MEDIA WATCH: Why is a cultural treasure like the Pacific Media Centre being gutted? thedailyblog.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thedailyblog.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
AUT City Campus. Image: AUT
One of AUTâs Pacific research centres has been without a director since the end of last year and a lack of clarity around its future is causing division among staff and supporters.
Teuila Fuatai reports for The Spinoff. Â
SINCE 2007, AUTâs Pacific Media Centre has built a considerable portfolio and solid reputation for its research and reporting on issues throughout the Asia Pacific region, and as a training ground for Pasifika journalists and academics.
However, a month after veteran Pacific correspondent and researcher Professor David Robie retired as director late last year, the centre was packed up without any formal notification or explanation to the remaining AUT staff members associated with it.
Listen to the Pacific people plea to AUT over diversity future of PMC asiapacificreport.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiapacificreport.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Auckland University of Technology has denied claims that the Pacific Media Centre is being dumped or sidelined.
The Centre s recently retired director David Robie has raised concern about the way AUT is handling the PM s leadership succession, as well as the removal of its physical office without a clear relocation.
Professor Berrin Yanıkkaya, PMC director Professor David Robie and Victoria University s Assistant Vice-Cheancellor (Pasifika) Laumanuvao Winnie Laban at the PMC ten year anniversary event.
Photo: Mata Lauano/Spasifik
Since its inception in 2007, the Pacific Media Centre has built an extensive body of work in regional journalism and media research.
Dear Mr McCormack,
We are writing to you to congratulate the Auckland University of Technology on its contribution to Pacific media and journalism and – at a time when Pacific journalism is under existential threat and Pacific journalism programmes suffer from underfunding – to urge you to ensure your university continues to play the globally pre-eminent role in supporting media, communication and journalism education, research and collaboration.
AUT’s Pacific Media Centre (including its associated projects in audio, video and online production and its engagement with Asia and Pacific academic institutions and communities within New Zealand) is the jewel in AUT’s crown. As you know, the PMC is the world’s leading Pacific journalism programme is looked to by media professionals and academics from around the world, including in the Pacific and here in Australia. The centre’s research publications and staff and postgraduate student journalism websites (such as PMC Online