Independent journalism in the South Pacific: two campus-based media case studies in Fiji and New Zealand

Two South Pacific regional journalism university publications, one digital and the other primarily print based, have developed innovative and convergent partnerships with the news media industry and have become strategic models. Founded in 1996, Wansolwara, the newspaper of the University of the South Pacific regional journalism programme, has embarked on a publishing partnership with a leading Fiji daily newspaper, the Fiji Sun. Auckland-based Pacific Media Centre, established a decade later, and its news offshoot with an Asia-Pacific focus, Pacific Scoop, is working in tandem with New Zealand's leading independent online media organisation, Scoop Media Limited. Both publishing ventures represent parallel media strategies to combat growing regional censorship represented by Fiji’s sinister Media Industry Development Decree 2010. This paper examines case studies of both publications in Fiji and New Zealand. It assesses their publishing profiles and contrasts their independent brands focused on education, environmental issues—particularly climate change and deforestation—human rights, resource development, social justice, culture and language with mainstream media within a context of self-determination and geopolitical strategies

Diversity reportage in Aotearoa: demographics and the rise of the ethnic media

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 Maori populations are also expected to grow by 59 and 29 per cent respectively. Maori, 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

Coup coup land: The press and the putsch in Fiji

On 19 May 2000, an insurrection led by failed businessman George Speight and seven renegade members of the élite 1st Meridian Squadron special forces engulfed the Fiji Islands in turmoil for the next three months. Speight and his armed co-conspirators stormed Parliament and seized the Labour-led Mahendra Chaudhry Government hostage for 56 days. On Chaudhry’s release from captivity, he partly blamed the media for the overthrow of his government. Some sectors of the media were accused of waging a bitter campaign against the Fiji Labour Party-led administration and its rollback of privatisation. In the early weeks of the insurrection, the media enjoyed an unusually close relationship with Speight and the hostage-takers, raising ethical questions. Dilemmas faced by Fiji and foreign journalists were more complex than during the 1987 military coups. As Fiji faces a fresh general election in August, this article examines the reportage of the Coalition Government’s year in office, media issues over coverage of the putsch, and a controversy over the author’s analysis presented at a Journalism Education Association (JEA) conference in Australia

An independent student press: Three case studies for Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Aotearoa/New Zealand

In spite of a relatively small but vibrant news media base, two South Pacific countries have been regional leaders in convergent publishing with both newspapers and online media as educational outcomes for student journalists. Universities in Fiji and Papua New Guinea have pioneered with various versions of an entrepreneurial and socially activist student press for three decades, including titles such as Uni Tavur (founded in 1975), Wansolwara (1996) and Liklik Diwai (1998). All three papers have strongly identified with a national development role. In 2003, Aotearoa/New Zealand’s AUT University began publishing Te Waha Nui as a regular professional course publishing venture. It quickly established a niche with indigenous and diversity affairs coverage as an important strength. Using a problem-based learning (PBL) context, this article compares and contrasts the pedagogical challenges faced in all three countries in Oceania and outlines a media educational case for independent journalism school publishing

Spicol Daily: A pacific media partnership case study

For three years, the University of the South Pacific has hosted a unique week-long annual conference of young Pacific Island leaders where they “live out” daily examples of good governance and accountability. SPICOL, or the Student Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders, is a university interdisciplinary simulation exercise. Students take on the role of prime ministers, cabinet ministers, lobbyists, researchers — and reporters for the news media. Journalism students report, edit, publish and broadcast for their campus station Radio Pasifik and the special conference training newspaper, Spicol Daily. In 1999, Spicol Daily became a tabloid “newspaper within newspaper” publishing in one of Fiji’s three national newspapers, the Daily Post. The challenge provided a dramatic and practical learning curve for students

From campus to newsroom in the South Pacific: credible media career paths versus "academic anaemia"

The University of the South Pacific’s Regional Journalism Programme, which caters for 12 member countries1 from the Cook Islands in the east to the Solomon Islands in the west, was founded in 1994 with French Government aid. It began producing double major graduate journalists for the South Pacific from 1996. Two-thirds of the graduates live and work in Fiji. While some news media organisations in Fiji have generally recruited graduates, others have preferred to hire untrained school leavers. Parallel with draft legislation designed to turn the self-regulating Fiji Media Council into a statutory body, there have been public calls for higher media standards and more professional training and education. This article explores the career attitudes and destination of the university’s 68 journalism graduates between 1996 and 2002 based on empirical data from a five-year monitoring project that started in 1998. It also examines the policies of the Fiji media industry towards graduates and education

Selection Tool Use: A Focus on Personality Testing in Canada, the United States, and Germany

The purpose of this paper is to provide new data regarding the current staffing practices being used by organizations in Canada and the United States (US) as well as a comparison with existing data from Germany (Diekmann & König, 2015). Data regarding the beliefs of human resource (HR) practitioners in terms of using personality tests in personnel selection is also provided. A geographically representative sample of 453 HR practitioners across Canada and the US were surveyed. Although general mental ability testing has previously been found to be highly valid and cost effective, this selection tool was among the least commonly used in all three countries. Personality tests were also rarely used (especially in Canada and the US) and research–practice gaps still appear to be an issue (e.g., HR practitioners’ preference for personality types as opposed to traits)

Criterion-related Validity of Forced-Choice Personality Measures: A Cautionary Note Regarding Thurstonian IRT versus Classical Test Theory Scoring

This study examined criterion-related validity for job-related composites of forced-choice personality scores against job performance using both Thurstonian Item Response Theory (TIRT) and Classical Test Theory (CTT) scoring methods. Correlations were computed across 11 different samples that differed in job or role within a job. A meta-analysis of the correlations (k = 11 and N = 613) found a higher average corrected correlation for CTT (mean ρ = .38) than for TIRT (mean ρ = .00). Implications and directions for future research are discussed