General Press Release No.230 (June 1999)

Australian Press Council Fellow 1999

The Australian Press Council has awarded its 1999 Fellowship to David Robie, a prominent journalist and educator, whose expertise is in the media of the South Pacific region.

While in Australia, Mr Robie will attend and address the first Oceania Regional Conference of the World Association of Press Councils (WAPC) which is being held in Brisbane on 22 and 23 June.

David Robie, 54, is Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji (USP). He has been a journalist and journalism educator for more than 30 years and active in media freedom issues for several years. He has an MA in Journalism and has professional teaching qualifications from Auckland Institute of Technology. Currently he is editor of Pacific Journalism Review, on the editorial board of Asia-Pacific Media Educator, and a co-convenor of Pacific Media Watch, an Internet-based news and information service.

As a journalist David has won several international and national journalism awards. He has also been the author of seven books, including Eyes of Fire, on the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, and Nius Bilong Pasifik: Mass Media in the Pacific. His career has included being editor of the Melbourne Sunday Observer, chief sub-editor/night editor of the Rand Daily Mail, Johannesberg, group features editor of the Daily Nation, Nairobi, an editor for Agence France-Presse, Paris, foreign editor of the Auckland Star, editor of Insight magazine and editor of Asia-Pacific Network. He coordinated the journalism program at the University of Papua New Guinea for five years in the 1990s.

Mr Robie said:

I am delighted by this surprise and timely invitation. It is in recognition of USP's growing regional journalism programme and also provides an excellent opportunity to help develop our courses and resources by building closer links with leading journalism schools in Australia.

The Press Council fellowship is awarded to those in the media whose experience will be of benefit to the Australian media and who would benefit from a better knowledge of it. After the Brisbane conference, Mr Robie will visit universities and media outlets in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra to discuss matters of mutual interest, conduct seminars and fill them in on developments in the Pacific.

The Brisbane Conference

The Australian Press Council is, in conjunction with the New Zealand Press Council and the Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority, hosting the first Oceania Regional Conference of the World Association of Press Councils in Brisbane on 22 and 23 June 1999.

The Conference will be a two-day event bringing together members of Press Councils and similar bodies, media professionals and academics from within Australia and overseas to discuss relevant issues.

The two main themes of the conference are:

• the role and responsibility of the media in its coverage of tragedies and of communal conflicts; and
• the ethical responsibilities of the media in their dealings with courts and their coverage of the criminal justice system.

The speakers at the conference bring wide-ranging practical experience to these topics. They are drawn both from Australia and from the Asia-Pacific region, and include

• Dato Param Cumaraswamy, the UN Special Rapporteur on Judicial Independence;
• Whai Ngata, General Manager, Maori Programmes, Television New Zealand;
• Sabam Siagian, prominent Indonesian editor and publisher and a former Ambassador to Australia;
• Francis Lee, head of Cantonese programming for the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and Chair of the Asian Media Council of Australia;
• Judge Susan Kiefel of the Australian Federal Court; and
• Ed Linington, the South African Press Ombudsman.

Among the other Press Councils who have already said they would be represented at the conference are: Australia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Honolulu, India, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and the South African Press Ombudsman.

In addition to David Robie, representatives of the Oceania Region will also include Daryl Tarte, Chair of the Fiji Press Council; Kalafi Moala, editor of Taimi o Tonga; Sir John Jeffries, Chair of the New Zealand Press Council; Luke Sela, Chair of the Papua New Guinea Media Council; and Salo Malifa, publisher of the Samoa Independent.

The conference is open to all and a registration fee is payable. Information on the conference is available from the Press Council.

See also
Latest information on the Brisbane Conference
The Press Council Fellow

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