Don't Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific
By David Robie
Foreword by Kalafi Moala
New title from Little Island Press ‐ launch date 24 April 2014
Interview on YouTube
Pacific studies | Politics | Media studies
David Robie has been committed to developing quality journalism in the Pacific, and especially in developing a “Pacific brand” of journalism.
- Kalafi Moala, deputy chair, Pasifika Media Association (PASIMA)
A timely media revisitation of the bloody conflicts and atrocities that have plagued this vulnerable Pacific region. An invaluable resource for journalists and journalism students.
- Shailendra Singh, University of the South Pacific
David Robie has been an impassioned chronicler of Pacific currents for decades … from the bloody independence struggles of the 1980s to the attempts to chart a nuclear-free course.
- Mark Revington, editor of Te Karaka, the voice of Ngai Tahu
An excellent sweep through the recent history of the Pacific and elsewhere constructed around the story of the author’s life.
- Professor Stewart Firth, Australian National University
“This is an extraordinary ‘secret history’ of a vast region of the world of which David Robie has been a rare expert witness. What makes this epic work so timely is that it allows us to understand the Asia-Pacific at a time of renewed Cold War ambitions and dangers.”
- John Pilger, global investigative journalist
Don’t Spoil My Beautiful Face introduces readers to reportage of major Asia-Pacific socio-political and environmental issues over three decades by an independent journalist and media educator. It examines contemporary media concepts such as critical development journalism, conflict-sensitive journalism and deliberative journalism. And it argues for a more comprehensive, reflective and in-depth media response to the region’s challenges from Tahiti Nui and Polynesian nations in the east to Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Timor-Leste and West Papua in the west.
The author reported on the conflict between France and Kanak activists in New Caledonia that almost ended in civil war. He was harassed by French secret service agents and arrested at gunpoint. He was on board the original Rainbow Warrior on her last voyage that ended with the bombing by French state terrorists in 1985. He has reported on coups in Fiji and the Philippines, and was a media educator in Suva in 2000 when his students provided award-winning coverage of an attempted coup.
Dr David Robie is director of the Pacific Media Centre and professor of journalism in Auckland University of Technology’s School of Communication Studies. He is the author of Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior and Mekim Nius: South Pacific Media, Politics and Education. He is also founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review, convenor of Pacific Media Watch and publishes the media blog Café Pacific.
New Pacific media 'mayhem' book likened to real-life 'Game of Thrones'
Review: The mantra of a free press and the Pacific's media spoilers
Review: Secret histories of the Pacific
Failure of Pacific leadership on a grandscale [The Contemporary Pacific]
A damning indictment of the parlous state of affairs in the Pacific [Asia Pacific Report]
A great overview of troubling violence and politics in the Pacific [Pacific Affairs]
A passion for human rights struggles in the Pacific [Amesty International]
Self-censorship - an expose on threats to Pacific media freedom [Victor Lal, FijiLeaks]
Book review and interview with David Robie by David Blackall [Asia Pacific Media Educator]
Commitment to investigative journalism [Media International Australia]
David Robie's 'Pacific brand' of journalism
Sedition, e-libel the new media frontline
'Climate of censorship' chills Pacific media scene
New free press book a must read for 'media spoilers'
New book focusing on 'secret history' of the Pacific [audio]
David Robie's new book should be on shelves of Pacific newsrooms
New book on South Pacific journalism looks at region's history and challenges
David Robie blasts media attackers at book launch [video]
Journalism can be an agent of peace [New Matilda]
Gavin Ellis reviews the book on Radio NZ [audio]
E-libel laws the new frontline in the Pacific battle for press freedom [The Conversation]
Richard Aedy interviews David on ABC Media Report [audio]
Secret histories of the Pacific [review]
Radio Australia's Phil Kafcaloudes talks to David Robie [interview]
RNZ Sunday's Wallace Chapman talks to David Robie [interview]
Ross, Ken (2014). Politics, Development and Security in Oceania. Political Science, December, 66(2), 178-180.
Fiji orders online - USP Book Centre
Australian orders online - The Nile (free delivery)
David Robie
