Tia Soakai, Regional Content Manager at PCBL, with the handbook she authored.
By Michelle Curran
Executive Communications Manager, Pasifika TV/PCBL
The launch of the Pasifika TV Event Coverage Guide will provide the region’s media organisations with tools to create, manage, and share their own content with confidence, while maintaining cultural integrity.
Guidebook author, Tia Soakai, the Regional Content Manager at Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) and an experienced producer/reporter, says it is a framework which reflects PCBL’s goals for media in the region – to uphold story sovereignty, build capacity and commercial sustainability.
From L-R: Michael Taylor, Manager Content and Pacific Services, Fiji TV; Tia Soakai, Regional Content Manager, PCBL; Sitiveni Halofaki, General Manager Television, FBC; and Solomone Finau, Technical Manager, TBC at the Pasifika TV 10-years on air celebration.
“The guide came about after covering the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting and my move into the Regional Content Manager role at PCBL,” Tia explains.
“It’s really about answering the kinds of questions we always get on assignment and sharing what we’ve learned along the way, so we’re all working a little more smoothly together.”
Over the past decade, PCBL has worked alongside national broadcasters across the Pacific to support live coverage, content exchange, and media capacity building, at events such as Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meetings, FestPAC, and the Pacific Games, Tia explains.
“As collaboration increased, so too did the need for a practical guide that reflects both professional broadcast standards and the cultural values that shape storytelling in the region.
“This guide standardises how we prepare and deliver content so it can move easily across the network and be used well beyond that first broadcast.
“It also encourages better metadata so our Pacific stories don’t get lost and can keep travelling long after they’re told.”
The Pasifika TV Event Coverage Guide is now available to our affiliated broadcasters in the region.
This project is part of PCBL’s next block of work, funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), to support regional stability through a strengthened local media that is connected, resilient, and continues to enable civicmindedness, transparency and accountability.
It aims to bring together Pacific broadcasters to deepen networks, address common challenges together, and enable the distribution of quality content to allow Pacific broadcasters to deliver a 24/7 service to their audiences.