David Robie

David Robie (born 1945) is a New Zealand author, journalist and media educator who has covered the Asia-Pacific region for international media for more than four decades. Robie is the author of several books on South Pacific media and politics and is an advocate for media freedom in the pacific region.

In 1985, Robie sailed on board the Greenpeace eco-navy flagship ''Rainbow Warrior'' for 10 weeks until it was bombed by French secret agents in New Zealand’s Auckland harbour. He is the author of a book about the ill-fated voyage, ''Eyes of Fire: The Last Voyage of the Rainbow Warrior'' (Lindon Books, 1986). An updated memorial edition of ''Eyes of Fire'' was published in July 2005, and a 30th anniversary edition in July 2015 (Little Island Press).

In 1993-1997, Robie headed the University of Papua New Guinea journalism programme and in 1998-2002 became coordinator of the University of the South Pacific journalism school where his students covered the 2000 George Speight coup d'état in Fiji. According to the ''NZ Listener'', an assistant minister in Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's government in 1998 threatened to close Robie's media and politics website - ''Café Pacific'' - and revoke his work permit as a media educator in "what was seen as the first test of the 1997 Constitution's freedom of expression clause". In 1999, Robie became an annual Australian Press Council Fellow. He is founding editor of ''Pacific Journalism Review'', launched at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1994. Between 1998-2002, Robie was the Head of Journalism at the University of the South Pacific. He became an associate professor in Auckland University of Technology School of Communication Studies in 2005 and a professor in 2011. In 2020 he retired as director of the Pacific Media Centre. In 2021, he co-founded the Asia Pacific Media Network and produced the independent Asia-Pacific news websites Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific. Provided by Wikipedia