Journalism and PR to battle it out for human rights

Do stories about human rights make the cut in our news bulletins? Or are they overshadowed by sensationalised pieces and so-called ‘headline grabbing’ stories?

Amnesty International Aotearoa NZ, in conjunction with AUT University’s Club PR, is pitting public relations practitioners against journalists next Tuesday to debate whether human rights violations are being overlooked by the New Zealand news media.

Chaired by Russell Brown of Public Address, the charity debate will see Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury of TUMEKE! and Kiwi FM’s and TVNZ 7’s Wallace Chapman up against PR directors, Jane Sweeney of Porter Novelli and Carrick Graham of Facilitate Communications. The teams will each be joined by one AUT student studying journalism and public relations.

The debating teams will be asked to respond to the moot: ‘Human rights in New Zealand; the news media create more heat than light’.

“Journalists have role to play but really have to leave their bias and cynicism at the door,” says Carrick Graham in his response to being asked how he feels about debating against journalists.

Wallace Chapman, on the other hand, argues, “There are some fine journalists in New Zealand who hold a desire and giving a voice to the voiceless – or the underdogs. That’s much of what journalism ought to be about in my opinion. “

Amnesty International’s Deputy Director Rebecca Emery says it is becoming harder to attract media attention to human rights abuses that are occurring on a daily basis, both in New Zealand and around the world.

“Human rights issues are often considered too complex to cover and cannot compete with the more salacious stories being covered by today’s news media,” says Emery.

“While the New Zealand public is privy to the most intimate details concerning the lives of politicians, celebrities and the royal family, they hear little about the most shocking horrors being inflicted upon ordinary citizens every day.

“Amnesty is challenging the news media to shine a brighter spotlight on human rights issues occurring in the darkest corners of the world. We hope this debate will help to widen the dialogue about human rights issues within the NZ media and the public relations industry,” adds Emery.

Members of the public are invited to attend the debate. Entry is by donation to raise funds for the research and campaigning work undertaken by Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand.

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Event details
When: Tuesday 17 August, from 12 to 1.30pm.
Where: AUT University Conference Centre, Building WA, Room 224, Wellesley Street, Auckland.
Entry: By donation
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Background information about the participants:

Russell Brown (Chair) is one of New Zealand's most prolific independent journalists. He is a blogger, a journalist, and a columnist for the Listener and several other publications, and an authoritative media commentator. Last year, he received the inaugural Qantas Media Award for blogging, for his long-running blog Hard News.

Martyn ‘Bomber’ Bradbury (Journalist team) is a political media commentator and broadcaster who hosts two TV shows on Sky TV, 'The War on News' and 'Citizen A'. He appears on the Panel on Radio NZ and blogs at Tumeke.blogspot.com.

Wallace Chapman (Journalist team) is host of pub politics show Back benches TVNZ7, as well as Drive host on KiwiFM. He has been a correspondent on Eating Media Lunch, contributor on The Book Show, and is part of the Week in Review team on TVNZ Breakfast.

Carrick Graham (PR Practitioner team) is one of the country’s foremost public affairs aficionados. He has extensive experience in dealing with controversial issues and running political campaigns for commercial organisations and private individuals in New Zealand and overseas. He is the Managing Director of Facilitate Communications Ltd.

Jane Sweeney (PR Practitioner team) is one of the public relations industry’s most experienced and respected professionals. She has run Porter Novelli, a multi-national public relations organisation which focuses on “intelligent influence”, since 2005. Jane holds several industry awards and board positions with private companies and is a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand.

Cedric Allan (Judge) is acknowledged as one of the country’s most experienced and successful communications professionals. He was formerly the national president of the public relations industry body (PRiNZ), and former director of Star PR.

Associate Professor Martin Hirst (Judge) is the journalism curriculum leader in the School of Communication Studies at AUT University. He is a former radio and television journalist and has co-authored several books on journalism ethics and new media technologies Martin also blogs regularly on media ethics, journalism and martinis at Ethical Martini.He has a huge interest in journalism and human rights both in Aotearoa/New Zealand and globally.

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Amnesty International is a movement of 2.8 million people in over 150 countries who contribute their time, money and expertise to campaigning to end some of the worst violations of human rights worldwide.

Club PR is a non-profit, student-led organisation at AUT University. The purpose of the club is to prepare senior public relations students to enter the workforce by creating events that enable them to meet and learn from media professionals.