oa Talking about identity, community and belonging: The locative practices of Pacific news media in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article argues that New Zealand’s Pacific news media are key sites where producers negotiate identity, community and belonging through what are described as locative practices. A qualitative analysis of interviews with 23 Pacific media producers and journalists finds that, regardless of their location or size, Pacific news media routinely invoke and perform community and are more like smaller, hyper-local community media in the intimacy of their relationship with their audiences. Producers achieve this by foregrounding their Pacific identities, their connection to community and traditional values of service. Indeed, it is these locative practices, more than others, that underpin the distinctiveness of Pacific and other ethnic media and their enduring relevance to ethnic audiences.