New Asia Pacific Report website takes off

David Robie also blogs at Cafe Pacific

Report from Pacific Media Watch:

An enterprising new media collaboration between a journalism centre and an independent news organisation took off Thursday night in a bid to bolster Asia Pacific news and analysis in New Zealand.

Asia Pacific Report will feature news reports and features from student journalists on a postgraduate Asia Pacific studies course at Auckland University of Technology and a network of contributing academics and journalists around the region.

The new website, to be launched by Pacific Cooperation Foundation CEO Laulu Mac Leauanae, is a result of a collaboration between Evening Report owner and editor Selwyn Manning and AUT’s Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie.

“This will be a fresh ‘Pacific voice’ in the media. A series of excellent, in-depth stories are being filed by our students and collaborating journalists and they deserve a digital showcase for their award-winning work,” says Dr Robie.

“AsiaPacificReport.nz will be a stimulating and challenging new source of news and current affairs available to the public. And with our Creative Commons licence policy it will be available for the regional Pacific media to tap into.”

Over the past three years Manning’s company, Multimedia Investments Ltd, has successfully launched Evening Report, The Daily Blog, 36th-Parallel.com, Newskitchen.eu, de.Newskitchen.eu, ForeignAffairs.co.nz and LiveNews.co.nz as independent media outlets, and has provided the springboard, inspiration and technical support for the AsiaPacificReport.nz venture.

He says AsiaPacificReport.nz seamlessly displays all forms of digital reportage and analysis in an easy to navigate design. It was built from the ground up with convergence in mind and its content logic accentuates the strengths of Pacific Media Centre’s editorial policy and course outputs.

Significant reach
“Multimedia Investments will provide significant reach for the PMC’s reportage and analysis.

“It will enable the publishing of AsiaPacificReport.nz’s content into global media outlets, including Dow Jones Factiva, Lexis Nexis, Moreover, and Acquire Media.

“We look forward to launching Asia Pacific Report and are confident it will be a significant outlet and a reliable source for public discourse and debate within the Asia Pacific region,” Manning says.

Dr Robie says objectives of the website include:

•    An independent Asia-Pacific voice telling the “untold” stories

•    An educational media resource boosting the quality of regional reporting

•    Addressing issues of equity and justice

•    Providing Asia-Pacific journalism internships as a professional development opportunity

Manning, a former chair of the PMC Advisory Board, and Dr Robie previously collaborated with the Pacific Scoop venture, founded in 2009.

A 15 min documentary, The PMC Project, by Pacific Media Watch journalist Alistar Kata will also be screened.

NOW LIVE: AUT Pacific Media Centre launches AsiaPacificReport.nz news website