Pacific Media Watch
‘Stay at home’ – sweeping virus curfew arrests as Fiji, Vanuatu...
Pacific Media Watch
Authorities are cracking down to try and stop the spread of the coronavirus in Fiji, which already has 12 cases, reports TVNZ...
Otago University will not answer Critic’s criticisms in virus editorial
By RNZ News
New Zealand's Otago University will not respond to questions from Critic, the student magazine on campus, during the Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown.
The decision...
Duterte’s ‘shoot them dead’ virus order to troops slammed as dangerous
Pacific Media Watch
The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) has strongly condemned the shoot-to-kill order by President Rodrigo Duterte this week...
Vanuatu using Covid-19 to impose censorship on media, citizens
By Sri Krishnamurthi of Pacific Media Watch
The Vanuatu government is using the Covid-19 to impose draconian measures and authoritarian rule by end of last...
Follow rules or face 24-hour curfew in Fiji, warns Bainimarama
By Indra Singh in Suva
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says that if Fijians continue to disregard the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic directives from authorities, a nationwide...
Pacific Update: 147 new coronavirus cases confirmed across the region
PACIFIC UPDATE: By Barbara Dreaver of TVNZ
There are now 147 positive cases across seven countries in the Pacific region and four deaths.
In Guam, cases...
PNG arrests 9 border crossers while governor calls for ‘shoot to...
Pacific Media Watch
Police in Papua New Guinea have arrested nine alleged illegal border crossers and quarantined them in Vanimo, reports RNZ Pacific.
The arrests came...
RSF launches coronavirus pandemic media freedom tracker
Pacific Media Watch
Launched by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), “Tracker 19” is a tool made for an unprecedented global crisis.
So named in reference not only...
Southern Cross: Fate of community, local language papers in the balance
Pacific Media Watch
During New Zealand's national Covid-19 lockdown, educational institutions have been changing the way they function or have shut down during this period.
Auckland...
NZ mine worker killed, two others wounded in Freeport shooting
By Victor Mambor in Jayapura
A New Zealand employee of gold and copper mining company PT Freeport Indonesia was shot dead on Monday by gunmen...
Pacific coronavirus: Indonesia issues ‘no mercy’ warning on border crossing
By Elias Nanau in Vanimo
Indonesia has issued a stern warning over illegal border crossers from Papua New Guinea.
This follows Indonesia stepping up its security...
Māori and Pacific percentages of NZ’s coronavirus cases announced
Pacific Media Watch
New Zealand's Ministry of Health has confirmed that out of the 514 Covid-19 cases to date, approximately 4 percent of those cases...
President Lú-Olo declares Timor-Leste state of emergency over coronavirus
Pacific Media Watch
The President of Timor-Leste, Francisco Guterres Lú-Olo, has declared a state of emergency to enable the government to address the global Covid-19...
Effective coronavirus messages and fake news: Can we do better?
COMMENTARY: By Bob Howarth (self-isolating in Australia after his latest trip to Timor-Leste)
After days of web surfing for Covid-19 coronavirus news around the Asia-Pacific,...
Pacific Coronavirus: Covid-19 death reported in West Papua
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific journalist
A 43-year-old woman has reportedly died due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in Indonesian-administered West Papua province.
It is the...
‘We can’t keep working like this’ – a journalist’s plea to...
OPINION: By Antonio Sampaio in Dili
The Timor-Leste authorities have to improve significantly the conditions in which journalists are working to cover the Covid-19 coronavirus...
Fiji University vice-chancellor banned after breaking Covid-19 cordon
Pacific Media Watch
The Fiji government has banned the vice-chancellor of the University of Fiji from the country, reports Fiji TV News.
The Immigration Department reportedly...
Timor’s Jornal Independente distributes free virus editions
By Bob Howarth
The Timor-Leste Press Council directors have called a media conference to announce that one of the country's five newspapers, Jornal Independente, is...
How a copyboy became Timor-Leste’s lone ranger foreign correspondent
By Bob Howarth in Dili
With the rapid spread of the dreaded Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic across the Pacific and Asia many people naturally seek online...
Social (status) distancing? Filipinos seek laughs via lockdown memes
By Rappler
Filipinos on lockdown have sought comic relief online through various memes and social media posts related to the uncomfortable experience of being quarantined...
What are the lessons with Covid-19? Seeing the ironies through a...
OPINION: By Scott Waide in Lae
So it’s a global pandemic with 16,000+ dead already, more than 375,000 infected and nearly 102,000 recovered.
It was a...
Confusion behind PNG’s first Covid-19 case – flawed state communications
ANALYSIS: By Jeremy Mogi in Port Moresby
And so it’s out. Papua New Guinea's first infection case. 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Covid-19.
In what is arguably the...