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PMT-WEST COMMUNICATION INSTITOeft

Ille I&ANI1CommunicationCommunication ~owsletler

Pacific Islands News Association Suva, FijiSocial Sciences & Linguistics Institute

Honolulu, HawaiiEast-West Communication Institute Honolulu, Hawaii

September 1976 Vol. 6, No. 3

PACIFIC NEXT WORLD FOCUS - EDITORBy Siu-Chu Sandy Lee

The president of the presti-gious American Society of News Edi-tors, George Chaplin, urges Americaneditors to understand more and givemore attention to the Pacific.

Chaplin, editor-in-chief of theHonolulu Advertiser in Hawaii, saidin an interview that the action ofthe next century will be in Asia andthe Pacific." He said there areferments brewing in Asia and thePacific, especially in countrieslike the People's Republic of Chinaand Thailand, that are of greatimportance to Americans.

Chaplin noted that while the

CIBNC faces crisisBy Floyd Takeuchi

RAROTONGA--The Cook IslandsBroadcasting and News Corporation(CIBNC) has been given one year tobecome a self-supporting governmentdepartment. As things stand now,the chances of that happening arevery slim.

Michael Drollet, head of theCII3NC, says that as of last April

(continued page 6)

NZ BROADCASTING -

By Ian Johnstone

Apart from the early radio pio-neers, and a handful of privateradio stations in the larger cities,broadcasting in New Zealand has al-ways been a public, rather than aprivate, enterprise.

For 25 years after the firstenthusiasts began transmitting

traditional focus of American news-papers is on Europe, the Pacificand Asia should receive more atten-tion in American newspapers.

Hawaii, though an American state,has its strong cultural elementsfrom Asia and the Pacific Islands.It is the "window on Asia andPacific" for the U.S., he said.

Hawaii's newspapers may be theonly ones giving more attention to Chaplin believes that visitingAsia and the Pacific affairs than the Pacific Islands is the bestAmerican newspapers in general since

(continuedpage 3)

SAMOAN TRAINEE BROADCASTERS IN APIA

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Part of a group of Western Samoan trainee broadcasters being giveninstruction in Apia. See page nine

BACK TO MONOPOLY?radio signals up and down the coun-try's stretched and mountainous is-lands, broadcasting was a departmentof state. An efficient network ofradio stations was used to reinforcethe policies of governments whowere establishing one of the world'searliest welfare states, and tobring news and entertainment from amore civilised and eventful world

(continued page 4)

WHAT'S INSIDE

Editor's Notes

2New Magazine

3Tourism Sours

5Aboriginal Radio

7PNG Rascals

10

PICN celebratessixth birthday

This month marks the end of thesixth year of publication for thePacific Islands Communication News-letter. The quality and depth ofarticles in this issue testifies tothe important communication concernsin the Pacific, and to the growthof the newsletter itself.

The newsletter was started atthe Communication Institute and isnow a joint venture of the Insti-tute, the Pacific Islands News Asso-ciation (Suva) and the SocialSciences & Linguistics Institute atthe University of Hawaii.

The plan is to shift the edi-torial office of PICN to Suva's PINAheadquarters in mid-1977 or so, ifall the arrangements can be workedout.

Interest in PINA remainsJohn Moses' return to Australia

from the editorship of the jJJTimes doesn't mean any lessening ofhis support for the Pacific IslandsNews Association. John participatedin the 1974 PINA organization meet-ing in Suva, and was one of the keypersons in getting the organizationoff the ground. His leadership atthe PINA sessions was matched byhis gracious hospitality during andafter the working sessions wereover. John promises to keep PINAinterests in mind as he undertakeshis new work. I would like to ex-tend my personal thanks to him forhis valuable help with PINA, andfor his efforts on professionalstandards in journalism.

PACIFIC ISLANDSCOMMUNICATION NEWSLETTER

PublisherSocial Sciences & Linguistics Inst.Donald M. Topping, DirectorPorteus Hall, University of HawaiiHonolulu, Hawaii 96822

Editorial StaffEditor: Jim RichstadAssistant Editor: Floyd TakeuchiSpecial Assistant: Ian Gill

Address all correspondence to:The Editor, PICNEast-West Communication Inst.1777 East-West RoadHonolulu, Hawaii 96822

EDITOR'S NOTESJim Richstad

Strong reactions to articles on Samoan 'TV gift'We were expecting some reaction

to the two articles in the June PICNon the television situation in-volving Western Samoa and AmericanSamoa. And there was some. Weheard reports that people were upsetwith the articles, particularlyabout Curt Madison's commentary onthe possible gift of a televisionstation to Western Samoa. And BobBerger in Honolulu told us over thephone that it wasn't a question ofWestern Samoa being locked into theAmerican technical system for tele-vision, since there are alreadymore television sets in WesternSamoa than in American Samoa. Andin American Samoa, this articleappeared on the front page of JakeKing's Samoa News under the head-line, "No TV For Western Samoa":

"Acting Governor Frank Barnettresponded Wednesday to an articleappearing in a Honolulu publicationwhich indicated the Government ofAmerican Samoa had already madecommitments to Western Samoa, for

the delivery of one of the surplushigh-band television stations.Barnett said, 'This simply isn'ttrue. We have never made suchcommitment although, we have hadsome preliminary talks with theGovernment of Western Samoa sometime ago but, nothing came of itand we have forgotten about it.'The article quoted Jon Anderson,general manager of KVZK-TV as say-ing, 'All Western Samoa has to dois say yes and prepare a site.'Barnett said in reply to the attrib-uted statement: 'Unless GovernorEarl Ruth has made some kind ofcommitment without me knowing,this statement is unfounded.' TheGovernment of American Samoa re-cently declared three of the sixtransmitters on Mt. Alava as surplusbut according to Barnett no dispo-sition has been considered."(that's the end of the Samoa Newsarticle.)

That's all the printable reac-tion we've heard. PICN welcomesfurther discussion on the question.

Pacific publications anA survey of Pacific Islands

publications and broadcasting ser-vices is now underway. Census formsfor newspapers were sent out mid-summer to all known Island publica-tions, and the broadcasting censusforms will be going out soon.

The survey is being conductedby Jim Richstad of the CommunicationInstitute, and is a follow-up to the1973 survey, which resulted in pub-lication of The Pacific IslandsPress A Directory by the Univer-sity Press of Hawaii.

The new directory will includebroadcasting and other forms ofcommunication, and several articleson communication in the Pacific.

Newspaper editors who have notreceived a census form are asked towrite to Richstad at the Communica-tion Institute, East-West Center,Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, for a form.Those who have received a form buthaven't sent it back, are asked todo so soon.

The census on publications

d broadcasting surveywill gather information on staff,publication frequency, number ofpages per issue, day of publication,printing equipment, special issues,advertising rates, news services,and so forth.

Broadcasters will be asked toprovide information on staff, pro-gramming, hours, advertising, newsservices, etc.

The new communication directorywill be the most complete listingof Island media ever put together.

Contributors to the September1976 issue of the Pacific IslandsCommunication Newsletter includeIan Johnstone, TV One, New Zealand,on broadcasting changes in NewZealand; Lasarus Vusoniwailala,degree scholar at the East-WestCenter, from Fiji, on tourism inthe Pacific; Floyd Takeuchi, degreescholar at EWC, from Honolulu andSaipan; Michael Anderson, degreescholar at EWC, from Minnesota;Sandy Lee, degree scholar at EWC,from Hong Kong.

NEW MAGAZINE WILL COVER AMERICAN PACIFICA new quarterly magazine called

The American Pacific came out withits first issue in early August.Editor/Publisher A. Bruce Jensen,Jr., said in his opening issue thatthe Honolulu-based magazine willcover the "rapid changes" takingplace in the "political, economicand social sectors" of the "AmericanPacific."

Sherry O'Sullivan, former edi-tor and publisher of the AmericanSamoa Underground Press is associ-ate editor of the publication.

The first issue contains arti-cles on the Pacific Area Travel Ser-vice (Pats), boat building inMajuro, Hawaiian Jesse Kuhaulua andhis career in Japanese Sumo wres-tling, octopus fishing and sportsfishing.

Departments include Guide toPacific Fishing, Transportation,Business News, Classified Advertis-

The

ing, South Seas frader and Passportto the Pacific Islands as well asNews Briefs.

Islands listed on the coverinclude Guam, Hawaii, Kusaie,Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands,Palua Islands, Ponape, Samoa, Trukand Yap.

Contributions of articles and

n

TRUK YAP

photographs can be submitted to theeditor. Subscriptions are $5 ayear in U.S. postal zones, $8 forforeign subscriptions. Individualcopies are listed at $1.25. Adver-tising rates can be obtained fromthe magazine offices, located at1541 South Beretania Street, Room304, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814, U.S.A.Editorials and subscriptions arehandled there, too.

Action of next century to be in Asia and Pacific, predicts editor(continued from page 1)

way to understand the area.

One step toward American edi-tors' better understanding of thePacific Islands will be the ASNEconvention in May 1977 to be heldin Honolulu.

"It will provide an Asia-Pacific oriented convention formost American editors," Chaplinsaid. "A substantial segment ofthe convention will be on Asia andPacific."

CONVENTION

Chaplin added that some of theeditors are already planning on vis-iting some of the Pacific Islandsafter the convention.

Chaplin sees the role of Ameri-can editors in helping the develop-ment of the Pacific Island press as

International phone exchange opens in RaratongaRaratonga's residents can now

ring the outer islands, New Zealandand other Pacific islands from homeinstead of going to the old interna-tional Telephone Exchange inAvarua. The old exchange which wasinstalled in 1968 on a six-month"temporary" basis finally ceased

operation last May.

The new International Exchangewas given under the New Zealand AidScheme and consists of two telephonecircuits to New Zealand and fourcircuits to Outer Islands and otherPacific countries, and ships at sea.

primarily to provide training pro-grams for potential journalists.

He thinks existing programslike the Jefferson Fellows, NiemanFellows and the Gannett Fellowscan help Pacific Island journalists.

He also hopes that universitiescan organize short-term workshopsand seminars for Pacific journal-ists.

But Chaplin stressed the train-ing in terms of principles of re-sponsible journalism (which heinterprets Western-style journalismas). He believes that responsiblejournalism "is good in anywhere."

"I see a parallel in the opera-tion of newspapers in Western coun-tries and the Pacific in terms ofresponsible journalism, only theresources available are different,"he said.

RESPONSIBLEResponsible journalism is espe-

cially needed for developing coun-tries like those in the Pacific,which often have highly personalisedtendencies.

Chaplin added that Hawaii isan appropriate place for trainingPacific journalists.

George Chaplin

4

NZ BROADCASTING FACES SWITCH TO MONOPOLY(continued from page 1)to the remote farmers and townsfolkof a remote country.

In 1961, when television trans-missions were beginning in the fourmain centres, the New Zealand Gov-ernment followed the example of mostother Commonwealth countries, andcreated the New Zealand BroadcastingCorporation, a board of Governmentappointees, responsible to theMinister of Broadcasting for runningthe country's broadcast services.

The model, of course, was theBBC. and the underlying idea was

in 1972, commissioned a report onthe best way of breaking up theCorporation. It would be unfairto suggest that narrow politicalmotives were the only cause of thenew Government's desire to dismem-ber the old Corporation.

Labour was opposed to privatecommercial control of the secondtelevision channel which was beingintroduced, and it saw great cul-tural and social benefit in compe-tition. Above all, perhaps, itsaw broadcasting as a hithertounder-used asset in the promotionof a New Zealand sense of identity,

that broadcast services should be and the encouragement of New Zealandrun on behalf of the people as a artists and writers and performers,whole not just as an agency of and it sought a way to develop the

'The 10 years of the NZBC was marked

by battles between broadcasters and politiciansthe Gönntoir the day. It's a asset in the interests of the coun-sensible scheme, putting control of try as a whole.powerful media at some distancefrom politicians and profiteers,So, in 1975, the NZBC disap-and, all things being equal, en- peared, replaced by what seemed atsuring that the people have access the time a rather cumbersome system4,, 4mnv.ti.i n,1 authoritative news ". -

to make fedules truly complemen-tary, difficulties in raising andcontrolling money) began to showthrough. But, by the end of theyear, audiences and broadcastersseemed to be enjoying the experi-ence.

Also at the end of the yearcame the 1975 elections, and the NewZealand voters reversed their 1972choice, putting Labour out and Na-tional back in, with a big majority.Reorganisation of broadcasting hadnot been a major election issue,but there was no doubt that Nationalpoliticians had smarted, in Opposi-tion, under what they saw as a prod-igal broadcasting system, whichallowed broadcasters freedom almostamounting to licence, and wasted thecountry's scarce resources on unnec-essarily duplicated services. Sothe new Government, in its turn,appointed a committee to put thingsright again, and there we were, inAugust 1976, awaiting the secondreorganisation of New Zealand'sbroadcasting system inside 18months.

UI public bodies. ne BroadcastingThe man in charge of this re-and a selection of programme mate- Council was given responsibility organisation is Hugh Templeton,rial to inform and entertain. for all radio and t1

For a decade, the NZBC met itsduties efficiently, if somewhat

prosaically. With the considerablerevenue its monopoly control of ra-dio and television allowed it tocollect from commercial advertisers,the NZBC set up an efficient tele-vision transmission network, andbegan to build facilities for localproduction. That simple explanationignores the fact that the 10 yearsof the NZBC was marked by a numberof battles between broadcasters andpoliticians, and attempts by privatecommercial interests to gain controlof at least part of the lucrativerunning of the television system.But it was the political battleswhich were to have the greatesteffect.

As the NZBC became more of apower in the land, politicians be-came increasingly suspicious of it.The Labour Party, out of officethroughout the 60s, came to regardthe monopoly Corporation as at besta bureaucratic monster supportingthe status quo, and at worst abiddable agent for the Government,doing its best to keep Labour out ofoffice.

So there was no great surprise--though there was certainly somedismay within the NZBC--when theLabour Government of the late NormanKirk, elected with a big majority

civil servant turned politician,mission, and general surveillance first holder of the re-created Cab-of programme standards. Radio New met Post of Minister of Broadcast-Zealand was to run the national ing. Templeton says he doesn'tradio system, complemented by pri- want to turn the Labour Government'svately run stations in the main system upside down, but he doescentres; Television One took over want a simpler system; above all,the existing television network; he wants one which will allow betterTelevision Two, with Headquarters economic control and management.in Auckland, would run the new, but The three-Corporation system hasnot yet complete second television had money problems. All three Cor-channel. The boards, with Chairmen porations have been keen to expand,also members of the Council would but only Tel vision One has made

'Television news services have come infor heavy criticism from the new Government'

report to ariianent, and the Mm- enough profit to meet its capitalister of Broadcasting would be no expansion programme; the othersmore. The television system was have had to borrow from the publicunique--its two services were to be purse. The new government wants to

competing, yet complementary, pub- reduce that borrowing, and rational-

licly owned and directed, yet corn- ise the money flow amongst the three

mercially responsive and largely services.I itueperiucri I

For broadcasters, the systemhad a.great deal to offer--encour-

agement of local production, the

chance to work for more than one

employer, the chance to compete,channel against channel, newsman

against newsman, programme againstprogramme. After a somewhat shakystart in mid-1975, the strengths(more and better local programmes,a more audience-responsive programmepolicy) and the weaknesses (failure

Television news services havecome in for some heavy criticismfrom the new Government. Whilethere's nothing particularly unusualin politicians believing that tele-vision newsmen want to dig out andbroadcast only the bad news aboutthem, the dissatisfaction of Mr.Templeton and his Cabinet colleagueshas been exacerbated because ofwhat they believe to be a wasteful

(continued page 7)

By Lasarusa Vusoniwailala

In the foreword to the 1961edition of his book The Pacific Is-lands, Douglas Oliver said, Onewould think that any region asoverexposed to literary and cine-matic cliches would inevitably dis-appoint in reality. But theextraordinary thing about thePacific is how it exceeds its expec-tation and charm. Indeed from onepoint of view, this is its dangerin the immediate future, for as amodern communication and travel fa-cilities improve, more and more ofthese lovely spots may be inundatedby the tourism that destroys whatattracts it."

In our quest for economicdevelopment many of the islands whoare not blessed with natural re-sources look on tourism as the mostlikely industry to entice investorsfor later foreign exchange, forlater still eventual' economicdevelopment toward a "better livingstandard" (whatever that may mean).Unfortunately, tourism thus farhas tended to aggravate human rela-tions rather than facilitate cul-tural understanding, so that the'eventually" that is reached is asituation of an undesirable imageof a place and people which visitorsfind objectionable. And when thisposition is reached for a group ofisland nations who offer nothingmore than the natural beauties ofthe landscape and the charms of thepeople, there is not much else tosell.

I have above said "unfortu-nately tourism aggravates humanrelations" because personally I seein tourism the potential for a pos-itive link between the differentpeoples of the world. Althoughcommunication technology is shrink-ing the world into a "global vil-lage," meaningful intercultural com-munication--for better worldunderstanding and harmony--can onlycome about via cultural empathy,

Tourism is turning sour - and themiddlemen robbers' are to blame

which may only be realized throughperson-to-person interaction thanby any technological means so farenvisaged by man. (We cannot dis-miss man's ingenuity, but just nowwe talk in the context of "thusfar.')

When we consider the improvingcommunication facilities and in-crease in commuting statistics, itis perhaps a blessing that the in-dustry has taken on impersonaldepth, otherwise the human senseswould have rejected person-to-personinteraction through psycho-culturalshock. Then, again, the nature ofthe tourism industry--as businessconcerns--to work mostly on economicprinciples, and functioning on aglobal network of multi-nationaltravel corporations, has left manyhosts with a sense of being thelosers. While they toil, and smilesome others reap the benefits, andwhat is even negative is that thebeneficiaries are seldom the guests(when the exchange takes on an un-balanced table) but the middlemen,who eventually rob the visitors andthe visited alike of their justshare of what in fact is theirhuman-cultural due.

A sour host makes life unpleas-ant and unfulfilling for a visitor,in time, money and worth. It isonly hoped that we will be able toevolve a meaningful way of worldcommuting, of taking advantage ofmodern travel facilities to enhancehuman communication, in which theinteraction may both be culturallyfulfilling as well as economicallyrewarding for the chief players.Tourism does not need to be nega-tive.

How can tourism take on a pos-itive connotation in cultural com-munication? Everywhere tourism hasbeen introduced it has tended tosink into a climate of antagonism

COMMERCIAL SATELLITE STATION OPENS IN FIJIIn a three-nation link, Fiji's

Governor-General, Ratu Sir GeorgeCakobau, recently opened Fiji's newsatellite earth station in Wailoku,on the suburbs of Suva. The firstofficial call was a conversationbetween the Governor-Generals ofthe three countries, Sir DennisBlundel of New Zealand, Sir JohnKerr of Australia, and Ratu SirGeorge.

This is not the first satellitestation for Fiji. The $3000 ground

station at the USP links withPEACESAT for educational broadcasts.The new conmierical station, whichcost $6 million, is owned by theCable & Wireless Ltd. It willenhance traffic inside the Fiji-New Zealand-Australia triangle.Apart from facilitating telephoneand telex signals, the 105-foot dishstation has provision for televisioncircuits in preparation for the timewhen Fiji decides on television.

on the part of the guests and antip-athy on the part of the hosts....Europe, Caribbean and now theemerging discontent of Pacific tour-ism.

One way of looking at the prob-lem is from the psychology of inter-action. A human organism can endureonly so much degree of exposure, somuch intensity of interaction beforeits sensitivity is pinched and thenerves cry out for privacy. Thisis one possible reason--whereas anisolated tribe is always character-ized by its charm and friendliness(especially passive to outsiders ofsuperior technology) continual expo-sure brings about a change in thebehaviors of the visited; sometimesan aggressive reaction (for thosewho feel their privacy intruded) orapathy, indifference and possiblecultural destruction for those whofeel caged in human zoos.

When the daily, which is a mem-ber of the Gannett newspapers, wentback to print, heavy coverage of thestorm's aftermath dominated the pa-per for two weeks.

Another angle of perception isfrom the economics of the industry.Whereas the interaction betweenguest and host was an informal per-sonal experience, today it is astructured industry around the sci-ence of economics, a disciplinewhich revolves around the premisethat a function should only be con-doned, tolerated or allowed to sur-vive if it shows profit. Whereasthe guest-host dyad was psychologi-cally satisfying plus whatevermaterial rewards the exchange mayrealize, the economic ventureswhich has made tourism what it istoday has depersonalized what was,and can be, a culturally enrichingexperience.

STORMY TIME FOR PAPERNatural disasters such as hur-

ricanes, earthquakes and tidal wavesare major news items whenever theyoccur. They are also news breakersand disrupt communication whereverthey strike.

Guam recently experienced thisin the case of Typhoon Pamela.Whereas the outside world heard ofits rage (while communication withthe island was still possible) therewas little distributed news on Guamwhen Pamela closed down The PacificDaily News for two days in May.

COOK BROADCASTING AND NEWS FACES CRISIS(continued from pageall Ministries and government agen-cies must try to pay their own way.For the CIBNC, which has a projecteddeficit of over NZ$10,000 for thecoming fiscal year, escalatingprinting costs and inadequate adver-tising revenues will seriously ham-per the effort. Drollet estimatesthat printing costs alone will total$46,000 for 1976. Subscriptionsfor the daily Cook Islands News andweekly Photo News bring in $14,000and advertising another $22,000.The $10,000 deficit does not includestaff salaries.

CIBNC houses the two govern-ment newspapers and One-ZC, the onlyradio station in the Cook Islands.'Our plan,' says Drollet, 'is tohave the radio station cover thelosses of the newspapers.'

The pressure to become self-supporting has led CIBNC to takewhat might be termed "drastic" mea-sures in its advertising policies.In the past, pressures from reli-gious leaders on Rarotonga preventedeither the newspapers or One-ZC frommentioning 'cigarettes" or "beer"in any ad.

Consequently, when NewZealand's Leopard Beer became in-terested in purchasing $4,000 worthof ads in 1971, church leadersstepped in and prevented any of theads from mentioning that Leopard wasa beer. CIBNC lost that contract.

Five years later, while "beer"has not entered the air waves, onecan hear jingles for "Rothman'scigarettes, they satisfy:" Drolletsays he is trying to interestLeopard in another contract.

"We just cannot pick and choosewhat we are going to advertise,"states Drollet. It is quite clearthat the traditional "restraints"are giving way to economic neces-sity.

One-ZC has the potential tobecome self-supporting by nextApril, primarily because the equip-ment and the small staff do notrequire any unusual expenditures.

Advertisers, local and NewZealand, appear willing to buy radiotime. An automobile dealer, forexample, sponsors a five-minute im-ported program.

Perhaps the greatest difficultyCIBNC will have in convincing ad-

Michael Drollet

A

(right) and assistant

vertisers to purchase air time orcolumn inches is the fact thatRarotonga is small. The "shoppingdistrict" in Avarua, where thegovernment offices are located, islocated on the main road in onesmall cluster.

There are only so many storesto shop from, and with the exceptionof the duty free merchandise,there are only so many things tobuy.

In addition to the problem ofsize, the newspapers face a lowreadership. The total press runfor each paper is about iJIDO, and

the daily Cook Islands News circu-lates fewer than that on Rarotongaitself. Of course, as with otherareas in the Pacific, one newspaperwill pass through many hands beforeit is used to wrap fish or packbananas.

Attempts to service the outerislands in the Cooks have been spot-ty. Aitutaki, which has daily airservice from Rarotonga, lacksdealers. The other islands, whichare serviced on an irregular basisby ship, do not have the opportunityto receive a newspaper. In fact,Drollet feels that if CIBNC canserve these other islands, it willonly be by sending them bound backissues of either the daily News orthe Photo News.

"Hard" news is probably themost read feature of the CookIslands News estimates Drollet,followed by ads, the classifiednews and the photographs.

The weekly Photo News appearedin early 1975, shortly after theopposition Weekender began publish-ing. When asked if the Photo Newswas brought out in response to theWeekender Drollet said that thepaper had been in the planningstages since 1972.

The weekly is now totally de-voted to serving tourists to theCooks. After a haitus caused by alack of printing equipment, thePhoto News reappeared earlier thisyear without its political columnby "Poly-tic."

Originally, the government wasgoing to issue a pictorial aimed atvillage life. A previous attemptto publish a pictorial occurred inthe late 1950s. However, accordingto Drollet, when the governmentreorganized itself in 1973, theidea was put aside.

The Weekender, which was notpublishing here in early July, isthe first private press to publishin the Cooks. It is published bythe opposition Democratic Partyheaded by Dr. Tom Davis.

An assistant editor at work

Drollet says that the twoCIBNC papers have a good workingrelationship with other governmentdepartments. "We are given freedomof the press," he says. Drolletadds, however, that the press free-dom they work with is not as "ex-tensive" as the oppositionnewspaper.

By Michael Anderson

Ron J. Liddle, a 30-year-oldAustralian of Aboriginal descent,has a dream that he hopes to sharewith some of his forgotten' peo-ple.

The dream, which he expects tocome true by 1979, is to establishAustralia's first Aboriginal radiostation. He has been busy recentlydrumming up support for the projectand at the same time developing hisown broadcasting skills.

Liddle discussed his planswhile in Honolulu in June for aconference sponsored by the Commu-nication Institute.

ESTABLISHEDLiddles goal in life is to

develop an FM Aboriginal stationthat will serve some 23,000 inlandAboriginals over a 500-mile radiuswithin the country's remote NorthernTerritory. His plan is to have thestation operated entirely by indig-enous people.

The station is expected tobe established in the cattle stationtown of Alice Springs, about 1,000miles south of Darwin. The commu-nity's 14,000 residents--including

He's trying to make his dream come true -

Australia's first Aboriginal radio stationabout 1,000 Aboriginals--are servedby one commercial station, butLiddle said its programs are inEnglish and consist mainly of musicand advertising.

Liddle said the Aboriginals,too often forgotten, need a stationin their own languages that willair music, news, education, and'talk-back" programs to meet thespecial needs of people who havelong been at the lowest socio-eco-nomic level of Australian society.(Aboriginals total about 150,000people out of a population of about13 million Australians.)

Many of the indigenous peoplecontinue to live semi-nomadic livesin the Outback,' he said, and mostof their information is "second-handstuff" or at best comes fromEnglish-language sources that arenot always understood.

Australia. He is fluent in threeAboriginal languages--Pitjinjurra,Luritja and Aranda--and is familiarwith five others.

IDENTIFICATIONThe Aboriginals often have

cultural identification and adjust-ment problems when they move intomore permanent, less rural settingsand "try to find out what their big,bad world is coming to," he said.

The proposed station would payparticular attention to the needs

of children, who Liddle explainedare often "taken away from the landof their forefathers and moved byforce into settlements or governmentreservations" by welfare agents andmissionaries. Many become disil-lusioned and drop out of school andhave to depend on government hand-outs or casual labor.

Liddle has experienced Aborig-inal communication problems first-hand. A member of the Aranda tribe,he has spent most of the past 15years working in remote areas ofthe Northern Territory and Western

MONOPOLY CONTROL FOR NZ BROADCASTING?(continued from page 4) ment one ought to expect of a

duplication of news staff, coverage,Government recently returned to

and air time. power with a big majority.

New Zealand is a small country,and the appearance of two film cam-era crews at Ministerial Press con-ferences, ceremonial bridgeopenings, and more significant newsevents has been cited by economy-conscious politicians as an illus-tration of unnecessary duplicationof news gathering. The benefits tothe viewer have not been highlyrated.

On the basis of such consider-ations, the present proposal is fora return to monopoly control ofbroadcasting. The three serviceswill continue, but all will becontrolled by a "phoenix" NZBC,which will allocate funds, and gen-erally direct the services in thepublic interest. The legislationis expected to be presented toParliament within the next threeor four months.

So far, there's been littlepublic discussion, for the proposalsseem to be regarded by most NewZealanders as relatively insignif-icant, merely the sort of readjust-

For television broadcasters,however, the return to monopolycontrol is far from insignificant.In their brief period of indepen-dence, they've made more and betterprogrammes than under the old NZBC.Television One and Two are each"leaner" than the NZBC, spendingmoney and energy on programmemaking, rather than on bureaucratichierarchies, and, most importantly,they have hunted for viewers,anxious to better the programmesoffered by their competitor.

Perhaps it was just too muchto expect that the politicianswould leave broadcasting alone after18 months of an exciting and uniqueexperiment. Maybe the best of whathas been learned can be salvaged inthe reorganisation. Certainly theoptimists and the pragmatists arehoping so, but most televisionbroadcasters are now resigned tothe fact that New Zealand, thefirst democratic country to revertto monopoly control from the moremature position of diverse control,is about to take a step backwardin broadcasting.

In the interview for P1CM,Liddle said he is convinced thatradio communication can be an in-valuable tool in helping the youngergeneration gain knowledge aboutmodern life and become better

equipped to face the inevitable

changes in their traditions.

The Department of AboriginalAffairs has contributed A$lO,000to help start the station, Liddle

explained, and the AustralianBroadcasting Commission in Sydneyhas offered to help train Aborig-inals interested in broadcastingcareers.

INDIGENOUS MODELIf the Alice Springs experiment

succeeds, Liddle said, it couldserve as a model for indigenouscommunications operations in otherparts of the country and could leadto the development of a trainingschool where Aboriginals could de-velo communication skills.

Liddle recently received anoverseas study award from theAustralian Government to add tohis own broadcasting expertise.His travel program in the next fewmonths will take him to Britain,the United States, and Canada, in-cluding Edmonton where he waslooking forward to observing NorthAmerican Indian broadcasting opera-tions.

Ron J. Liddle can be reachedat the Australia Department ofEducation, P. 0. Box 826, Woden,A.C.T. 2606, Canberra, Australia.

FLOW OF NEWS STUDY

SHORT TAKES: PRESS

New publications WRITER WINS AWARDTwo new publications of

interest in the Pacific Islands arenow available through the Communi-cation Institute and University ofHawaii.

Communication in the Pacificedited by Daniel Lerner and JimRichstad, is a compilation of papersfrom the 1975 Communication in thePacific Conference at the East-WestCenter. The papers, focusing oncommunication and change in thePacific, are presented in threesections: traditional communicationmodes, political and social changes,and the role of modern media inthese changes. Specific topicsinclude traditional song and dancesand other means of interchange,including warfare; population,linguistic and political profilesof the islands, and modern mediasuch as newspapers, broadcasting,news flow in the Pacific and thePEACESAT radio satellite system.Authors include Douglas Oliver,Adrienne Kaeppler, Barbara Smith,Peter Pine, Donald Topping,Norman Meller, Jim Richstad, L. 8.Usher, and Ian Johnstone. Copiesare available without charge fromthe Communication Institute.

Policy Dialog on the Right ofEveryone in Hawaii to Communicateedited by L. S. Harms, Jim Richstad,Bruce Barnes and Kathleen A. Kiel,is a report for the Hawaii Committeefor the Humanities on a series ofRight to Communicate workshops heldin spring 1976 on the Hawaii islandsof Kauai, Oahu, Maui and Hawaii.The project was designed to testways of engaging community membersin dialog about their concerns overcommunication rights. The reportnotes that concerns on each islanddiffered. One, for example, showedgreat concern over communicationbetween new immigrants from thePhilippines and local residents,another over access to the publicmedia of broadcasting and newspa-pers, another over the potential ofcable television. The project wasintended to help develop prototypedialog models. Single copies areavailable without charge from L. S.Harms, Social Sciences & LinguisticsInstitute, Porteus Hall 704, Univer-sity of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii96822, U.S.A.

Melvin Goo, editorial writerfor the Honolulu Advertiser, is among13 awardees in this year's NiemanFellowship. The Luius W. NiemanFoundation for Journalists atHarvard University is reputed to bethe highest academic award in Ameri-can journalism. Goo will study na-tional and international politicsat Harvard for nine months, begin-ning this September.

PINA IN HONOLULU?

A meeting of the Pacific Is-lands News Association in Honoluluin May 1977--at the same time asthe American Society of NewspaperEditors convention--has been pro-posed. Members of the OrganizingCommittee of PINA have been askedto consider such a meeting. GeorgeChaplin said Pacific Island editorscould be 'official guests" at theASNE meeting. Persons interestedin such a meeting should contactL. G. Usher, Organizing Director,PINA, Private Bag, Raiwaqa, Suva,Fiji.

Moses in AustraliaJohn Moses, editor-in-chief

of the Fiji Times was preparingto leave Fiji in late July as hiscontract neared its end. Mosesplanned to return to Australia, forwork in either Sydney or Melbourne.

Vijendra Kumar was appointedacting editor of the Times.

REPORTER FILES SUITA former KITV news reporter

filed a suit in Honolulu's FederalCourt in June, contending he wasfired from the station solely be-cause of his age and race. DonaldE. Baker contended that the stationswitched its news format, empha-sizing youth and non-Caucasians,and that he consequently was fired.

KITV News Director StewartCheifet said the charge "is nottrue.' The story was reported inthe Honolulu Advertiser.

Research questions for a Flowof the News and Information study inthe Pacific Islands were examinedSeptember 15-18 at the CommunicationInstitute at the East-West Center inHonolulu.

Eight journalists and scholarsmet with Institute staff members toplan the first comprehensive studyof the flow of information in thenews media of the Pacific Islands,and the flow back and forth betweenIsland media and Pacific Rim coun-try media.

Participants included: ThomasBnislin, manager, Cablecasting, GuamCable TV System; Faalogo Pito Faalo-go, editor, Samoa Times Western Sa-moa; Peter McMechan, Director, Ex-tension Services, University of theSouth Pacific, Suva, Fiji; StuartInder, publisher, Pacific IslandsMonthly Sydney, Australia; SumFkoIwao, professor, Institute for Com-munication Research, Keio Universi-ty, Tokyo, Japan; Robert L. Jones,Director, School of Journalism andMass Communication, University ofMinnesota; Grant Noble, senior re-search psychologist, Department ofEducation, Monash University, Clay-ton, Australia; and Ovia Toua, de-puty chairman, National Broadcast-ing Commission, Port Moresby, PapuaNew Guinea. EWCI Director JackLyle and Researchers Wilbur Schrammand Jim Richstad participated forthe Institute.

Usher training reportL.G. Usher, organizing director

of the Pacific Islands News Associa-tion (PICN), was to give a paper onjournalist training requirements andconditions in the Pacific Islands atthe Conference on International Ex-change and Training of JournalistsOctober 18-22 at the CommunicationInstitute, East-West Center.

Representatives from studyand training programs from Japan,the Philippines, India, Indonesiaand the United States will presentother papers, as well as partici-pants from the International Insti-tute for Journalism in Berlin andthe Thomson Foundation London In-ternational Press Center.

The Norfolk Island Newsswitched from weekly to monthlypublication early in 1976. Thenewspaper was founded in May 1975.Cost has been set at 50 cents acopy. Reasons for the change in-volved rising costs on Norfolk andthe near-doubling of postage ratesfor overseas subscribers.

Students want tohear commercials

The majority of high schoolstudents in Papua New Guinea favorthe introduction of commercials onthe National Broadcasting Commission(NBC) radio service, although onequarter of them do not fully under-stand what radio commercials are.

A survey conducted by GrantNoble and John Morea of the PublicServices Commission on high schoolstudents attitude toward radioadvertising shows that 73% of therespondents agreed that thereshould be advertising on the NBC.

In the same survey, questionsof respondents comprehension wereasked, and a quarter of them failedto understand fully the nature andpaid purpose of radio advertising.A majority of those aware of thenature of advertising stressed theinformation aspect of advertising.Less than 10% mentioned negativeaspects of advertising such as ad-vertisement will interfere withprogrammes' and 'only the rich willbenefit from advertising."

Students favoring advertisingperceived that advertising shouldprovide facts on jobs, productsservices and their location.

Some of the students percep-tion of advertising also reflectglimpses of the situation of PapuaNew Guinea. Heading the list ofwhat should be advertised are

'positions vacant," which reflectthe current economic climate, and'houses," which reflect Moresby'saccommodation problems. Some stu-dents opposed the advertisement of"land for sale,' reflecting theirvery strong attitudes to land own-ership held by Papua New Guineans.

RADIO SERVICE BACKRadio New Zealand was to resume

its external service in June afterit was dropped for a month.

An article in the June 3, 1976Cook Islands News said that therestoration was announced by HughTempleton, NZ Minister of Broad-casting. Templeton said the movecame after representations fromlisteners to the shortwave broad-casts in the Pacific, Australia andAntarctic.

The restored service was to re-broadcast the Domestic National pro-

SHORT TAKES: ELECTRIC MEDIA

gram, however, and not the special effort.programs as before. The Nationalservice will be supplemented withspecial sports programs on the week-ends.

MORE SPORT ON TVMore sports and special events

programing was forecast by televi-sion station managers in Hawaii inJuly when a reduction in satelliterates took effect.

The cost for a half-hour trans-mission from the U.S. Mainland toHawaii via satellite dropped from$1,870 to $500. The reduction ispartly due to switching from theinternational system to the newCOMSTAR domestic satellite system.Hawaii is often treated as an in-ternational entity rather than adomestic one as far as telecommuni-cations rates and regulations areconcerned. The State vigorouslyhas been seeking a change in thisstatus--with resulting lowercharges--for some time.

Use of standby telephonetransponders is another reason forthe one-third reduction in cost.

NEW PEACESAT LINK

The University of Californiaat Santa Cruz Research Center forPacific Island Studies was expectedto establish a PEACESAT terminaland begin technical tests in latesummer. Discussions are also under-way for possible participation bythe Australia National Universityin Canberra.

PEACESAT (Pan Pacific Educationand Communications Experiments bySatellite) is an experimental proj-ect initiated by Dr. John Bystromof the University of Hawaii in 1969.Currently twelve Pacific Basinnations are involved in this uniqueinternational two-way communication

The experimental activitiesare referred to as "exchanges" andemphasize the information sharingaspect of the project. Some recentexchanges have included: Sea Turtleresearch and tagging, Assessingtraining needs among managementeducation associations, Regionalreview of family planning needs andviews, Papaya Growing and ProcessingTechniques, Nursing Education-NewDrugs and their Effects, SkipjackTuna Management, Community Develop-ment in Rural Areas for Social Wel-fare programs, Island Legends asresearched by High School Students,and Biogas Digestors as EnergySources.

These exchanges involve localparticipants at various locationsand are representative of the manytypes of useful dialogues heldover the experimental sys.tem.

Sione T. Fusimalohi, new man-ager of the Tonga BroadcastingCommission, plans to attend theCommonwealth Broadcasting Associa-tion Conference September 25 inSingapore and go on to the AsianBroadcasting Union conference inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fusimalohiplans to return to Tonga in lateOctober.

A transcript of the ElectricPacific program (see June 1976PICN) is now available from RadioNew Zealand. The report includes alist of participants and places in-volved in the activity, as well asa full transcript of the actualthree-hour Pacific-wide exchangeon April 4. The report is 29 pages.

One of the best new sources ofinformation about communication inthe Pacific is the transmitter, themonthly magazine of the NationalBroadcasting Commission of PapuaNew Guinea. Coleman Moni is editor.

BROADCAST TRAINING CENTRE FOR SAMOAMembers of the Broadcasting Training Centre in Apia, Western Samoa

preparing programs useful to Samoan villagers. Thirteen young Samoansare taking the two-year course, a UNDP project, executed by UNESCO totrain them in all aspects of radio program production to reinforceWestern Samoa's development efforts--Photo from UNESCO-UNDP BroadcastingTraining Project P 0 Box 200 Apia

£

YAP NEEDS A NEWSPAPER

By Ben Ruan

In Yap Education News

May 1976

During a recent trip to Guam,I was able to get first-hand infor-mation on the reaction of Yapesestudents about this newspaper. Allwere grateful for the chance toreceive some information of what is

happening on this pebble.

Most of the students expressconcern that the YEN is too re-stricted in its coverage. Realizingthat this is strictly an educationfunction, the students said theywanted to see a private Yapese news-

paper covering areas not limitedto education. Which brings up a

point that has been tossed aroundfor years. Yap should have itsown independent newspaper.

Study in cinema statusFloyd Takeuchi, a student at

the University of Hawaii and a de-

gree scholar at the CommunicationInstitute, is in the midst of a

five-month study of the status of

cinema in the Pacific Islands.

Takeuchi started with field

visits to American Samoa, WesternSamoa, Tahiti, the Cook Islands,

Fiji, New Caledonia, the SolomonIslands, Papua New Guinea,Australia, New Zealand and the is-

lands of Micronesia.

Takeuchi is looking at the

distribution patterns of movies inthe Pacific, country of origin, the

kinds of films being screened,theater and projection facilities,the existence of local cinema con-trol boards, local film productionand a number of other matters. He

expects to complete his field workabout the end of October.

Press bibliography soonThe Bibliography of Mass Commu-

nication and the Press in thePacific Islands is in its final

stages, with sections now undergoingfinal in-country review. The bib-

liography, compiled by Jim Richstadand Michael McMillan, has been ac-

cepted for publication by the Uni-

versity Press of Hawaii. It is

expected to be published by mid-1977.

The first independent Yapnewspaper federally funded, wasMOGETHIN--short-lived, but needed.Then, due to local political pres-sure, the paper folded. Anotherattempt was made with a smaller-sized newspaper. That, too, folded.Until now, there has been no other

attempt for an independent newspa-per.

The history of Yap newspaperspresents a pattern: it is easy tostart a paper; keeping it in oper-ation isn't. Papers are easy tostart here since enthusiasm ispresent at the beginning. Then asthe idea of the hard work sets in,enthusiasm loses out. A few commit-ted persons remain, but these workonly part-time: they have regulargovernment jobs. Which leads us tothe biggest problem facing a Yapnewspaper: staffing.

Working on a newspaper, espe-cially if it is starting, is a non-paying deal. It all has to be

voluntary work. With sufficientcommitment, a Yap paper can bestarted and kept running, though.Here's how:

Initial funding can come fromseveral sources: staff members'contributions, bank loans, or prob-ably EDLF. Initial funding does nothave to be great. Enough funds tocover materials and supplies ex-penses for two issues is sufficient.Both local and outside advertisingis easily acquired and should cover

HERE'S HOW

expenses plus a few cents profitper issue.

Commitment has to be there to

keep the operation going, however.Commitment to know that you cantrealize a big profit on the first

few issues. Commitment to know

that a few cents profit this issue

and a few cents next issue willlead to a few dollars. But mostof all, commitment to the idea that

you are doing a vital service forthe people on this pebble. In this

day of serious political happeningsin Micronesia an information mediumunhindered by government restric-tions and propaganda is needed.

For a private independent pa-per to work, a staff of five isthe minimum viable one. Any numberless than that will result in the

paper folding after a couple ofissues. The vital areas in a local

newspaper are THE WRITERS and RE-PORTERS. Mechanical and productionwork follow next with advertisinglast but not least.

A good portion of the local

people is interested in a Yap news-

paper. While the interest in a

local paper is high, the commitmentto work is practically nonexistent.The probable reason is laziness.Several groups have attempted tostart a paper but for reasons not

yet apparent have dissolved.

Any volunteers?

A STUDY ON RASCALS AND COMICS IN PNGEffects of Comic Books and Picture

Going on Deviant Behaviour in

Papua New Guinea: A PreliminarySurvey. Grant Noble and John Morea

--Psychological Services, PublicServices Commission. July 1976.26 pages.

Study looks at the amount and

type of comics and films for which90 fifteen-year-old high schoolstudents were audiences. Boys wentto the cinema an average of 26 timesa year while girls went 9 times a

year. Boys, moreover, preferredmore violent films than girls.While both boys and girls read acomic on the average every other

day, boys again preferred more vio-lent comics relative to girls.

Pupils were divided into

groups of more and less naughty!rascally boys and girls on the basis

of the number of times their fellow

pupils mentioned their names on asocio-metric questionnaire. More

rascally/naughty boys and girls didnot (a) read more comics, (b) goto the pictures more often, (c)prefer more violent films and (d)imitate film stars more often thanless rascally/naughty boys and

girls.

The only significant differ-ences between groups were that more

rascally boys preferred more violentcomics than less rascally boys, and

that more naughty girls imitatedcomic book people more often thanless naughty girls. Results suggestthat mass media violence has littleinfluence in Papua New Guinea andthat it is because children are

already violent that they seek outviolent mass media.

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