Alisha Lewis is a worthy recipient of the TVNZ Journalism Diversity Scholarship, which is run annually in conjunction with AUT University’s Journalism School.
She is grateful for the award, which has allowed her to pursue her dreams and ambition in journalism.
“I always loved writing and was interested in journalism. While at Epsom Girls High School, I was a literary leader, organised events and started the school newspaper.
I had a class in writing for publication in transactional and creative writing. I had interest in both the forms and entered competitions. This course has fuelled my passion in Journalism,” she said.
This passion may have remained a dream, had it not been for the TVNZ Diversity Scholarship. She was getting ready to be enrolled at another university for a Bachelor of Arts course when she was called for an interview and offered the Scholarship.
She is now pursuing Bachelor in Communication Studies at AUT.
I am happy that Indian Newslink has also sponsored a Scholarship in Journalism at the AUT, with the first recipient Imogen Crispe, pursuing the one-year study (see Indian Newslink, May 1, 2010)..
Alisha’s parents belong to Mangalore in Karnataka but she was born in Mumbai and moved with her parents to Auckland in 1995 when she was four years old. Her sister (only sibling) has completed law at the University of Auckland and is currently working as an intern at New Zealand’s Mission in New York.
Having lived in Hamilton, Napier and Auckland and undertaken primary and secondary education in New Zealand makes her well exposed to the Kiwi way of life. Energetic, enthusiastic and motivated, she still regards herself as an Indian.
“I am enjoying the journalism course. There is a paper called ‘Media Ethics.’ We discuss Western news values and how stories and issues about developing nations are never deemed newsworthy, and how there is stereotyping within media,” she added.
Alisha is concerned over the lack of interest in journalism among ethnic minorities in general and the Indian community in particular.
“This is partly due to ingraining we have within our culture that it is a tough career choice, it is not very stable and it is not easy to get a job as a journalist.
“Therefore, people tend to go for more dependable degrees than journalism. May be, that is something we need to work within our cultures,” she said.
She is happy that the size of Asians and Pacific Islanders in journalism courses at AUT are on the increase and that there was hope for diversity.
But she is disappointed at the fewer number of Indians pursuing studies in journalism.
She believes that TVNZ has added considerably in the quest for encouraging journalism among minority groups, with two previous recipients of the Scholarship being Chinese and Maori.
“This scholarship is great because the New Zealand mainstream media in general needs more ethnic journalism students and reporters,” she said.
As a condition of her Scholarship, Alisha has to work as an intern at TVNZ during university breaks, which she enjoys.
“I would love to be a foreign correspondent and work in India, which is not projected properly in media. My Kiwi friends still feel that India is backward. I was there recently and saw huge developments and substantial changes,” she said.
Thakur Ranjit Singh is a volunteer at Pacific Media Centre and is a postgraduate student in Communication Studies at AUT.
Photo : Alisha Lewis
