Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Media freedom in the Pacific

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  • Matthew Poole,

    Russell, you've got a broken link, to Crosby Walsh's blog.

    As for the actual topic at hand, it's very explodey-head-ish that News Ltd is the beacon of goodness and light in the whole situation. What's more incredible is that Baianimaramara is playing the game as though the rest of the world will capitulate on sanctions and other measures taken against Fiji.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Russell, you've got a broken link, to Crosby Walsh's blog.

    Just noticed it myself. Fixed now.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    From another part of the Pacific Rim, Simon Grigg has been passing on useful reports and insights on the trouble in Bangkok – and indulging in some justifiable venting about the lack of coverage in the New Zealand media over the weekend.

    Wasn't it Bill Ralston who closed down TVNZ's Hong Kong bureau? And Charlotte Glennie was subsequently lost to the ABC.

    As to the wider issue, it speaks volumes that our media industry is inane enough as it is, without Murdoch's help.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    We've just confirmed Tim Pankhurst, chair of the Commonwealth Press Union's media freedom commitee, for the show.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB,

    Any chance of your show being re-broadcast on a station that actually gets received in Fiji ? (I'm assuming Freeview 7 doesnt get there).

    Or would that be too provocative?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Any chance of your show being re-broadcast on a station that actually gets received in Fiji ? (I'm assuming Freeview 7 doesnt get there).

    Or would that be too provocative?

    An earlier one did get shown in slightly censored form, but I think YouTube will be the place they see this one.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    We've just confirmed Tim Pankhurst, chair of the Commonwealth Press Union's media freedom commitee, for the show.

    The former editor of the DomPost is now the chair of the Commonwealth Press Union's media freedom commitee?

    Just as well I'm sitting on the right chair.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    some justifiable venting about the lack of coverage in the New Zealand media over the weekend.

    Too right. I managed to get a general laugh from some mates abroad last night when I told them NZ's headline for the day:

    "Elderly woman's death not suspicious, say police".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr,

    There is a tremendous naivety about Bainimarama and his team. After all, most of the media in every country in the world is hostile to socially progressive government action, but the answer can never be to close it down - you can't close it down - it just grows another five heads.
    Interestingly, in spite of the hostility of the media to the Fiji Government, you don't pick up the same hostility from the people of Fiji - and I don't think that only because they're afraid to talk. I think they like his programme and what he's doing. They've had a rough ride for a long time. They did, in 1987, after all, democratically elect Timoci Bavadra, whose plan was to raise the standard of living and protect people from abject poverty, in a way that we in New Zealand have been protected since 1935. He only lasted a month before the first of the avalanche of coups began.
    As the media takes more and more of the right wing agenda for granted - and as its memory of past debates and struggles fades - Kathryn Ryan eg stated the other day that we all know that free trade is a 'good thing' (or words to that effect) - thus closing off any opportunity to discuss whether it is or not - we need blogs like this one to remind us that there are some journalists who can still read, remember, discuss, listen and understand things.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    What's more incredible is that Baianimaramara is playing the game as though the rest of the world will capitulate on sanctions and other measures taken against Fiji.

    Well, the Key government has been softpedalling, letting Fiji play in the seven's, etc, so you can see why he might think that.

    I think [the fijian people] like his programme and what he's doing.

    So why doesn't he call an election and run in it?

    What's actually needed is escalating sanctions. We need a law making it a serious offence to be a member of the Fijian army, police, and civil service, so that if Bananainarama or his cronies set foot in NZ in the future, they're looking at going straight to Parareroremo without the option to get back on the plane.

    That would focus their minds.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Cutting off their armed forces' UN peacekeeping deployment gravy train/mana wagon would help.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Oh, and if they want to censor their media, how about we knock out other forms of intel that would hurt their unelected dictator and cronies more than the general public. If McCully even knew what balls were, there'd be a chance.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Jan Farr,

    I don't what the answer to Fiji is. The trouble is - as Richard Naidu remarked after the first coup - the history of coups is more coups. I'm not sure that treating Bainimarama as if he were a vicious and power-hungry dictator is terribly helpful. I think the real picture is a lot more complex than that.

    Carterton • Since Apr 2008 • 395 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Well, the Key government has been softpedalling, letting Fiji play in the seven's, etc, so you can see why he might think that.

    Um, I know Key is the Anti-Christ, but shall we at least acknowledge that the previous government wasn't exactly jamming the foot down on that pedal either? I don't actually disagree with you, but in large part due to the discussion around here I'm willing to grant that those who think otherwise aren't easily dismissed as apologists for a vicious thug.

    From another part of the Pacific Rim, Simon Grigg has been passing on useful reports and insights on the trouble in Bangkok – and indulging in some justifiable venting about the lack of coverage in the New Zealand media over the weekend.

    Then again, after another round of Yellow Peril "the plan to sell OUR farms to China" stories on One News tonight, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I understand the political situation in Fiji has been complex for many years but the time for stronger action - with the carefully negotiated support of Pacific Forum members - came when the most recent unelected coup-mongers announced they were cancelling elections. NZ acted.

    Recent relaxation of travel restrictions is just that - recent. Same with media crackdowns. "But Helen did it too" is a particularly laughable defense in the context of the Key government's craven toadying backdowns on matters like climate change and whale slaughter that undo years of solid diplomacy and reduce our mana in the Pacific and beyond.

    You don't get to just have the smiley photo ops without the scrutiny. Well, unless you're crafting a banana republic.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • James Bremner,

    This article seems to answer the "who's paying for the redshirts" question.

    http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/firsthand-account-of-thai-red-shirt-violence-yes-msm-got-it-wrong/

    NOLA • Since Nov 2006 • 353 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    The MSM got it wrong?? Good grief what paranoid cliche-ridden planet is that writer from? Thaksin's role in this thing has been at the centre of just about every credible analysis in mainstream and other media since it began.

    This is supposed to a revelation??

    It's a wee bit more complex than your poster would have us understand. But hell, its PJM and simple is really your only option there I guess.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Simon Grigg,

    A sightly more nuanced and informed analysis, James

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Recent relaxation of travel restrictions is just that - recent. Same with media crackdowns. "But Helen did it too" is a particularly laughable defense in the context of the Key government's craven toadying backdowns on matters like climate change and whale slaughter that undo years of solid diplomacy and reduce our mana in the Pacific and beyond.

    Excuse me, Sacha? I must have missed all those years between 2000 and 2008 when the Sevens went down without the presence of the Fijian team. I'm sorry if a simple matter of (disagreeable and partisanly disagreeable) fact is "particularly laughable," but that's your problem not mine.

    You don't get to just have the smiley photo ops without the scrutiny. Well, unless you're crafting a banana republic.

    Theatre, Sacha. I'm all for scrutiny, but rewriting history is also a time honoured technique of the banana republican. I'll just say I don't think New Zealand's rather wobbly attitude towards sporting contacts with post-coup Fiji isn't exactly a high point in Kiwi diplomacy. Not many moral high horses in that room.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    all those years between 2000 and 2008

    What, before the Dec 2006 coup we were talking about, you mean. Again, keep up the humour.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    The MSM got it wrong?? Good grief what paranoid cliche-ridden planet is that writer from?

    Pajamas Media. They quite frequently get things hilariously wrong. (And then sometimes act they deserve medals when they finally get around to a correction.) But they're saving us from the evil MSM, you know.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • tim kong,

    @Simon.

    Thanks for the link to the smh report. I've been following the Post and Nation's reporting also.

    I grew up in Thailand and the Philippines - and it's sad to see this happening again. As a child, you don't really consider these issues much - and I'm loathe to cast much comment or critique from afar, considering I've not lived there for almost 15 years.

    One of the comments struck me though: "There is a visible proportion of educated middle class, even some new rich and some faction of the old elite who are a part of the red-shirts movement. And I think they have a common aspiration and that's the wish to see a greater respect for the voices of the majority."

    I wonder how much this is about greater respect for 'democracy' - as it is for the Thai concept of 'losing face'. The greatest shame is to lose face in front of others. The fact that Taksin Shinawatra is hailed as the hero of the red-shirts, is indicative of how fluid the concept of 'truth' and 'democracy' actually are in Thailand. Support in the Thai political system is a far more flexible notion than some realise.

    I don't mean that in the sense that the red-shirts are all just "Tea-partyesque" hicks. I mean that Thai cultural norms and understandings of respect, monarchy, the power of the military, expectation and politics are far more discreet and nuanced than the black/white or left/right spectrum that most Western viewers would expect.

    I was in Manila during People Power revolution of 1986, and it was meant to change the future of that country. Almost 25 years later and it's... well, more of the same really.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 153 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    What, before the Dec 2006 coup we were talking about, you mean. Again, keep up the humour.

    REDACTED BECAUSE I'VE REALLY GOT TO STOP FOOLISHLY RISING TO EVERY BAITED HOOK THAT CROSSES MY PATH

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    I'll let readers decide who's arguing honestly and well

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    What, before the Dec 2006 coup we were talking about, you mean. Again, keep up the humour.

    I don't see how the date correction invalidates Craig's point that both Labour and National led governments set the level of the sporting ban at "we'll ban until it actually has some meaning, and then we'll cave".

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

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