218 PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 14 (2) 2008 THE PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW W HAT is the role of the media within society? Does that role differ within developing counties (DCs)? Are dichotomous represen- tations of societies and their media viable? These are just some of the questions thrown up by two very challenging collections of articles on the state of journalism in the Paciic Islands. The study of DCs, as opposed to the study of journalism within DCs, has undergone tremendous change since it emerged in the 1950s focused on a trichotomous view of the world. With rapid growth rates within many DCs over the past 30 or more years (e.g. South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, China), even a dichotomous Reviews DR ROBBIE ROBERTSON of La Trobe University is former professor of development studies at the University of the South Paciic. Achievements under diverse, sometimes impossible conditions Media and Development: Issues and Challenges in the Pacific Islands, edited by Shailendra Singh and Biman C. Prasad. Suva and Auckland: Fiji Institute of Applied Studies and Paciic Me- dia Centre (AUT), 2008, xii + 326pp, ISBN 978-982-301031-1 and 978-1-877314-63-3. South Paciic Islands Communica- tion: Regional Perspectives, Local Issues, edited by Evangelia Papoutsaki and Usha Sundar Harris. Singapore, Suva and Auckland: Asian Media Information & Com- munication Centre, Nanyan Technological University; University of the South Paciic; and Paciic Media Centre (AUT), 2008, xi + 288pp, ISBN 978-981-4136-08-2 and 978-1-877314-68-1.