Del Abcede
Del Abcede, an AUT design graduate, does the layout/production of the PMC research journal Pacific Journalism Review and book publication designs and Pacific Journalism Monographs.
She also edits the newsletter Toktok and is the PMC photographer.
Del is a human rights activist in several organisations such as the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Coalition (APHRC) and in 2015 was part of the Aotearoa delegation to attend the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILP) conference marking the movement's centenary in The Hague.
David Robie
Professor David Robie is an author, journalist and media educator specialising in Asia-Pacific affairs.
He holds a PhD in history/politics from the University of the South Pacific and a masters degree in journalism from the University of Technology, Sydney.
David was head of journalism at both the University of Papua New Guinea and USP in Fiji for a decade and has been a resource person for media workshops in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu. He was the 1999 Australian Press Council Fellow, winner of the 2005 Pacific Islands Media Freedom Award (PIMA) and the 2015 AMIC Asia Communications Award.
He is the founding director of the Pacific Media Centre and editor of Asia Pacific Report and PMC Online. Among a range of research and publication activities, he was co-founder of Pacific Media Watch, New Zealand correspondent for Reporters sans frontières (Reporters Without Borders) and a Pacific researcher for other media freedom organisations.
Founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review, David is also the author of 10 books on Asia-Pacific media and politics, including Mekim Nius: South Pacific media, politics and education and Don't Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific. In May 2011, he was awarded a Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and in 2014 he was awarded the faculty "Critic and Conscience of Society" Award.
His blog is Cafe Pacific
His AUT staff academic profile
Promoting Asia-Pacific Journalism
David Robie appointed professor at AUT
David Robie on NZ Herald Online
Order David Robie titles at Wheelers Books
Sri Krishnamurthi
Sri Krishnamurthi was the Pacific Media Centre's 2018 NZ Institute for Pacific Research journalist , special projects editor in 2019, and Pacific Media Watch freedom project contributing editor in 2020.
Originally from Fiji, Sri has worked in the media as a journalist and in communications in New Zealand for more than 20 years. Due to his Pasifika identity, Sri has always had a strong connection with, and a deep interest in, what is happening in the Pacific Region.
Sri has graduated with a Postgraduate Diploma in Communications (Digital Media) at AUT. He also has an MBA (Massey University).
Sri has worked as a journalist (primarily at the now-defunct New Zealand Press Association) and in communications in a variety of fields. He has worked in both the private and public sectors, including: Northland Inc. (the Northland Economic Development Agency), with an Iwi (Ngatiwai) organisation, New Zealand District Health Boards, the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs and as press secretary for a Minister of the Crown.
Sri's articles on NZ Institute for Pacific Research's Lali blog
Blessen Tom
Blessen Tom was on the Bearing Witness climate change International Journalism Project in 2018.
Blessen is a postgraduate student in the School of Communications at Auckland University of Technology. He completed his Bachelors and Masters in Literature and is pursuing his studies in digital media.
He is passionate about visual storytelling and documentaries. He directed two short films and a drama, and is currently working on a mini documentary series for YouTube.
Camille Nakhid
Associate Professor Camille Nakhid is from Trinidad and Tobago. She has a BSc in Chemistry from New York, and completed a Diploma in Secondary Teaching in Chemistry and Mathematics, a Masters in Education Administration (Hons), and a Doctor of Education (EdD) in New Zealand.
Camille's research interests include: the sociology of education; the social construction of identity; appropriate research methodologies for marginalised and minority groups; race and ethnicity; and Māori and Pasifika academic achievement.
She is in the School of Social Sciences, AUT University, and is also chair of the Pacific Media Centre Advisory Board.
In 2018, Camille was recognised for services to ethnic communities and education in the New Year’s Honours List, becoming a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Khairiah A. Rahman
Khairiah A Rahman is a senior lecturer in the School of Communication Studies, AUT University, in Auckland, New Zealand where she lectures in intercultural communication and public relations. She is on the advisory board of the Pacific Media Centre.
She is national director (New Zealand) for Asian Congress for Media and Communication and has served as an educational ambassador for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiative in Singapore, training government officials of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. She has also served in the Singapore International Foundation as a volunteer tutor for third world countries.
Khairiah has worked in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors in finance, retail, media and education, with special interest in public relations and media communication. She has written articles and book chapters on transnational identities, cultural perceptions of visual representations, crisis miscommunication, intercultural trust relationships, curriculum development for industry, dialogue in public relations and the impact of media on culture.
Her research interests include organisational and intercultural communication, applied pedagogy, media studies and global sociological developments impacting societies, organisations and nations.
Philip Cass
Dr Philip Cass is associate editor and reviews editor of Pacific Journalism Review and a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre.
He is a member of the European Society for Oceanists and was its first Pacific board representative from 2015-2017. He is also a member of the Global Communication Research Association.
Philip is a journalist and editorial adviser for Kaniva News, an Auckland-based online Tongan/English news service with an audience that stretches from Sydney to Salt Lake City.
Born and raised in Papua New Guinea, Philip has worked as an educator, trainer and journalist in PNG, Australia, Fiji, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and New Zealand. While at the University of the South Pacific he founded the journalism student newspaper Wansolwara, which is now in its 23rd year.
His chief geographical areas of research have been the Pacific and the Middle East. He has published and presented work on media history, the interaction between religion and the media, developmental journalism, the role of the media and language in independence movements in Melanesia and promoting national identity, climate change and migration, Islam in the Pacific, comics in Australia and New Zealand and diasporic media.
A book based on his PhD thesis (Central Queensland University, 2008), People, Politics and Press in Papua New Guinea 1950-75 was published by Unitec e-press in 2014. It was described by one reviewer as having “much to offer university courses in journalism, history and social science methodology.”
Michael Andrew
Michael Andrew is Pacific Media Watch contributing editor 2019 and is studying journalism through AUT’s Postgraduate Diploma in Communications.
After completing his undergraduate degree in economics at the University of Otago, he gradually gravitated towards a career in music and freelance writing.
He loves telling stories and spreading awareness about significant issues, especially ones where injustice or kindness would otherwise go unaccounted for.
You’ll find his regular columns and stories in local publications, the Titirangi Fringe, Wilderness Magazine or on his website The Inkler.
Michael's stories on PMC Online
Michael's stories on Asia Pacific Report
Jim Marbrook
Film director and university lecturer Jim Marbrook is a research associate and member of the Pacific Media Centre advisory board. He is also a partner in the PMC's Bearing Witness climate change project.
He is best known for his documentary work, which has screened on television and at the NZ round of film festivals. Auckland born and bred, Marbrook began making and studying films in the 1990s, while at Concordia University in Montreal. His first short after returning home, dark drama Jumbo, debuted at the NZ round of film festivals in 1998. It also played in a number of international festivals.
About 2001 Marbrook met Gisborne speed chess maestro Genesis Potini, who was living with a bipolar disorder. Marbrook began “filming his life because I wanted others to see him, to hear his views and to reflect upon his own particular philosophy, a mixture of scripture and the street.”
His Dark Horse won Best Feature at the 2005 DOCNZ International Documentary Festival and a shorter version screened on the disability series Inside Out. Potini’s life later inspired the 2014 Cliff Curtis feature The Dark Horse, which Marbrook co-produced.
Jim has also directed feature-length documentaries on psychiatric hospitals (Mental Notes) and environmental issues in New Caledonia (Cap Bocage). He has also lectured in screen and television at Auckland University of Technology since 2007.