WJEC16: PNG’s media council says recent campus events a ‘wake-up call’

0
383
SHARE
Flashback to last month ... Uniforce vehicles up in flames on the University of Papua New Guinea's Waigani campus. Image: Peter S. Kaulga

By Kendall Hutt

The president of Papua New Guinea’s media council has highlighted the ongoing challenges facing the government and media educators in a panel discussion during the preconference of the 4th World Journalism Education Congress (WJEC).

WJEC wide logo 150wideIn touching on the challenges to journalism education in Papua New Guinea, Alexander Rheeney, also the editor-in-chief of the Post Courier, addressed pitfalls in the reportage of the shooting of several University of Papua New Guinea students by police last month.

Rheeney said the reportage was a question over quality from the media and highlighted the need for investigative reporting.

“It has been a good wake-up call for the industry and we need to pull up our socks.”

Rheeney’s comments come after this week’s “twist” made by the Supreme Court, ordering Parliament to reconvene to vote on the no-confidence motion lodged against Prime Minister Peter O’Neill regarding allegations of corruption

Post-Courier's chief editor Alexander Rheeney ...
Media Council of PNG’s Alexander Rheeney … “we need to pull up our socks.” Image: Del Abcede/PMC

O’Neill told media he remained confident he would survive the motion scheduled for this Friday.

Rheeney also touched on challenges facing journalism educators in Papua New Guinea, namely the flow-on effects from a “drastic” decline in the quality of high school graduates over the past 20 years in areas such as literacy.

SOURCEPacific Media Centre
SHARE
Kendall Hutt is Pacific Media Watch freedom project contributing editor 2017. A graduate journalist from Auckland University of Technology, she also completed her Honours year in Communication Studies. Kendall was on the Pacific Media Centre's 2016 Asia-Pacific Journalism Studies course. Kendall is interested in political and climate change journalism, and runs her own television and film review blog. In December 2017, Kendall took up a job with the North Shore Times.

NO COMMENTS