COUPS, CONFLICTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Pacific media challenges in the digital age
View full address on AUT on demand
Professor David Robie
Professor of Journalism
Director of the Pacific Media Centre
School of Communication Studies
David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre in AUT’s School of Communication Studies and editor of the international peerreviewed journal Pacific Journalism Review.
At the heart of a global crisis over news media credibility and trust is Britain’s so-called Hackgate scandal involving the widespread allegations of phone-hacking and corruption against the now defunct Rupert Murdoch tabloid newspaper News of the World. Major inquiries on media ethics, professionalism and accountability have been examining the state of the press in NZ, Britain and Australia. The Murdoch media empire has stretched into the South Pacific with the sale of one major title being forced by political pressure. The role of news media in global South nations and the declining credibility of some sectors of the developed world’s Fourth Estate also pose challenges for the future of democracy.
Truth, censorship, ethics and corporate integrity are increasingly critical media issues in the digital age for a region faced with coups, conflicts and human rights violations, such as in West Papua. In his address, Professor David Robie will reflect on the challenges in the context of the political economy of the media and journalism education in the Asia-Pacific region. He will also explore emerging disciplines such as deliberative journalism, peace journalism, human rights journalism, and revisit notions of critical development journalism and citizen journalism.
Dr Robie holds a PhD in History/Politics (2004) from the University of the South Pacific, Fiji, where he was formerly head of the Pacific regional journalism programme (1998-2002). His Masters in Journalism degree was gained at the University of Technology, Sydney, in 1996. He was also previously coordinator of the University of Papua New Guinea journalism programme prior to 1998 and served as head of the South Pacific Centre for Communication and Information in Development (SPCenCID) at UPNG.
As a journalist, Professor Robie has worked for a global news agency and reported widely in Africa and the South Pacific. He has written and edited several books on Pacific media, environment, politics, social justice and human rights, including Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior; Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific, Tu Galala: Social Change in the Pacific; Nius Bilong Pasifik: Mass Media in the Pacific – with a foreword by the late professor ‘I Futa Helu of ‘Atenisi ; and Mekim Nius: South Pacific Media , Politics and Education. He was made an Australian Press Council Fellow in 1999, awarded the Pacific Islands Media Association Media Freedom Award in 2005, won a Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010, is founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review, and co-founded the Pacific Media Watch advocacy and research project and Pacific Scoop website.
When: Tuesday 16 October 2012
4.30pm–5.30pm
Where: WA Conference Centre
City Campus
Level 2, WA Building
55 Wellesley Street East
Refreshments will be served after the address
Please RSVP to: sue.chapman@aut.ac.nz
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