!["Everyone was taken by surprise [with the Israeli military attack]"](https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Sumud-flotilla-attack-Sol-680wide-218x150.png "‘We’re under attack!’ – the night the Israelis struck the Global Sumud Flotilla")
Report by Pacific Media Watch
Māori Television’s Native Affairs story on West Papua is the first by a New Zealand television crew allowed into the region in 50 years.
Given Indonesia’s strict policy on allowing access to foreign journalists, reporter Adrian Stevanon says their trip is a sign of change.
Reporter/Editor: Alistar Kata, contributing editor of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project.
Interviewees:
Adrian Stevanon, Producer, Maori Television’s Native Affairs
Karen Abplanalp, independent photojournalist and researcher, Pacific Media Centre associate
Paul Bensemann, independent journalist
Video clip:
Native Affairs, Maori Television
Forgotten Birds of Paradise, Dominic Brown
Al Jazeera
(CC) Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, AUT University, Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. www.pmc.aut.ac.nz
!["Everyone was taken by surprise [with the Israeli military attack]"](https://asiapacificreport.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Sumud-flotilla-attack-Sol-680wide-100x70.png "‘We’re under attack!’ – the night the Israelis struck the Global Sumud Flotilla")
