Although formal research for this thesis began in the Fiji Islands in 1998 when I took up the post of Journalism Coordinator at the University of the South Pacific, its genesis was really in the previous five years at the University of Papua New Guinea. The encouragement of four people, in particular, had an important influence on the early part of my academic career leading to this thesis. They are Alan Robson, of the Politics Department of UPNG; Associate Professor Wendy Bacon, of the Department of Social Communication and Journalism at the University of Technology; Peter Cronau of ABC's Four Comers; and former UPNG Vice-Chancellor Joseph Sukwianomb. Wendy and her colleagues at UTS remained an important source of support, particularly during George Speight's attempted coup in 2000. When I embarked on this thesis, Dr Rod Kirkpatrick and Professor John Henningham, of the University of Queensland, were especially helpful and encouraging. So was Professor Mark Pearson, of Bond University, who took a particular interest in USP and at one stage, in April 2002, conducted an external review of the university's Journalism Programme. Dr Patrick Griffiths, then head of USP's Literature and Language Department, Professor Ian Gaskell, and media commentator Seona Smiles provided moral support. However, the main encouragement for this thesis has come from my supervisor, Professor Stewart Firth, Head of the Department of History/Politics, at USP. He had an empathy with this thesis topic from the start and his patience, support and faith in me, especially during the turbulent coup period in 2000 when I had great difficulty making progress, kept me going. During the draft thesis writing stages, Dr Murray Masterton, a former USP Journalism Coordinator; Philip Cass, a former USP Journalism Lecturer; Pat Craddock, a former Senior Audio Producer at USP's Media Centre; Shailendra Singh, a current Journalism Lecturer at USP; were a great help. So too were New Zealand historian Dr Michael King and Jone Dakuvula, Research Director of the (Fiji) Citizens Constitutional Forum. Helpful feedback in the final stages came from Professor Charles Crothers of Auckland University of Technology. The University of the South Pacific provided a research grant for my 2001 field work, and my appreciation goes to the late Vice-Chancellor Savenaca Siwatibau and the Deputy Vice- Chancellor, Professor Rajesh Chandra, for enabling me to complete the thesis with USP. My thanks also go to John Colwell, Principal of St Joseph's International School in Port Moresby, and Divine Word University for field work accommodation and assistance. But my most heartfelt appreciation deservedly goes to my wife, Del, who never exhausted her inspiration, patience and encouragement in spite of my moodiness. She was also a crucial help while collating, tabulating and analysing the empirical research data. Without her enthusiastic support, I may not have completed the task. Kia kaha manawanui. David Robie Auckland, 20 July 2003 University education for South Pacific journalists is a relatively recent development. It has existed in Papua New Guinea for merely a generation; it is less than a decade old at degree level in Fiji, and in the former colonies in Polynesia. At the same time, mean age, experience and educational qualifications have been rising among journalists in the major Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) member countries, Australia and New Zealand, as the news media has become more professionalised. While the Papua New Guinea media has largely depended on journalism education to provide the foundation for its professionalism, Fiji has focused 011 a system of ad hoc short course training funded by international donors. This thesis examines the history of South Pacific university media education and its impact on the region's journalism. Its first objective is to test the hypothesis that tertiary education has a critical influence on how Pacific journalists practise their profession and perceive their political and social role in a developing society faced with the challenges of globalisation. Secondly, the thesis aims to analyse the political, economic and legal frameworks in which the media have operated in Papua New Guinea and Fiji since independence. Third, the thesis aims to explain and assess in detail the development of journalism education in the South Pacific since independence. The theoretical framework is from a critical political economy perspective. It also assesses whether the concept of development journalism, which had its roots in the 1980s debate calling for a 'New International Information and Communication Order' (NWICO), has had an influence on a Pacific style of journalism. The thesis argues within a context where journalists can be considered to be professionals with some degree of autonomy within the confines set by a capitalist and often transnational-owned media, and within those established by governments and media companies. Journalists are not solely 'governed' by these confines; they still have some freedom to act, and journalism education can deliver some of the resources to make the most of that freedom. The thesis includes historical case studies of the region's three main journalism schools, Divine Word University (PNG), University of Papua New Guinea and the University of the South Pacific. It demonstrates some of the dilemmas faced by the three schools, student journalists and graduates while exercising media freedom. Research was conducted using the triangulation method, incorporating in-depth interviews with 57 editors, media managers, journalists and policy makers; two newsroom staff surveys of 15 news organisations in Fiji and Papua New Guinea in 1998/9 (124 journalists) and 2001 (106); and library and archives study. It also draws on the author's personal experience as coordinator of the UPNG (1993-1997) and USP (1998-2002) journalism programmes for more than nine years. The thesis concludes that journalists in Papua New Guinea (where university education has played a vital role for a generation) are more highly educated, have a higher mean experience and age, and a more critically sophisticated perception of themselves and their media role in Pacific societies than in Fiji (where almost half the journalists have no formal tertiary education or training). Journalists in Fiji are also more influenced by race, cultural and religious factors. Conversely, PNG journalists are poorly paid even when compared with their Fiji colleagues. There are serious questions about the impact that this may have on the autonomy of journalists and the Fourth Estate role of news media in a South Pacific democracy. iv IN LATE May 2000, masked Fijian gunmen seized a consignment of books from the United States bound for the University of the South Pacific Regional Journalism Programme in Suva. The small cardboard box was stashed in a postal courier mail van hijacked by coup front man George Speight's supporters hoping to find hard cash. Two months later the carton was recovered by police from the ransacked Parliament and handed over to me; torn open but intact. Ironically, inside were six copies of Betty Medsger's Winds of Change: Challenges Confronting Journalism Education for the USP programme and University Library at the Laucala campus, Suva. This was a poignant reminder of the realities facing Pacific media and journalism education. Politics in the region have been increasingly determined by terrorism, particularly in Melanesia, such as in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. And with this development comes a growing demand on the region's media and journalists for more training and professionalism. Since Speight's illegal seizure of Parliament on 19 May 2000, politics in Fiji have remained under the threat of terrorism. Equally, in the mid-1990s, politics in Papua New Guinea remained hostage to the Sandline mercenary affair and its legacy. While the Speight upheaval cost a relatively modest 15 lives — all indigenous Fijian — the fear of it happening again, and next time being even bloodier, remains a concern. Fiji politics are still driven by a continuing threat to reinvoke terrorism if governments do not pursue a narrow particular direction, defined as ensuring 'indigenous paramountcy' (Lai, 2001: 7; Robertson & Sutherland, 2001: xvii-xix; Prasad et al, 2002, 10).' Fiji is already a country prone to having 1 According to authors Robertson & Sutherland (2001) in Government by the Gun, many of Fiji's leaders have failed to address a feeling of indigenous alienation, disaffection within their communities and institutions and Jack of understanding of their economy, let alone being integrated in the global economy. Instead, the leaders have 'exploited the disadvantage of the Fijian masses by projecting it as the disadvantage of all Fijian people, the elites 1 coups (three so far) and it risks becoming consigned to a fate of economic, political, and legal instability, in effect a 'banana republic'.2 Respect for the law has been rapidly diminishing. Although Speight was eventually condemned to death for treason on 17 February 2001, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment within five hours by the Prerogative of Mercy Commission. But few believe the masterful media manipulator will serve more than a token symbolic period in 'prison1; he is detained on the tropical isle of Nukulau, off Suva, a former haven for local picnickers. Ten of his co-conspirators pleaded guilty to lesser charges and were given relatively minor jail sentences (none will serve more than three years), while two — leading journalist Josefa Nata and chiefly politician Ratu Thnoci Silatolu — denied the treason charges against them and were sent for trial. They were found guilty on 20 March 2003, but Justice Andrew Wilson postponed sentencing until June to enable the legislators to sort out the treason legislation. Finally, in spite of an apology to the nation by Nata in mitigation, both were sentenced on 27 June 2003 to life imprisonment,3 The role of Nata — 'I was just a public relations consultant' — was at the centre of crucial issues in Fiji over journalism ethics, integrity, independence and training (I was just a PR consultant: Nata, 2002).