Journalism Schools Stage Combined Hui

Journalism Schools Stage Combined Hui

ROTORUA, NZ (AUT Journalism/Pacific Media Watch): New Zealand's Maori journalism school and the country's largest media course have combined for a two-day hui (workshop) at the Waiariki Institute of Technology's Tangatarua marae.

More than 100 student journalists gathered at Rotorua for the hui, many of them attending or reporting on the hikoi (march) to Parliament protesting at the government's proposed seabed and foreshore legislation.

Associate Maori Affairs Minister Tariana Turia yesterday announced her resignation from the Labour government in protest over the legislation, saying a new Maori political movement had been born. She was immediately stripped of her portfolios by Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The workshop combined journalism students from Waiariki Journalism School, which teaches a national diploma in journalism designed for Maori media work, and Auckland University of Technology's School of Communication Studies final year journalism students.

A former Fiji Times reporter and a Sri Lankan international student were among the AUT students on the marae.

Resource people included Maori tourism entrepreneur Doug Tamaki, co-owner of Tamaki Tours; Bay of Plenty MP Tony Ryall; head of Waiariki's School of Maori Studies Ngahi Bidois; Wena Harawira, of the Maori Journalists Organisation (KTR); and Dr Jill Chrisp and Marama Davidson of the Human Rights Commission.

Workshop facilitators Annabel Schuler (Waiariki) and Dr David Robie (AUT) hope that the cooperation between the two institutions will lead to regular combined workshops in future.

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PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH ONLINE http://www.pmw.c2o.org

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).

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