AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Centre Niusblog / Pacific Media Watch): A former Fiji Daily Post publisher and columnist who managed the newspaper during crisis times a decade ago has graduated from AUT University after researching a thesis shedding new light on George Speight’s attempted coup in May 2000.
Thakur Ranjit Singh, who was awarded an AUT/Pacific Islands Media Association postgraduate scholarship in 2009, was delighted with his achievement. He pledged to work for a stronger and independent Fiji media.
Singh was awarded a Masters in Communication Studies (MCS) with honours degree this week for his thesis entitled The 2000 Speight coup in Fiji: An analysis of the role of The Fiji Times and the impact of partisan media.
“My choice of thesis wasn’t very difficult, because, as a former Daily Post publisher, I was aware of the cultural and political complexities facing Mahendra Chaudhry’s multiracial government after his landslide win in the 1999 election,” he said.
“I undertook to research and demonstrate the impact that some so-called free media can have in the fall of democracy in a developing country.
“I hope my study will become a stepping stone for others who intend taking further studies in media development and effects in the Asia-Pacific region and developing countries.”
AUT praised
Singh praised AUT for offering “the best and most advanced media study opportunities” in New Zealand and he thanked the university and PIMA for awarding him the scholarship.
“I also take this opportunity to thank my mentor and supervisor Professor David Robie for his advice and encouragement that drove me to take up this course,” he said.
Singh also won a Pacific scholarship from the Journalism Education Association of Australia (JEAA) in 2010 to attend the Sydney conference and deliver a paper about the Fiji coup culture and the media.
Also at the graduation, a young Samoan journalist, Lanuola Tusani, became the first person to be capped with the new Graduate Diploma in Pacific Journalism taught by programme leader Richard Pamatatau.
Having previously worked for the Samoa Observer and other media in Apia, she hopes to break into the mainstream in New Zealand.
Tusani filed several stories for Pacific Scoop during the one-year programme.
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