A reporting field trip by Australian journalism students to New Caledonia and Vanuatu in mid-2014 produced markedly differing impressions of the neighbouring island societies, linked to their ‘independence’ status—one as an integrated territory of France, the other as an independent state. The field trip, one of a series from the Queensland University of Technology, aimed at developing reporting skills through work in unaccustomed territory, especially different cultural settings. Over 17 days, six students and the coordinator, and author of this article, generated 18 feature-length reports for online outlets and a radio documentary. The article synthesises the collected work from the field, producing a thematic statement of findings. It records broad consensus in New Caledonia in favour of enacting the Matignon and Noumea Accords on independence, while noting an undercurrent of unresolved conflicts. It characterises public life in Vanuatu in terms of a democratic spirit, and the invocation of traditional ties within society, as the country grapples with problems of development and impacts of the outside world. This work is interpretative, concerned with identifying processes underlying events in daily news. It is proposed as a first step towards a scholarly construction of meta-analyses of the interpretative and informative power of journalistic reporting.

中文翻译：

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新喀里多尼亚和瓦努阿图：学生在太平洋地区的报告中定义的差异

2014 年年中，澳大利亚新闻专业学生到新喀里多尼亚和瓦努阿图进行的一次实地考察报告对邻近岛屿社会产生了截然不同的印象，这与其“独立”地位有关——一个是法国的一个综合领土，另一个是一个独立的国家。实地考察是昆士兰科技大学系列活动之一，旨在通过在陌生的地区，尤其是不同的文化环境中工作来培养报道技巧。在 17 天的时间里，六名学生和协调员以及本文的作者为在线媒体和广播纪录片制作了 18 篇长篇报道。这篇文章综合了从该领域收集的工作，产生了一个主题的调查结果陈述。它记录了新喀里多尼亚的广泛共识，赞成颁布关于独立的马蒂尼翁和努美阿协定，同时注意到未解决冲突的暗流。随着瓦努阿图努力应对发展问题和外部世界的影响，瓦努阿图的公共生活具有民主精神和社会传统联系的特点。这项工作是解释性的，关注识别日常新闻中事件背后的过程。它被提议作为对新闻报道的解释力和信息力的元分析进行学术构建的第一步。关注识别日常新闻中事件背后的过程。它被提议作为对新闻报道的解释力和信息力的元分析进行学术构建的第一步。关注识别日常新闻中事件背后的过程。它被提议作为对新闻报道的解释力和信息力的元分析进行学术构建的第一步。