"Emerging literature highlights that in the Pacific, the use of participatory video (PV) is a new trend in research and community action. It can be employed as a tool to empower communities to have agency over their media outputs, meaning that they have full control of the content creation, producti
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on and distribution processes. But to date there is still a dearth of studies that fully explore its potential use in different contexts, especially within diasporic networks. To address this gap, a pilot project was undertaken where PV methodologies were tested in collaboration with a diasporic Pacific community group based in West Auckland, New Zealand. This report feeds back on the overall process of developing the pilot project." (Abstract)
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"This ethnographic study of a participatory video workshop conducted with rural women in Fiji observed how communities engage with processes of production for empowerment, and the implications for dialogue, community building, and representation within Fiji’s fragmented multicultural society. The
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study found that rural women in Fiji integrate local norms and practices in the production of programme content, and use social capital – their relationships and social networks – as a key element in video production to highlight community needs and linkages. The content produced by the women gave significance to women’s work, their abilities, their skills, and their potential as income producers, as well as their empowering networks." (Abstract)
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"This book brings together significant scholarly contributions on communication issues by researchers working across the region. It aims to create better understanding of what affects the communication and information flow in smaller nations and how these impact on national development, governance a
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nd the creation of more cohesive societies. The value of such a book lies in the comparison it enables between different regions and countries at different levels of development. The work of the contributing authors provides glimpses of the prevalent issues and perspectives without necessarily providing a definitive picture of this diverse region. The editors hope this book will draw out significant relational possibilities by bringing together scholarly writing on communication issues and highlighting the perspectives of Pacific scholars and media practitioners, thus contributing to the knowledge base in Pacific Media Studies." (Publisher description)
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"It is my hypothesis that church-based radio stations can contribute to community development. A total of 50 respondents out of 60 confirm that they listen to and understand community-development programmes through these stations. The messages are either fully understood, or partially in cases where
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the language transfer from Tok Pisin to Melpa is confusing for those who speak only Melpa. The languages used by both stations were, according to the majority of respondents, easily understood and the messages were clearly presented. There is a consensus among respondents that non-faith-based stations do not target their programmes towards community issues. Mainstream radio stations disseminate information that seeks to address national issues, paying little attention to issues being faced by small communities. Apart from promoting the Christian faith, church-based radio stations communicated information vital to grassroots lifestyles. The churches have tapped into a system within the PNG media that enables “any person” to initiate a media organisation that is aimed at information dissemination in the country (Melham and Aloi, 2003: 3). Churches such as the Catholic Church and the Baptist Church have initiated radio stations that disseminate information that comply with their respective mission statements, which promote religiously oriented aims and visions. Baibel FM and Triniti FM, as shown in the results of the survey, have the potential to disseminate community development programmes aimed at improving people’s livelihoods, sustaining development and alleviating poverty. The moralistic component of their programming is an attractive feature for listeners." (Pages 215-216)
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"Journalism education (based for most of the past three decades at three Pacific universities) and industry short-course training have followed different yet parallel paths in the region. Aid donors have played important roles in both sectors, although often not particularly well coordinated. While
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journalism education was being established in the region for the first time at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1975, media industry executives met to plan a strategy to boost on-the-job training and to defend themselves from growing pressures from post-colonial governments. The industry established the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), which became a major regional media lobby group. Subsequently, the region’s state broadcasters broke away in 1988 to form a rival body, Pacific Islands Broadcasting Association (PIBA), and to establish the region’s first news cooperative, Pacnews. For a brief three-year period between 1988 and 1991, the university journalism education sector and industry training managed reasonable cooperation under UNESCO’s Pacjourn project. During this time, UPNG hosted Pacjourn and its staff of media academics and trainers ran short-courses for the benefit of the media industry. The focus then swung back to Fiji with a new UNESCO project leading to the establishment of the PINA-initiated Pacific Journalism Training Development Centre. While the UPNG Journalism Programme was funded initially by New Zealand aid, DWU was a private institution funded primarily by the Catholic Church and staffed mainly by volunteers. The degree programme founded at USP in the mid 1990s was funded by the French government for four years. In 1994, the Fiji media industry established a vocational training centre, the Fiji Journalism Institute (FJI), with UNESCO and other donor funding assistance along with the Fiji government, which provided office space. Although this venture collapsed after six years under a cloud over financial accountability, both the Fiji Media Council and PINA moved to revive the centre through the Fiji Institute of Technology. The Samoa Polytechnic (now the Samoa Institute of Technology) also established a vocational journalism school in 2002. Fiji has been the only Pacific country where the media industry has established a vocational programme competing with an established journalism school at a university—the region’s largest. This has prompted concerns about duplication and wastage of resources. AusAID, through its Pacific Media and Communications Facility and its associated Media in Development Initiative programme in Papua New Guinea, has gained ascendancy in the region as a media aid donor—and in most other fields, too. It has sought to achieve greater coordination in the region’s media training and aid cooperation between agencies. This also led to the merger of PINA and PIBA in 2004 for the benefit of the region. However, this trend has also led to growing concern in media and academic circles over a loss of independence and sovereignty over media training and educational policies—is aid a panacea or Pandora’s box for media training and education sustainability? It is critical for governance that future media training aid should have more transparency with funds being spread more evenly across several agencies so that no single industry group effectively holds too much power over journalism training policy. And the media should become proactive over reportage and debate over media aid issues and challenge conflicts of interest. Non-government organisations such as AusAID and the UN organisations need to tackle aid policy more robustly to push for a new funding paradigm in support of the Fourth Estate in the region in the digital age." (Conclusion)
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"The Pacific Media & Communications Facility (PMCF) was a three-year regional media governance project involving the 14 Pacific Island Forum countries. It was funded by the Australian government and commenced in May 2004. The report “Informing Citizens: Opportunities for media and communications i
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n the Pacific” (2005) was the major output for year one. This chapter is based on the original report that contains a situation analysis and needs assessment, which assesses the capacity of the media, government and civil society sectors to promote good governance and development issues through the media. It also contains a content analysis of governance news in the 14 countries. The Pacific Island countries included in the survey are: the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Fiji Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Twenty Pacific Island researchers collected the data for the report. This is the first time a study of this scope has been conducted in the region and it provides baseline data on media capacity for Pacific media organisations, NGOs, governments and donor organisations." (Page 34)
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"The intellectual undernourishment of journalism education and research is tied to wider problems in Pacific academic culture. On a macro level, Pacific media communities can apply their own social capital to the task of media development according to their own agendas, drawing on sound data and ana
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lysis. The methodology of teaching that will be most effective is one where educators use data on the demand-side, that is, allowing information needs, once identified, to become the catalyst for creative production, harnessing the inherent capacities and collective wisdom of communities in their own vernaculars, rather than simply transferring the received wisdom of media technocrats." (Conclusion)
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