The cohort of Pacific journalists following a media scrum with Rt Hon Winston Peters at the Pasifika TV 10-year on air anniversary.
By Jack Seumanutafa
Journalist, Tv1 Samoa
Jack Seumanutafa is one of 11 Pacific journalists, who recently visited Aotearoa New Zealand, as part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) funded Media Exchange.
Meet the first cohort of Pasifika journalists who participated at the PCBL conference in Auckland, New Zealand this year.
Their journey started with an introduction, but the rest was extraordinary.
These 11 journalists from the Pacific—Tonga, Nauru, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, and Samoa—were part of the PCBL conference, and other assigned events gave them hope, encouragement, bravery, and dreams.
The week-long events provided a wealth of knowledge through keynote speakers, panel discussions, and sharing.
The room was also filled with well-educated professionals – Chief Executive Officers, technicians, young leaders, pioneers in the media industry, communication officers, and journalists.
A time of reflection, celebration, and also an opportunity for the journalists to meet and build networks with media personnel from around the region.
While attending the conference, meeting deadlines back home was another part of their journey – being away from their home islands but never failing to send stories back home.
A highlight of the journey was not only being part of the 10th anniversary of the PCBL, but also meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters.
A visit to TVNZ with their Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver was an eye-opening experience that showed dreams can be achieved if you go for it and “Be Brave”.
Being part of the Pasifika Festival was one of the experiences that I will never forget.
Covering a massive event with over 30000 people in Auckland was an unforgettable task, as this was the first time for the participating journalists to report on a major international event outside their home countries, making the experience even more valuable during their visit to New Zealand.
I must say that many journalists from the Pacific Islands dream of having this opportunity to be part of an extraordinary conference and to see firsthand one of the largest newsrooms in the Pacific, and our hope is for PCBL to offer more opportunities like this in the future.
A place where journalists from small islands dream to further pursue their careers.
It was a journey that launched millions of dreams for the cohort to aim for in the future.
A huge acknowledgement goes out to PCBL for the invitation, a big Fa’afetai Tele Lava to MFAT NZ for funding our participation, and a special acknowledgement to Kris Lavasii, Sonya Peters, and Stefan Armbruster for looking after us while in Aotearoa.