REGION: Call for papers: Media and Democracy in the South Pacific

SUVA (University of the South Pacific / Pacific Media Centre / Pacific Media Watch): 

Media and Democracy in the South Pacific

University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji, 5-6 September 2012

Democracy movements gathered momentum across the Middle East in 2011-12, but in the South Pacific they arguably stalled. Fiji continued to be governed by a military dictatorship resulting from the country’s latest coup in 2006. A draconian Media Decree enacted in 2010 provides fines and even prison sentences for what were once ethical violations. A new government elected in Tonga in 2010 has not moved as quickly as expected toward democracy and media freedom. In Samoa, almost all Members of Parliament are still chiefly matai, and libel laws have a chilling effect on journalism. West Papua continues to be occupied by Indonesia, and its press is subject to onerous restrictions. Even media advocacy groups suffered from dissent, with a group of mostly Polynesian journalists breaking away from the Fiji-based Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and basing itself in Samoa as the Pasifika Media Association (PasiMA).

The University of the South Pacific serves twelve member nations in the region. Its Journalism programme is based at USP’s Laucala campus in Suva, Fiji. It seeks to bring together regional and international media scholars and political scientists, along with Pacific Island journalists and journalism educators, to discuss issues relating to Media and Democracy in Pacific countries and to propose solutions to problems identified. It also seeks to facilitate regional collaboration to assist and strengthen media organisations and democracy movements in the South Pacific, and to establish a network of Pacific journalism educators. In partnership with the Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology (AUT), USP Journalism invites paper and panel proposals for a symposium on Media and Democracy in the South Pacific to be held 5-6 September 2012. Selected peer-reviewed papers from the symposium will be published in a special issue of AUT’s Pacific Journalism Review in May 2013. Possible areas to be addressed include:

- Press freedom in the South Pacific

- Peace journalism

- Development communication

- Media and government

- Media education in the South Pacific

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: 1 June 2012

Please send individual paper proposals of 300 words, or panel proposals of 1000 words, to:

Dr Marc Edge: marc.edge@usp.ac.fj

Non-scholarly works on the subject by journalists, including multimedia presentations, are invited for a special session devoted to the views of media practitioners. Student essays are also invited, and the top student paper will be awarded a prize.