The news that another Pasifika paper has just hit the shops means more success stories of Pacific people will be kept under the radar of mainstream news, and the majority of New Zealanders.

It’s editor Taberannang Korauba says that Pacific Community News is going to ‘fill the need for providing a more positive face to Pacific communities.

Pacific Islanders living in NZ already know about their own success stories, their involvement in the community, the developments.,

Pacific Community News like the Pacific Island media outlets already established in NZ wants to serve the same purpose for which they were set up- to provide media coverage for Pasifika people.

It will also target only Pacific Islanders.
The question is – is this what we want to be doing?

Highlighting our own success stories in our own newspapers, radio stations, media outlets so that only we can take note of them?

In doing so, we’re not allowing our non Pacific Island neigbours, co workers a look into our lives.
We’re seperating what we think is our ‘news’ from the mainstream media ‘news’ the rest of NZ is tuning into.

The way to break these barriers is for the Pacific Island journalists to join the mainstream media newsrooms around the country.

We have the understanding of our cultures, we have our ears to the ground in our Pacific communities, the contacts.

We will represent the voices and untold stories of our PI communities in these newsrooms.
It doesn’t mean being in the newsroom and focusing only on PI stories.

Your there to do the usual beat any other journalist in the newsroom would do.

Covering the courts, covering Parliament, doing the police round, but, at the same time letting your newsteam know what’s going on down in the PI communities and assisting them to cover the stories.

In 2006, 265,974 people identified as Pacific Islander in New Zealand.
That’s 6.9% of the total population.

I think these 265, 974 plus people would like to turn on the 6 pm news, pick up the main daily paper or community paper and see their stories being told.