Auckland University of Technology, Sri Krishnamurthi
Desperate times call for
desperate measures and so it is with journalism schools throughout the Pacific
with each of them trying new and innovative methods in the age of Covid-19
coronavirus.
Faced with the global
pandemic, they are following an overarching dictum, safety of students first
and then looking at ways of teaching them – albeit remotely.
Without a doubt The
Junction, a collaborative university student journalism publication covering
Australia, NZ and the Pacific, is a highly creative and enterprising website –
and it’s ahead of the game.
READ MORE: Student
journos form ‘biggest newsroom’ to cover election
It cut its publishing
teeth back in 2018 with the UniPoll Watch project covering the state elections
in Victoria and then quickly took off with a national newsroom and live
television presentation from Melbourne for the federal election last year.
The coverage was
supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.
Some 24 universities, including
New Zealand’s Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and Massey University,
participate in producing The Junction and it has regularly published special
collaborative team projects such as climate crisis – and now coronavirus.
The Junction is published
by the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA) as
its first news website, although it has published a successful research
journal, Australian Journalism Review, since 1978.
As pioneering editor and
founder Associate Professor Andrew Dodd, director of the University of
Melbourne’s Centre for Advancing Journalism, says, “The Junction reflects the
output of 24 universities”.
The website adds that The
Junction “showcases the best university student journalism from Australia, [New
Zealand] and the Pacific and allows universities to work together to produce
impactful and creative reportage.”
It takes the students’
work to wider audiences and encourages those audiences to visit the
publications of university journalism programmes.
Check the tabs
“The best way to gauge
what the universities are doing in Covid-19 coverage is to check their output
under the Universities tab. You can click through and see what they’re filing,”
says Dr Dodd.
“We’re coping well
because we have a diffuse publishing approach. We empower our member
universities to publish their best work.
“We set projects (of
which coronavirus is one) and parameters and keep watch for quality, but we are
unlike The Conversation because our members are experts at commissioning,
editing, writing and publishing. So, we encourage them to do just that.
“It’s unlikely they’re
coming into a newsroom. The kinds of stories they are working on can be seen by
what’s being published.
“But it would be safe to
say that many students have embraced the challenge of reporting on coronavirus.
One of the parameters we set for that is that it’s done safely.”
Dr Alexandra Wake,
journalism programme manager at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
(RMIT), says the current challenges are when innovation takes precedence. She
is also president of JERAA.
“RMIT University
transformed overnight from face-to-face teaching to a virtual teaching place.
Some classes have required little change other than to the parameters of
assessment, while others have needed to be re-imagined in light of new
production techniques required in the COVID-19 era,” she says.
‘Operating remotely’
“Everything is now
operating remotely, publications, radio and television programmes. All sorts of
industry-based technologies are being used as well as normal teaching tools.
“My journalism teams are
using a mixture of tools – including Teams, email, Canvas Collaborate Ultra,
Skype, Slack, Trello.
“Some classes have become
Covid-19 free zones, others are drilling down into life around the virus. It
depends on the class and the learning outcomes.
“Looking after our
student’s mental health is equally as important as their technical skills right
now, and it’s important that for at least some of the week they aren’t being
consumed by Covid-19.
“We’re finding huge
engagement in our online classes, and requests for extra work to be done. We’ve
happily obliged and suggested courses in coding, podcasts and books.”
A similar approach has
been taken by Professor David Robie, director of AUT’s Pacific Media Centre, a
postgraduate research and publication unit.
“I would describe this is
as the biggest challenge to journalism schools in my experience since covering
the George Speight rogue military attempted coup in Fiji in 2000, when our
students at the University of the South Pacific formed a courageous unit and
covered the crisis through their newspaper Wansolwara and website Pacific
Journalism Online for three months,” says Dr Robie, director of AUT’s Pacific
Media Centre, a postgraduate research and publication unit.
Covid 19 and Cyclone
Harold … the Wansolwara News team at the University of the South Pacific:
Clockwise from top left: Wansolwara editor-in-chief Geraldine Panapasa, Josefa
Babitu on Fiji’s Laucala campus and Harrison Selmen from Vanuatu working
remotely. Image: Wansolwara
‘Character building’
“It is times like these
that are tremendous for character building. I always remember the headline on a
Commonwealth media freedom magazine that, after interviewing our students,
captured the quote, ‘All I needed was a coup to become a journalist’. In a sense,
it was true because that bunch all went on to do great things as journalists.”
The PMC last month
launched a special coronavirus reporting section on its Asia Pacific Report
website with a two-person core and contributors from journalism schools around
the region.
“This is an extraordinary
pandemic challenge; it is devastating and requires extraordinary response and
sacrifices from journalism schools just like most sections of our imperilled
society.
“We have a tiny team, but
we are flat out producing stories for our coverage through our students and
throughout network of academics, journalists and student journalists across the
Pacific.
“Apart from doing a
series of lockdown wrap-ups each day, we focus stories on Pacific health,
climate, social justice, economic, educational, media and political fallout
stories as a result of the pandemic.
“At first, we did some
Pacific wrap-ups every day, but as other media started doing this, such as RNZ
Pacific and Barbara Dreaver’s [TVNZ] Pacific Update – which have far better
resources and people at their disposal – we decided to focus on particular
stories, either breaking ones that haven’t yet made a mark in New Zealand, or
giving a more in-depth background angle.
“Some examples are how we
covered the first Covid-19 case in Papua New Guinea (the infected person turned
out to be Australian) and the “shoot to kill” order call by a PNG governor on
the Indonesian border, which highlighted growing security and border tensions
over the virus,” he says.
‘Post-pandemic world’
“It’s all fairly scary
really. We also need to reflect on what a post-pandemic world might be shaped
like – hopefully a break from the neoliberal economics of our time, so that we
can develop a more just and humane world that is capable of constructively
engaging with climate change and future health hazards.”
Meanwhile, at Massey
University Dr James Hollings, senior lecturer and journalism programme leader,
says they have been well prepared.
“Massey was quite well
prepared for the lockdown, as Australasia’s leading online or distance learning
provider, we already had a lot of online learning – all our courses have an
online equivalent for distance students. We had also anticipated the lockdown
and set up things for our internal students,” he says.
“Massey University
suspended teaching for four weeks. However, before then we had already set up a
virtual newsroom for our postgrad students, using Slack as the main
communications platform, with Zoom meetings for teaching classes,” Dr Hollings
says.
“We are keeping on
teaching using these, and they seem to be working. Our students are still
required to meet their story quotas and are doing stories and getting them
published on Stuff and elsewhere.
“Their spirits were down
when they thought the lockdown would stop teaching and waste their year, but
were hugely boosted once they realised we could make this virtual newsroom
work.
“In fact, this is a
really exciting opportunity to be reporting on – a once in a lifetime
opportunity.
Zoom tutorials
“For our undergraduate
students, we have kept tutorials going by Zoom, and kept up online
communication. Zoom attendance is poor, but that may be because they think
teaching is suspended,” he says.
However, no such luck
with first world problems in Fiji or the Philippines.
“Classes will be taught
remotely while the nation-wide restrictions are in place. Internet connection
in Fiji is not that fast, and quite expensive relative to the national income,
especially for the students,” says Dr Shailendra Singh, journalism co-ordinator
at the University of the South Pacific.
The school publishes the
award-winning newspaper Wansolwara, that is distributed as a liftout in one of
Fiji’s two daily newspapers, and the digital version Wansolwara News.
“We’re trying to work
with the few students who are willing and able to volunteer, to provide some
coverage, but it’s quite challenging because of cost and other logistical
issues.
“In line with the
restrictions in Fiji, and in order to safeguard students, we are not imposing
on them.
“We are reluctant to
expose them to any risks – safety equipment like masks, gloves, hand-sanitisers
are both scarce and expensive in Fiji.
“Our coverage is focused
on breaking news in Fiji and the region, telephone or email interviews, and
media conferences/releases by government departments and other bodies. Given
the circumstances, we have to put safety first, improvise, and curtail
coverage,” he says.
Lockdown suspension
In the Philippines,
Danilo Arao, associate professor at the Department of Journalism, College of
Mass Communication, University of the Philippines (UP) says: “Online classes
are suspended during the lockdown here in the Philippines. In fact, all
academic activities are suspended.”
“In other schools, where
online classes (e-learning methods) are ongoing, students keep in touch mainly
through the internet, so it can be challenging for those who don’t have access
to it.
“Unlike New Zealand, the
Philippines has a relatively low internet penetration rate of only a little
more than 50 percent.
“Our net connection is
one of the slowest in the world, and quite expensive too in relation to our low
minimum wage,” he says.
“There is, however, some
flexibility when it comes to deadlines and there are also cases where
requirements are adjusted to ensure, for example, that students won’t have to
go out of their houses to do data gathering and interviews.
The platforms vary
depending on the university. Moodle is quite common as a “virtual classroom” of
sorts.
Consultations and group
meetings are done through popular platforms like Google Hangouts and Skype.
Zoom is fast catching up as a go-to platform for webinars, and class meetings.
Social media uses
“Social media like
Facebook and Twitter are, on the other hand, used for announcements, particularly
FB Messenger app to create group chats (GCs).
“It’s safe to say that we
are very stressed given the uncertainty. What compounds our worries is the
inefficiency of our government in handling the crisis.”
He criticised the
government of the President.
“While New Zealand is
lucky to have a Jacinda Ardern, we are practically cursed for having Rodrigo
Duterte,” says Arao, who was a keynote speaker at the recent Safeguarding Press
Freedom conference in Manila.
“Filipino humour is at
its best right now as we try to cope with the stress. But the widespread
militancy is evident as hashtags like #OustDuterte and #ICantStandthePresident
becoming trending topics, not just here but also worldwide.
“Every now and then, we
call out not just Duterte but some government officials and Duterte supporters
for their sense of privilege or outright incompetence, or both.”
Back at AUT and
Canterbury, journalism schools have been gearing up for online teaching when
the second semester resumes.
‘Similar work’
“Once we’re up and
running, the journalism students will be doing similar work to what they would
have but in different contexts,” says AUT’s head of department – journalism Dr
Greg Treadwell. The department publishes Te Waha Nui.
“They’ll be busy in news
reporting papers, writing stories generated by at-distance interviewing
techniques.],” says Dr Treadwell, who is also president of the Journalism
Education Association of New Zealand (JEANZ).
“We’re all having to
learn new ways of doing journalism. But we’ll have all the usual courses in law
and ethics, public-affairs reporting, visual journalism, investigative
journalism and so on.
“Even the photojournalism
class will be active, documenting their bubbles and the ways its members are
coping with the Covid-19 crisis. We’ll still be able to teach the techniques of
newsgathering and news production, but perhaps we’ll need to help students
develop those storytelling techniques in original and different ways.
“For example, our
Newsday, in which students would normally work in our AUT newsroom, will now
take place in cyberspace, as so many newsrooms around the world are having to
do. So, in fact it’s still helping students grasp the issues they will face in
the industry.
“We’ll definitely be
looking for stories on Covid-19 that sit within the kaupapa.”
And Dr Tara Ross, senior
lecturer in journalism at Canterbury University, confirms they also be going to
online courses.
Cyclone Harold hammering
The last word falls to
Ben Bohane, a celebrated Australian photojournalist, author and TV producer who
has covered Asia and the Pacific islands and done short course training in the
region for the past 30 years.
At the time of contacting
him, the inaugural $10,000 Sean Dorney Grant winner for Pacific Journalism in
2019 was hunkered down in Vanuatu as Cyclone Harold was hammering the Islands.
“One thing I have long
admired about David’s [Robie] approach has been to marry both theory and
practice, by having students run Wansolwara newspaper and Pacific Media Watch
and other initiatives.
“Students need theory but
also practice (practical/technical skills). Given the situation with Covid-19
and isolation, you may need a mix of online mentoring, assignments – such as
make a diary at home, make a little film or podcast – and think about how they
can contribute to information flow from their own home communities,” he says.
“I always press upon the
idea of reading and self-educating to students. Just getting them inspired with
the lives and work of the great correspondents is one way to get them motivated
and thinking about stories they can do.
“They could also be
researching stories about historical pandemics that have affected the Pacific
such as [measles] in Samoa and many other places.”
A myriad of ways for
journalism schools to be inspired and to keep future journalists interested and
motivated in the time of Covid-19.
Sri Krishnamurthi,
the contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch
postgraduate student project, is self-isolating in Auckland under New Zealand’s
Covid-19 lockdown.
