Book Review and Interview. David Robie. 2014. Dont Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific. Auckland: Little Island Press. An Interview with Its Author

Authors

David Blackall, University of WollongongFollow
David RobieFollow

RIS ID

104877

Publication Details

Blackall, D. & Robie, D. Book Review and Interview. David Robie. 2014. Dont Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific. Auckland: Little Island Press. An Interview with Its Author. Asia Pacific Media Educator 25 .2 (2015): 333-341. N/A

Abstract

David Robies latest book is incisive and autobiographical. Kalafi Moala, a courageous publisher and pro-democracy campaigner in his own right, attests to this in the books foreword. For many years, Moala was exiled by the kingdom of Tonga and was involved in the celebrated case of the Tongan Three. He and his colleagues are the only people to have been jailed for contempt of Parliament in the Pacific. Informed by his articles and notes, this long-form narrative documents David Robies journalism and educational work over 40 years. The book covers his vast experience in journalism, education and travel. He has worked in and travelled through Africa, worked for Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Paris in the 1970s, then in Australia and lastly, his specialty, in the Asia-Pacific region. David Robie is politically astute, promoting a journalism education that delivers peace and political independence in the Pacific region, freeing it of what he calls colonial legacy conflicts. His environmental concerns and his striving for truth for Indigenous peoples create opportunities for public debate.