AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): The Pacific Islands Report, published by the University of Hawaii’s East-West Centre, is the first victim of US Congress budget cuts to the centre.
A comprehensive media round-up published in print and online will almost certainly be scaled back as the result of the recent retrenchment of its editor Peter Wagner.
Wagner, who has been at the helm of the report for the last 10 years, is an experienced journalist in Hawai’i and says the decision is a "shame".
“Personally I am disappointed, it’s something near and dear to me,” he said.
“I got laid off and that triggered a chain of events that might affect the quality of the report in the future.”
'Abbreviated version'
Wagner confirmed the report will continue but doesn’t think it will be the same quality publication that media personnel in the Pacific value so much.
“It looks to me it’s going to be an abbreviated version and possibly without the research we usually put into it.”
Wagner came to the East-West Centre with 25 years’ experience as a journalist under his belt and says the job has “probably been the most rewarding and enjoyable assignment I’ve had”.
Apart from a stint in Guam, he has worked in Hawai’i his entire career, which has involved long periods editing newspapers and magazines, including 20 years at the Star Bulletin, which is now the Star Advertiser.
His retrenchment came in the first of what is predicted will be a number of waves of budget cuts.
The Pacific Islands Development Programme (PIDP), of which the Pacific Islands Report is one component, relies on congressional funding from the United States.
“That has meant the centre gets $20 million from the US Congress yearly, and that is also supplemented by private grant funds,” said Wagner.
He said the first round of cuts has meant that the figure has been lowered by 20 percent.
Webmaster to take over
Scott Kroeker is the current webmaster for the report and Wagner says his job will now pass over to Kroeker.
Currently tied up with the APEC summit in Honolulu, Kroeker says he will be absorbing the PIR into his responsibilities next week and hasn’t had time to consider it just yet.
Wagner’s hopes for the same quality production to continue are not high.
“Scott is an academic, not a journalist,” he said.
“He is very qualified and a very capable guy, but will have his hands full.”
He said the PIDP is a small programme at the East-West Centre, which has a mostly Asian focus, and that removing him from the project is a big blow to the Pacific.
“It’s a real shame, people rely on what we do,” he said.
“It’s a difficult region to cover, the logistics are difficult and it’s too expensive to cover an area that is so scattered.
“It has to fall to an organisation like the East-West Centre that can do it as a service and not as a money-making proposition.”
'Treasure trove' of news
A former journalism academic at the University of South Pacific, Shailendra Singh, praised the PIR and says scholars, students and a host of people accross the Pacific rely upon it.
"PIR is an excellent service. It's a treasure trove of a cross-section of news and opinion from throughout the region," he said.
"USP Journalism uses PIR as a platform to publish student work and as a research resource.
"It's very encouraging for a young journalism student to have his or her work published on a prestigious website such as PIR alongside stories by established Pacific island journalists."
He said Wagner was directly involved with his students as he edited their work for the publication, explaining to them why changes or cuts were made to their stories.
"Peter did a wonderful job collating and presenting all that information on one platform," he said.
"The website was very well organised and easy to follow."
Possibly more cuts
Wagner says with budget deadlines at the end of this month, there will possibly be deeper cuts for the East-West Center than the initial figure.
“The highest possible figure that the East-West Centre would get is at least 20 percent below what it is now.”
Exactly where future budget cuts will hit is not yet known.
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Alex Perrottet
