Thomas Carnegie
AUCKLAND (Radio Australia / Pacific Media Watch): Fijian youth are engaging strongly with the upcoming election, says a New Zealand student journalist in Fiji to report on the elections.
Alistar Kata is an AUT University student reporter for Wansolwara in Suva for two weeks where she is on an internship. She is also reporting for the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Scoop website in New Zealand.
Kata was interviewed by Radio Australia’s Bruce Hill on the challenges of covering the Fiji election yesterday.
Kata says Fijian youth are much more interested in the national politics than most New Zealand youth.
“They are more likely to talk about it [the election] which creates a very healthy dialogue.
“I think they have more confidence in using their vote for the way they want to see their country in the future,” says Kata.
Kata says aims to give balance and gain representation of issues raised in the election, as the New Zealand media often only gives one side of the Fiji elections.
“I am not necessarily saying the New Zealand media gets it wrong, it is just my opinion that there needs to be more balance in reporting,” she says.
Kata says the experience of being on the ground in Fiji has been great and she is really enjoying the “camaraderie” among journalists in the country.
She says she wanted to cover the election as it is a historic moment for Fiji.
Kata has been covering pre-polling and is looking forward to the results and post-election issues.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Alistar Kata
