Archives

‘Connective news’ vital during cyclones

Cyclone Pam Cyclone Pam, a category 5 storm, made landfall on the most populated island of Efate, Vanuatu in 2015. Picture: www.caritas.org By BEN BILUA Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Pacific Disaster Preparedness Broadcast Unit head, Aaron Kearney, says best news story must be remarkable but relatable. Speaking to journalists across the Pacific via zoom workshop prior to Pacific Islands Climate Outlook Forum last month, Kearney explained that remarkable but relatable was a simple phrase that summarised the concept of 'connective news’. “News must bring events to life, get us emotionally involved, create characters and make us care about them and also…

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AUSPS Women’s Wing, USPSU raise $3k for cancer awareness

Supporters of the Pinktober Morning Tea last Friday. Picture: Travelling Light Photography/AUSPS Women's Wing By JACQUELINE SUTAHI A Pinktober Morning Tea event last Friday hosted by The Association of The University of the South Pacific Staff (AUSPS) Women’s Wing and USP Staff Union (USPSU) raised $3000 to support the work of the Fiji Cancer Society in creating awareness about cancer and offering financial assistance for cancer patients and survivors. AUSPS President Elizabeth Reade-Fong said the response from the USP community was overwhelming. “Self-care is important and the response from the USP staff community indicated just how much we care for…

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Pacific environmental defenders fight on

Pacific Climate Warriors - creative action to trigger better responses to climate crisis. Picture: Resilience/Supplied PMC By Sri Krishnamurthi/Pacific Media Centre In this new COVID-19 world, environmental and climate crisis defenders are developing new ways to cope and operate under the pandemic constraints. Groups as diverse as the local branch of the global environmental campaigner Greenpeace Pacific, Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), the Green Party in French Polynesia and Greenpeace New Zealand have found solutions. They have followed in the traditions of the Fiji-based Pacific Climate Warriors – part of the global 350 movement – who have drawn attention…

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ONOC partners with USP on internship programme for final year journalism students

By ONOC MEDIA The Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) has established a new partnership with the University of South Pacific’s (USP) School of Journalism to provide industry internships for final year journalism students.    Starting this year, 2020, the partnership provides an opportunity for USP final year journalism students to undertake six weeks of internship with the ONOC communications team at ONOC’s office in Suva, Fiji.  The internship is a requirement to satisfy a USP Journalism final year course, JN303 - Journalism Production.  USP Journalism coordinator and former sports editor Dr Shailendra Singh welcomed the partnership with ONOC.  He said it…

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Environmental workshop provides vital training for Pacific journalists

EJN's Donna Hoerder (centre) with USP Journalism students after the final-day of the environmental journalism workshop last week. Picture: Geraldine Panapasa/Wansolwara By JACQUELINE SUTAHI The first-ever environmental journalism workshop on the Suva Bay-Foreshore area was an eye-opener about amazing, abundant natural habitat and species diversity at our doorstep and its gradual destruction, says The University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme coordinator Dr Shailendra Singh. The two day workshop was organised by the USP Journalism Programme and Earth Journalism Network and focused on the theme 'Causes, Impacts of Pollution in the Suva Bay and Possible Solutions'. And according to Dr…

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‘No job losses at USP’, academic chief clarifies misinformation

Professor Pal Ahluwalia speaks to the media during a press conference in Suva today as members of the senior management team look on. Picture: WANSOLWARA By WANSOLWARA STAFF The University of the South Pacific’s academic chief has assured that there are no job losses or impending pay cuts in a proposed plan to restructure the institution. Despite the existing financial challenges in recent months, USP vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia said a media report about 110 possible job cuts as a result of a proposed organisational restructure was misinformation. He said the University faced the brunt of COVID-19 like…

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Fijian Government halts grant to USP, pending investigation

Concerned staff and students at USP say the Fijian Government is holding the institution to ransom after a decision was reached to withhold the remaining grant contribution. Picture: USPSA By WANSOLWARA STAFF The region’s top educational institution has hit a stumbling block in its finances after the Fijian Government announced it would cease its remaining grant contribution until a thorough and independent investigation into all the allegations by the Pro-Chancellor and the chair Audit and Risk Committee are carried out. The decision sent shockwaves across the USP community, with staff and students calling on Government to reconsider its decision, a…

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Academic calls for more action to preserve Suva foreshore

Prof Vijay Naidu speaks to participants at the USP-Earth Journalism Network's workshop on environmental journalism in Suva today. Picture: Sheldon Chanel By SHELDON CHANEL The Suva foreshore has been under 'enormous' pressure from decades of destructive practices with little to no public awareness about the various afflictions, says prominent academic professor Vijay Naidu. The problems have been exacerbated by no sustained public awareness campaign, absence of environmental issues in Pacific news media coverage and lack of leadership, Professor Naidu says. Prof Naidu made the comment while delivering his keynote address at a two-day workshop organised by USP's journalism programme and…

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Thompson: Governance a continuing crisis at USP

USP Pro-Chancellor Winston Thompson speaks to the media during a press conference yesterday. Picture: ELIKI DRUGUNALEVU By WANSOLWARA STAFF The University of the South Pacific management has come under fire for allegedly disregarding the governance oversight responsibility of the Council. USP Pro-Chancellor Winston Thompson, who is also chairman of the institution’s governing body, made the claims yesterday during a press conference at Laucala campus in Suva yesterday, He claimed University management had frequently disregarded its duty to work with and to Council. This, he said, governance was a continuing crisis at USP since 2019. “The crisis engulfing USP for the…

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Council terminates probe against USP academic chief

UPS Laucala campus students celebrate VCP Professor Pal Ahluwalia's return to office in June after his suspension was lifted by the USP Council. Picture: USPSA Facebook Page By JOSEFA BABITU The University of the South Pacific Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, has welcomed a Council decision to terminate investigations against him. The USP Council took the decision to terminate the proceedings of material misconduct against the VCP in a special meeting on Friday. During a recent event with the USP iTaukei Students Association executives, Prof Ahluwalia thanked staff and students of USP for the support shown through his dark days. He said the Council’s decision would…

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