Journalist Sri Krishnamurthi’s media freedom video.
Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk
The theme for the 26th celebration of the World Press Freedom Day this year is “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”.
World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, following the recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference.
Since then, May 3, the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day.
It is a day to:
- celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom;
- assess the state of press freedom throughout the world;
- defend the media from attacks on their independence; and
- pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
This year the global conference is in Africa, being held from May 1-3 in the Ethipian capital of Addis Ababa, but that is not to say there are no problems in the Pacific.
In this video by journalist Sr Krishnamurthi, Professor David Robie, director of AUT’s Pacific Media Centre and 2019 contributing editor Michael Andrew talk about the concerns for the Pacific on World Press Freedom Day 2019.
“Because we lack diversity in most of the newsrooms in New Zealand it means you often get a bit of a distorted coverage of the region, for example there is a tendency to think in most New Zealand media that the Pacific is only one part of the Pacific – the eastern side, the so -called Polynesian triangle…and Melanesia and Micronesia are consequently squeezed out,” says Dr Robie.
Sri Krishnamurthi is an experienced journalist and a current Postgraduate Diploma of Communication Studies student in digital media.
