BACKGROUND
DAVID ROBIE'S NOTEBOOK

JOURNALIST, JOURNALISM EDUCATOR AND AUTHOR

Kia ora
I'm David Robie and welcome to my home page. I'm a New Zealand author and journalist who has specialised in reporting Pacific development and political issues, and also a media consultant. Currently I am Associate Professor in Journalism and Head of the Pacific Media Centre in the School of Communication Studies at AUT University after a decade teaching journalism in the South Pacific. My most recent book, Mekim Nius, was published in Fiji in 2004 and in New Zealand in early 2005. I am pictured above (right) at the NZ launch with former Fiji TV political journalist Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. A Dominion Post profile of me is at The South Pacific beat and other background on Mekim Nius is on my books page.

For the five years between 1998-2002, I was Journalism Coordinator at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji Islands. Previously (1993-1998) I taught journalism and mass communication at the University of Papua New Guinea where I also coordinated the programme.

During 1999, I was nominated as the Australian Press Council 1999 Fellow, visiting media organisations and journalism schools in Brisbane, Canberra and Sydney. My speeches and papers were published by the Press Council.

For the record, I've edited or been senior editorial executive on newspapers in Australia, France, Kenya, New Zealand and South Africa.

And I'm also the author of eight books -- including The Pacific Journalist: A Practical Guide (published March 21, 2001) and three others used as texts at the University of the South Pacific.

On the academic side, my qualifications include MA Journ Technol., Syd., and a PhD S. Pac. in History/Politics, professional Certificates in Adult Teaching, Transition (Indigenous) Teaching and Adult and Tertiary Education Auckland University of Technology. See New Zealand Who's Who and my current CV for more detail. My major research areas are media regulation and freedom issues in the Pacific, development media and international comparative journalism.

I edit Pacific Journalism Review as well as being on the editorial board of Australian Journalism Review (Journalism Education Association — JEA), Asia-Pacific Media Educator (University of Wollongong), Fijian Studies (Fiji Institute of Applied Studies) and The Pacific Ecologist. In 1996, I was a Pacific pioneer of media and political sites on the internet with the award-winning Café Pacific at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Among community activities, I am co-convenor of Pacific Media Watch, an independent group monitoring Asia-Pacific media with a Sydney website.

My asawa, Delia Abcede, is a schoolteacher, union organiser and newsletter publisher.

Journalism has long been in the family. My great great grandfather, James Robie, was editor-publisher of Edinburgh's Caledonian Mercury in the 1860s and he campaigned on anti-slavery, free trade, social reform and constitutional government issues "and every other question bearing upon the great principles of civil and religious liberty".

I lectured in print journalism at UPNG for five years where I introduced innovative educational methods and revamped the journalism training newspaper Uni Tavur into an award-winning professional tabloid. It won the 1995 JEA Ossie Award for best newspaper at journalism schools in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Since then I have supervised the USP journalism newspaper, Wansolwara, and founded the journalism training website Pacific Journalism Online and my students have won 10 winning prizes or highly commended citations in the annual Ossie Awards of the Journalism Education Association (JEA) between 1999 and 2002.

In December 2000, the journalism training website that I supervised at USP, Pacific Journalism Online, won the coveted Dr Charles Stuart Prize for best publication any medium in the Ossie Awards for its Fiji coup coverage, and my students' training newspaper, Wansolwara, was highly commended in the same category.

Interesting academic papers include my analysis of the Fiji media coverage of the Chaudhry Government and the George Speight attempted coup in May 2000, The Press and the Putsch, published in APME, and my address to the inaugural Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA), Media Freedom in the Pacific: Culture and Conflict, published in Pacific Journalism Review (Vol 8, June 2002, pp 105-119).

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