REGION:
Open letter to the Fiji Times

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REGION:
18 January 1998

Note: This letter was not published in the Fiji Times, but was later published in the Daily Post on 16 February 1998.

OPEN LETTER TO THE FIJI TIMES

16 January 1998
Russell Hunter
Editor in Chief
Fiji Times
Suva, Fiji

Dear Mr. Hunter:

Recently, I read an article from Fiji's Sunday Post of 9 November 1997 entitled "Controversial journalist to get USP post?" [An unsigned attack on regional journalist David Robie who coordinates the University of PNG journalism program and was expected to be offered the post at the University of the South Pacific. Since then the Post has published two further anonymous attacks.]

As a former Fulbright Senior Scholar attached to the USP Media Centre and USP Journalism Programme (1994), and an educator who has trained Pacific Island journalists and broadcasters in Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, I was appalled to see such material posing as legitimate journalism. It is indeed rare to witness professionals engage in personal vendettas under the guise of journalism, and even rarer to see a newspaper lacking the editorial capability to address it.

What sort of example does this conduct by established professionals and media outlets set for students and young journalists in Pacific island nations? Given the years of journalism training, including ethics, in the region, have we accomplished nothing?

I have only met Mr. Robie briefly during various Pacific Islands News Association meetings. I may or may not agree with his viewpoints and his published work; I may not even like the man personally. However, the professional response would be to take issue with his ideas - not to resort to cheap character assassination.

The use of such expressions as "controversial journalist," "clashed with Pacific Islands news organizations," "known to have close connections with," and "dogged by controversy" are unsubstantiated opinions and loaded with bias; they are the telling signs of an amateur. If Mr. Robie's work has been "criticized by several leading Pacific Islands journalists," who are they, and what do they have to say? The author of this article, however, is apparently too ashamed to even sign his name to his work. Is there so little news to report in Suva that the Post must publish this sort of drivel?

If truth be told, Mr. Robie's accomplishments of record at the University of Papua New Guinea are what make him such a strong candidate to be journalism coordinator at USP. UPNG's journalism studies, which Mr. Robie headed for several years, is clearly the most successful and well managed programme of its kind in the Pacific islands, and also the most visible to my colleagues at American, Australian and New Zealand universities.

The programme's student newspaper, Uni Tavur, is superior to many student papers at universities in the United States. Its excellence is attested to by virtue of its winning the prestigious Ossie Award for 'Best Newspaper.'

My Australian colleagues are clearly impressed by the work coming out of UPNG's journalism programme, and they follow events in that nation on the excellent web sites and in Uni Tavur.

That all of this was accomplished under the most challenging circumstances, including shortages of funding, staff, equipment and infrastructure, was likely not lost on members of the USP hiring committee, nor on USP's Vice Chancellor. Top universities support student publications because they realize that the dissemination of excellent work reflects positively on all academic programmes - not just on journalism.

The programmes Mr. Robie developed at UPNG could serve as models for developing nations worldwide, and they would be a credit to journalism studies at USP, which serves many emerging nations in the Pacific. Mr. Robie deserves the courtesy of being permitted to prove his merit in the position of journalism coordinator at USP.

Sincerely,

Robert A. Hooper
Associate Professor/Television Programme Production
Executive Producer/Public Broadcasting Service
University of California
San Diego
United States

+++niuswire

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