Bearing Witness: A Pacific Climate Crisis Documentary and Journalism Development Project

Abstract

A three-year Pacific climate research and storytelling documentary and journalism project has contributed to a disruption and renewal theme in Pacific Island Countries development. Focused initially on Fiji, the project has involved three pairs of postgraduate students engaging with climate crisis challenges. Responding originally to the devastation and tragedy wrought in Fiji by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016, the Pacific Media Centre embarked on the Bearing Witness journalism project by sending two postgraduate students to Viti Levu to document and report on the impact of climate change (Robie & Chand, 2017). Their main component was a multimedia report on Daku village in the Rewa River delta area. This was followed in 2017 with a series of reports leading to a multimedia package on the relocation of the remote inland village of Tukuraki (Robie, 2018). The third episode focused far more strongly on documentary with reports on waka navigation and climate change, the ‘ghost village’ of Vunidogoloa and a ‘homecoming’ short feature about the Banaban people of Rabi and the impact on them caused by climate change. The project explores Friere’s notions of ‘critical consciousness’ as they might relate to teaching documentary-making and also draw on the concept of talanoa journalism.

(New) Ecological Problems: Post-pandemic Climate Change Remains an Oceania Existential Threat

“…The Earth Journalism Network's parent organization, Internews, has developed a strategy for covering the global pandemic (Internews, 2020, p. 3;Robie, 2020). The Internews approach, as adopted by the Pacific Media Centre in parallel with its Talanoa indigenous journalism model (Robie, 2019a, Robie & Marbrook, 2020, Talanoa, 2020Toito'ona, 2018) in its Pacific COVID and environmental journalism involves five core elements: 1. Good, accurate, evidence-based information; 2.…”

Building independent media: Sustaining democratic freedoms

“…Naming issues such as climate change, human rights, social justice and sustainable development, it describes itself as a 'critical conscience of society.' (Robie & Marbrook, 2020;Robie, 2021) Together with a similar product, Pacific Scoop, founded in 2009 (eventually being relaunched as APR with more Asia-Pacific content) and the media and rights monitor Pacific Media Watch (in collaboration with Reporters Without Borders), Asia Pacific Report adopted a goal, to 'effectively challenge mainstream gatekeeping media' (Robie, 2016). The proprietary arrangements changed after Robie's retirement from AUT late in 2020 and the closure of the PMC office there (Ellis, 2021), with Asia Pacific Report continuing as a nonprofit joint venture between his publishing company and an independent communications firm, Multimedia Investments Limited, publisher of EveningReport.nz.…”

FRONTLINE: The sociology of a pandemic: Countering a COVID 'disinfodemic' with a campus media initiative

“…According to Internews, the 'biggest story in the world is devastating the news media, as collapsing economies are causing a collapse in the news business, just when we need it the most' (Internews, 2020, p. 3). The Internews approach, as adopted by the Pacific Media Centre in parallel with its Talanoa journalism model (Robie, 2019;Robie & Marbrook, 2020) in its Pacific COVID and environmental journalism involves five core elements: 1. Good, accurate, evidence-based information; 2.…”

“…As an enabler of postgraduate project journalism over the past 14 years in the Asia-Pacific region, as exemplified in the Pacific Journalism Review's Frontline section (Bacon 2011(Bacon , 2012Nash, 2014;Mason, 2014), the Pacific Media Centre developed a plan in 2016 for an annual two-week intensive climate change field trip for two postgraduate student/graduate journalists to gain firsthand experience of reporting on climate change issues in Fiji (Robie & Chand, 2017;Robie, 2018;Robie & Marbrook, 2020). This was conducted within the framework of a postgraduate International Journalism Project course.…”

“…(Loo, 2013, p. 95-96) The reflective process is also a strong feature of talanoa journalism, a model that seeks to integrate the 'custom' factor into media with the Pacific tradition of holistic debate as argued in papers by Robie (2013Robie ( , 2014bRobie ( , p. 333, 2019Robie and Marbrook, 2020). The talanoa model makes the case for a more grassruts approach to sources and emphasises community empowerment and community ethics with recognition of Indigenous, diversity and kastom values.…”