Professor Robie made the comment during a professorial address at the Auckland University of Technology titled, "Coups, conflicts and human rights - Pacific media challenges in the digital age".
Dr Robie says a Pacific issue like climate change is not adequately covered by New Zealand or Australia media.
“Most of the sort of reporting is being covered from an Australia and New Zealand perspective which is completely different, and it’s lost in the process. So if the Pacific media rely on their big brother media organisations in Australia and New Zealand, a lot of the critical issues get lost.”
Professor Robie says West Papua is another example where there is not enough exposure coming from Australian and New Zealand media.
He says there needs be a lot more collaboration between news organisations in the Pacific, to build up their own expertise, and critical thinking about media and development issues for the region.
He singled out media organisations such as Radio NZ International and Radio Australia as honourable exceptions, but said there needed to be more independent media and praised the launching of Republika magazine in Fiji.
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Pacific Media Watch
