chinese crime in the country. The article caused an uproar and the Press Council later ruled the piece was inaccurate and discriminatory. This article reveals how the article conformed to the traditional Western stereo type of Asians as the Yellow Peril, and concludes that the magazine adopted this stereotype because it was apparently determined to portray Chinese immigrants in a poor light and was unable to interpret the relevant crime statistics correctly.
9. ‘Media surveillance of the natives’: A New Zealand case study―Lake Taupo air space
Raymond Nairn, Tim Mccreanor, Jenny Rankine, Angela Moewaka Barnes, Frank Pega, Amanda Gregory pp. 131-148
Research has shown news media in post-colonial societies such as Aotearoa New Zealand naturalise the colonising processes by which settler values and social organisation were imposed and the resulting marginalised status of the indigenous peoples. We explore these processes in news reports that claimed Māori wanted to charge for airspace over Lake Taupo. Studying headlines, the originating newspaper article, and subsequent television reports, we show how Māori were constructed as threatening the ability of ‘New Zealanders’ to enjoy the lake. That threat was constructed as imminent although the accounts included no direct evidence or identified source for the reported demand. We consider the one-sided coverage inaccurate, unbalanced and unfair, encouraging perceptions of Māori as hostile and disruptive social actors in our contemporary society. Wider implications of this media performance for this crucial area of social relations are considered.
10. The Clydesdale report: Issues of media and academic responsibility
Joris de Bres pp. 149-167
One of New Zealand’s leading daily newspapers, The Dominion Post, greeted its readers on 20 May 2008 with a front page headline declaring that Pacific migrants were a ‘drain on the economy’. This was claimed in a study released by Massey University economist Dr Greg Clydesdale, who reportedly found that ‘Pacific Islanders’ crime rates, poor education and low employment were creating an underclass and a drain on the economy’. Pacific peoples were angered and dismayed by the Clydesdale claims, their publication on the front page of the Dominion Post, and racially prejudiced responses on talkback radio and the internet. No evidence was provided to support the claim that they were an underclass or a drain on the economy. The Dominion Post said it published the story because of Clydesdale’s status as an academic. Massey University said Clydesdale was exercising his academic freedom. This article is a case study of the controversy examining the intersecting responsibilities of academics, media and universities in response to a group vulnerable to racial stereotypes.
Article
The ‘goss’ on Paul and Heather: Attitudes to celebrity and divorce in three NZ women’s magazines
Rosemary Brewer pp. 169-185
In recent years, the range of mass media available in New Zealand and the Pacific generally has come under increasing attention from scholars, notably in this journal. However, New Zealand women’s magazines, although widely read, have not received the same depth of scholarly attention. On the social constructionist principle that close analysis of written texts can suggest much about the society in which they are embedded and the social functions they perform, this article examines 34 items about the separation of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills from the New Zealand Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, and New Idea from 3 June to 30 December 2006, to investigate the nature of gossip’s appeal in general, and the magazines’ attitudes to divorce in particular.
NZ Media 2008
Politics and the financial crisis
Bill Rosenberg pp. 186-218
Two major events had dominating effects on the New Zealand media in 2008. The general election was a demanding time in which the media played an active role beyond simply reporting events and came under scrutiny almost as much as the politicians. The international financial crisis became real for the world economy including New Zealand during the year. It cut advertising revenue, leading to financial stresses which had multiple effects on the media as for the rest of the economy. Covering the crisis in all its unpleasant innovation, historical parallels and complexity was also a test of journalists and media outlets in New Zealand as elsewhere.
Meanwhile, digital media have continued to expand their coverage, influence, and financial impact, forcing the conventional media to change the way they see the world. In New Zealand this was emphasised by a wide-ranging regulatory review. It is remarkable that ownership of the media has remained largely stable during the year. This is as much a result of the credit crunch as despite it: one of the major owners tried to sell and failed. The ownership continues to be highly concentrated with further acquisitions and centralisation by the major owners. This second annual survey of the media also looks at some developments between the law and the media and changes in the newspaper, internet, magazine, television and radio segments.
Vol 16(1) May2010
Vol 15(2) Oct2009
Vol 15(1) May2009
Vol 14(2) Oct2008
Vol 14(1) Apr2008