Pacific media group appoints administrative director

Pasima Appoints Administrative Director

AUCKLAND (Pasifika Media Association/Pacific Media Watch): The board officers of Pasifika Media Association (PasiMA) have announced the appointment of Ana Currie, of Hawai‘i, to serve as the fledgling organisation’s first administrative director.

The PasiMA board officers and executive committee are in Auckland this week participating in the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology (MIJT 2010) conference at Auckland University of Technology.

Other action items at the PasiMA meeting included the adoption of organisational bylaws and formulating a work plan for the coming months.

Currie currently serves as the executive director of Pasifika Foundation Hawai‘i and is a consulting editor for Tonga’s Taimi Media Network.

She is an award-winning journalist and editor whose work has been published in a number of regional publications, including SPASIFIK magazine, the Hawai‘i Independent, and the Hawai‘i Island Journal. She held the position of editor at the Journal from 2002 to 2005, focusing on expanding the paper's focus to include comprehensive coverage of Native Hawaiian and Pacific regional issues as well as investigative reporting of development and environmental issues on the island.

“It is an honor to be part of this exciting new organisation,” says Currie. “PasiMA has many dynamic projects in the works, including the development of a website and news service that will become an industry leader in its unique multidimensional approach and regional flavor, with news and issues coverage that will range from micro to macro and top-level commentary.”

Other immediate projects include the strategic development of curriculum materials for a web-based journalism training program.

PasiMA’s board president and editor-in -chief of the Samoa Observer, Savea Sano Malifa, said: “Ana’s abilities and experience will be real assets to the development and management of PasiMA’s range of services.

“We are very pleased to have her as part of the PasiMA team.”

Currie will be in Samoa in January to coordinate the establishment of PasiMA’s Apia office and support staff.

About Pasifika Media Association:
The Pacific’s new media association, PasiMA, was formed in August 2010 by regional media owners, operators and principals with a vision of creating an association that is forward-looking and responsive to the real-time concerns of media professionals in Pasifika.

While other existing media associations in the region have made significant accomplishments in many areas, the founders of PasiMA identified several important issues that are not being adequately addressed by any existing bodies, including media freedom in the region and the challenge of incorporating new media technologies into the existing media framework in the Pacific islands.

PasiMA is the only Pacific media organisation that welcomes members from Pasifika-oriented media anywhere in the world.

Its board and membership are composed primarily of independent media owners and practitioners. Representatives of government-owned media and individuals associated with academic and NGO entities are welcomed as non-voting members.

PasiMA is registered and based in Apia, Samoa.

ENDS