Pesi Fonua To Open PIMA 2007 Media Conference

Tongan Publisher To Open PIMA 2007 Media Conference

Tongan publisher and editor Pesi Fonua will open the 2007 Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) conference in Auckland tomorrow.

Fonua is publisher and editor of the long-running Matangi Tonga magazine.

He has won numerous awards for excellence, including joint winner of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) media freedom award in 2005 and PINA's print journalist of the year award in 1993.

PIMA chairman John Utanga says Fonua, as a working journalist in one of the region's hotspots, has been instrumental in helping to cover the serious social and political issues in his homeland of Tonga.

"But perhaps his greatest triumph in recent years has been to oversee the transition of his magazine into a truly global vehicle on the internet," he says.

Matangi Tonga Online is now one of Tonga's leading news providers reaching Tongans and Pacific people all over the world.

Utanga says Fonua is an ideal speaker for this year's conference at AUT University - the conference theme is "Pasifika in the digital era".

"It acknowledges the role digital technology is playing in reshaping how we as Pasifika people receive and create media messages," he says.

"It is a highly pertinent topic given the relative youth of our Pasifika community and the fact that in this fast-moving, text-driven, Bebo-fuelled era, information literally moves at lightning speed. So, how do we keep up?"

Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) president Joseph Ealedona, from Papua New Guinea, is also attending the PIMA conference this year.  

Ealedona, a former journalist, is currently managing director of PNG's National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC).

He was unanimously elected to lead the regional news organisation at its biennial conference in the Solomon Islands earlier this year.

Workshop speakers include Selwyn Manning, coeditor for Scoop Online news service, Tom Cotter, general manager for content and delivery for TVNZ emerging business, and associate professor David Robie, director of AUT's new Pacific Media Centre.

A panel of Pacific celebrities and media practitioners will also discuss the issue of Pacific reporting vs mainstream reporting. The panel includes ex-Silver Fern Linda Vagana; current captain of the NZ women's rugby league team, Luisa Avaiki; Manukau city councillor Su'a Viliamu Sio; and Niu FM news editor Lito Vilisoni.

The conference will run for one day only at the AUT conference room in the main campus, Wellesley St, Auckland.

www.pima.org.nz

ENDS

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