Marsali McKinnon (L) and Kalafi Moala Photo: RNZ Pacific
"The story of PINA is the story of Pacific media in the last 50 years, that's Pacific media coming into more of an organised form where you have media organisations, you have radio and PINA was a combination of all of those," veteran Tongan journalist Kalafi Moala says.
Moala and former Australian diplomat and journalist Marsali McKinnon are co-authoring a book about the history of the Pacific Islands News Association.
Known more familiarly as "PINA", it was one of the first media organisations in the Pacific region.
The Association, which also runs a regional news agency, operates out of Fiji's capital, Suva. The book will cover around 50 years of PINA's work.
This was a panel on Pacific Media, Geopolitics and Regional Reporting. Speakers were Lice Movono, Marsali Mackinnon, Kalafi Moala, Nic Maclellan and Dr Nicholas Hoare. Photo: RNZ Pacific
PINA is seen as the leading organisation for Pacific media professionals, in over 20 Pacific nations and territories.
Its diverse membership includes representatives from radio, television, newspapers, magazines, online publications, media associations, and journalism schools.
Moala said that technology, the internet, and social media have changed the way that stories are delivered and told in the Pacific.
"It's important to tell a time when these journalists of the time were trying to pioneer independence in news reporting and to pioneer freedom of the press.
It's something that for example now, we take for granted," he said.
He adds that many emerging journalists are not familiar with PINA.
"The history of PINA is a history of incredible personalities that were involved in all those decades," Moala said.
"Men and women who were there not because they were well paid for the job but because there was a passion, a passion to shape the thinking of the people in their societies, a passion to be able to inform correctly and rightly, a passion for the development of their nations."
Co-author Marsali McKinnon emphasised the importance of keeping a record of PINA's history. She said as Pacific nations emerged from colonial times in the '60s and '70s, the number of Pacific journalists also increased.
"That was when Pacific Island people were starting to have more senior positions in newsrooms in the Pacific.
"They had always been there, Pacific journalists had always been there, I mean the Fiji Times is 150 years old for instance, but they [Pacific journalists] were starting to take control of the voice that the audience heard, and that's what we want to cover."
McKinnon added that the priority for her and Moala is to interview people involved in PINA in those early days.
"We have a short list of 40 people, actually one of them, has sadly passed away, that was the legendary former editor of the Fiji Times Vijendra Kumar, who was in retirement living in Brisbane with his wife and family."
An article in The Fiji Times about Kumar explains that "Vijendra was recommended for the editorship in September 1975".
"He became the first local editor of The Fiji Times [and] worked as the editor in Suva for 16 years."