Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Kim Bowden

Pacific-based journalists struggle to adequately play watchdog in countries rife with public and private sector corruption, according to Fiji media stalwart Shailendra Singh.

Despite highlighting a few standout cases of well-executed investigative journalism in Fiji, Singh called for more Fourth-Estate style journalism in the country during his presentation at the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference held at AUT University earlier this month.

The experienced editor and media academic said one of the key reasons investigative journalism needs to be encouraged was because good governance was a major problem in the Pacific. Read more »

Australian investigative journalists Bill Birnbauer and Professor Wendy Bacon were receptive to calls to redefine what is, and who does, investigative journalism.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Kim Bowden.

He may work in communications – the perceived “dark side” for “journalism refugees” – but Stephen Olsen says the work he and his colleagues do in NGOs is akin to journalism.

In his short address at this weekend’s inaugural Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference, the strategic advisor to New Zealand-based NGO Community Housing Aotearoa challenged the commonly lauded view public relations and journalism are worlds apart. Read more »

New Zealand investigative journalist and author of the book The Hollow Men, Nicky Hager, has challenged us all to redefine investigative journalism.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Clare-Louise Skelton.

Speaking at the Media Investigative Journalism and Technology Conference at AUT University on Sunday, Nicky Hager said there has been a “wonderful growth curve for PR people and an inverse growth curve for journalism.”

In response, Hager argued that investigative journalism needs to be redefined in order to prosper.

Hager, one of New Zealand’s few investigative journalists, entitled his speech “More investigation when there is less journalism” and he acknowledged the limited ability of the mainstream media to be a vehicle for investigative work, both in New Zealand and overseas. Read more »

Bill Birnbauer (pictured left) with Nicky Hager at the MIJT Conference.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Hamish Fletcher.

Collaboration between non-profit institutions and the mainstream media has breathed new life into investigative journalism, says Australian journalism academic Bill Birnbauer.

In his address at this weekend’s inaugural Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference, the senior lecturer at Monash University suggested developments in the United States illustrate the potential of partnerships with non-profit foundations. Read more »

Ngatihine research: John Miller and Geraldene Peters on Matawaia Marae in September 2008. Photo: Miller archive

Pacific Scoop:
Commentary – PMC news desk

Waitangi Day 1971 saw a new era of Māori protest erupt as a newly-formed activist group, Nga Tamatoa, tried to disrupt national day activities of self-congratulation over New Zealand’s supposedly idyllic race relations.

It ushered in an era of Māori assertiveness over land and language rights that continues until today.

Now a social documentary photographer and political campaigner has brought to life a “forgotten” land rights legal stand-off that gripped the media almost four decades ago. Read more »

A cropped image from the Frames of War exhibition to be shown at the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference at AUT next month.

Pacific Scoop:
Report – PMC news desk

Television New Zealand Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver is the latest keynote speaker to join the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference – New Zealand’s first – at AUT University on December 4/5. She has broken many stories around the region and investigated many key issues.

She joins Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times and an Asia-Pacific investigative journalist; New Zealand investigative journalist Nicky Hager; and Professor Wendy Bacon, director of the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism and who runs an environmental investigative journalism programme. Read more »

Ombudsman Chronox Manek ... scourge of the Papua New Guinean political establishment. (Photo by David Robie/PMC.)

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By David Robie.

Five months ago, he was the target of would-be assassins. Now he is the magnet for politicians wanting to rein in the powers of his state corruption watchdog.

But Chronox Manek is one of the most popular public figures in Papua New Guinea and thousands of ordinary citizens flocked to a peaceful protest last week against a controversial draft law aimed at curbing his powers. Read more »

Sayed-Khaiyum's message for Fiji journalists ... "analyse and question more". Photo: Radio Fiji

Pacific.Scoop
By Nanise Nawalowao in Suva

Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has called on journalists to think outside the box and cover vital stories facing a nation.
Read more »

Children climbing on dead mangroves in Kiribati. Photo: Maria Timon/PJR

Pacific.Scoop
By the Pacific Media Centre news desk

Trauma and exiled writers, the challenge of environmental journalism in Delta land, issues of editorial “slant” in health reporting and use of te reo Māori in newspapers are some of the topics featured in the latest edition of Pacific Journalism Review.
Read more »

Pacific Press Release – Pacific Media Watch, 25 September 2009

6454 Otago Daily Times editorial: THE BALIBO FIVE

DUNEDIN (Otago Daily Times/Pacific Media Watch): As we flick through the pages, the channels and the websites of our daily news services, it is hardly surprising we rest more lightly on stories that reference events in distant places long ago – events such as the killing of four Australian [including two Britons] and one New Zealand newsmen in the village of Balibo, East Timor, on October 16, 1975.
Read more »