10/09/2024
Flashback to my 'Don't Spoil My Beautiful Face: Media, Mayhem and Human Rights in the Pacific' - a sequel to 'Blood on their Banner'. A decade on from the first edition, it has stood the test of time. Endorsed by the late investigative journalist John Pilger with a foreword by the doyen of Pacific journalism Kalafi Moala, it covers many wide-ranging issues and struggles, including Bougainville, climate crisis, colonial legacy conflicts, disinformation, Kanaky, Philippines, Timor-Leste, West Papua, and the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement.
As Professor Pradip Thomas wrote in a review in Media International Australia (MIA):
"The volatility in the region shapes all enterprises including the practice of journalism and David’s account clearly reveals the consequences of this continuing uncertainty on both the practice of journalism and journalism education in the region.
"This is an important addition to the literature on the media in the Pacific. Investigative journalism at its best, uncovering the lapses of failed states, distant empires and domestic politics." - Little Island Press Ltd https://press.littleisland.nz/books/dont-spoil-my-beautiful-face