OBITUARY: By Robert Luke Iroga, editor and publisher of Solomon Business Magazine

In June 2000, I travelled to Port Moresby for a journalism training course that changed my life in ways I did not expect. The workshop was about new technology—how to send large photo files by email, something that felt revolutionary at the time.

But the real lesson I gained was not about technology. It was about people. It was about meeting Bob Howarth.

Bob, our trainer from News Corp Australia, was a man whose presence filled the room. He was old school in his craft, yet he embraced the future with such excitement that it was impossible not to be inspired.

• READ MORE: Bob Howarth: Role of journalism in developing and protecting democracy

He was full of energy, full of stories, full of life. And above all, he was kind. Deeply kind. The sort of kindness that stays with you long after the conversation ends.

He had just returned from East Timor and knew what life was like in the developing world.

In just one week with him, we learned more than we could have imagined. It felt like every day stretched into a month because Bob poured so much of himself into teaching us. It was clear that he cared—not just about journalism, but about us, the young Pacific reporters standing at the start of our careers.

That week was the beginning of his love affair with the Pacific, and I feel proud to have been a small part of that story.

Before we closed the training, Bob called me aside. He gave me his email and said quietly,

“If anything dramatic happens in the Solomons, send me some photos.”

I didn’t know then how soon that moment would come.

I returned home on Sunday, 4 June 2000. The very next morning, June 5th, as I was heading to work at The Solomon Star, Honiara fell into chaos.

The coup was unfolding. The city was under siege. I rushed to the office, helping colleagues capture the moment in words and images. And just as Bob had asked, I sent photos to him. Within hours, those images appeared on front pages across News Corp newspapers.

Bob wrote to me soon after, saying, “You’re truly the star of our course.”

That was Bob—always lifting others up, always encouraging, always giving more credit than he took.

From that week in PNG, we became more than just colleagues. We became friends—real friends. Over the years, whenever I travelled through Port Moresby, I would always reach out to him.

Sometimes we shared a drink, sometimes a long talk, sometimes just a warm hello from his home overlooking the harbour. But every time, it felt like reconnecting with someone who genuinely understood my journey.

Bob was the person I turned to for advice, for guidance, for perspective. He believed in me at a time when belief was the greatest gift anyone could offer. And he never stopped being that voice in my corner—whether I was working here in the Solomons or abroad.

This morning, I learned of his passing. And my heart sank.

It feels like losing a pillar. Like losing a chapter of my own story. Like losing someone whose kindness shaped the path I walked.

To his wife, his children, and all who loved him, I send my deepest condolences. Your husband, your father, your friend—he touched the Pacific in ways words can barely capture.

And he touched my life in a way I will never forget.

RIEP Bob. Thank you for seeing me when I was still finding my footing.

Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for being my friend.

Robert Luke Iroga is editor and publisher of Solomon Business Magazine and chair of the Pacific Freedom Forum. He wrote this tribute on his FB page and it is republished with permission.

The Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency has provided a vital training opportunity for journalists at the Vanuatu Daily Post.

Last week, 12 reporters participated in a training session held at the Daily Post where AAP offered free access to its website and platforms, marking a significant step in enhancing global news reporting.

AAP’s international development lead Delia Obst outlined the importance of this initiative.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific journalism training reports

“AAP is Australia’s independent national newswire service that provides trusted reporting, images, and video to hundreds of media outlets in Australia and internationally,” she said.

“On this trip, we are also training newsrooms in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. We are in Vanuatu to train reporters from the Vanuatu Daily Post and Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) on how to access and use AAP’s content, which we hope will support their work and be a great source of regional news.

“This is part of the AAP Pacific News Initiative, which is funded by the Australian government and implemented by AAP.

“We are excited to build a partnership with Vanuatu’s only daily newspaper.”

Wider global coverage
The new access to AAP’s platforms is expected to benefit Daily Post, enabling coverage of press releases and events they cannot attend, such as government official visits abroad and sports events.

AAP’s website features allow users to select their interest topics or stories, providing real-time updates via email notifications whenever relevant news is published, this ensures that Daily Post reporters can stay updated on important stories and coverage.

Filing a query on the platform usually results in a response within approximately 15 minutes, provided AAP is covering the event and time zone differences are considered.

This quick response time is especially valuable for Daily Post‘s newsroom, which places high importance on timely and accurate news delivery.

Sports reporter Vourie Molivakoro expressed her gratitude for joining the AAP platform.

She is eager to use this platform to bring in-depth coverage and insightful reporting to her audience, highlighting the performances and stories of athletes on the global stage.

“With limited resources for obtaining news abroad, the Daily Post sports team can now obtain news and share it with its audiences across the country and region as a whole,” she said.

Clifton Kissel is a Vanuatu Daily Post reporter. Republished with permission.

By Stephen Wright of BenarNews

The Papua New Guinea government’s push for news organisations to become its cheer-leading squad is under further scrutiny this week as Parliament hears testimony from journalists and top officials.

The effort to wield influence over the news, first announced last year as a “media development policy”, has been watered down in the face of strong opposition.

Despite the changes, the policy still contains avenues for politicians and officials to undermine the watchdog role of the Pacific island country’s media.

• READ MORE: Other PNG media freedom reports

“When we say media development we are saying media should be a tool for development because we are a developing nation,” said Steven Matainaho, Secretary of the Department of Information Communication Technology, which devised the media regulation plans.

“In a more advanced and mature economy it could be used as a Fourth Estate for balance and check, but in a developing economy every stakeholder should work together to develop the country — that includes the media,” he told the Committee on Communications’ hearing at Parliament House.

Papua New Guinea’s global ranking in the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index deteriorated to 91st place this year from 59th last year. In 2019 it was placed 38th out of the 180 nations assessed.

“We’re calling it the ‘media control policy’, not the ‘media development policy’,” Scott Waide, a senior Papua New Guinea journalist, told BenarNews.

“We didn’t agree with it because it was trying to make the media an extension of the government public relations mechanism,” he said.

Amid the criticism, the parliamentary committee on Wednesday asked the Media Council of Papua New Guinea to amend its submission to include a proposal that it takes the leading role in drafting any media policy.

Marape threatened media
Prime Minister James Marape has threatened to hold journalists accountable for news reports he objected to and has frequently criticised coverage of his government’s failings and Papua New Guinea’s social problems.

The government has an at times tenuous hold over the country, which in the past few months has suffered economically ruinous riots in the capital, spasms of deadly tribal violence in the highlands and a succession of natural disasters.

The fifth and latest draft of the policy argues that a government framework is needed for the growth of a successful media industry, which currently suffers from low salaries, insufficient training, competition for readers with social media and, according to a government survey, a high level of public distrust.

The media policy is also needed to justify providing funds from the government budget to bolster journalism training at universities, according to Matainaho.

It envisages a National Media Commission that would report to Parliament and oversee the media industry, including accreditation of journalists and media organisations. A Government Media Advisory Committee would sit inside the commission.

A separate National Media Content Committee would “oversee national content” and a National Information Centre would “facilitate the dissemination of accurate government information” by overseeing a news website, newspaper and 24-hour news channel.

It also aims to make existing state-owned media a more effective conduit for government news.

Government role ‘too much’
Neville Choi, president of the Media Council of PNG representing the major mainstream broadcasters and publishers, said the plans still give far too much of a role to the government.

He said the council is concerned about the long-term risk to democracy and standards of governance if the state became the authority for accreditation of journalists, determining codes of practice, enforcing compliance with those codes and adjudicating complaints against media.

“One must consider how future actors might interpret or administer the policy with political intent,” he said in the council’s submission to the committee.

“The proposed model would allocate too much centralised power to government,” he said.

Waide said the main focus of a media development policy should be on training and providing adequate funding to university journalism programmes.

Media, he said, “is a tool for development in one respect, in that we need to promote as much as possible the values of Papua New Guinean society.

“But there has to be a healthy mix within the media ecosystem,” he said. “Where opinions are expressed, opinions are not suppressed and not everyone is for the government.”

Call to develop ‘pathways’
Although the policy mentions the importance of press freedom in a democracy and freedom of expression enshrined in the country’s constitution, other comments point to different priorities.

“It is necessary to review, update and upgrade how we do business in the media space in PNG. This must be with the mindset of harnessing and enhancing the way we handle media information and news for development,” Minister of Communications and Information Technology Timothy Masiu said in the document.

It is timely to develop “pathways” for developing the industry and “holding media in general responsible and accountable,” he said.

And according to Matainaho: “The constitution protects the rights of the citizens, we must not take that away from the citizens, but at the same time we need to find a balance where we still hold the media accountable.”

His department had studied Malaysia — which ranks lower than Papua New Guinea in the press freedom index and has draconian laws used to threaten journalists — when it was developing the media policy, Matainaho said.

Media’s rights under the constitution are not absolute rights, he said.

Harlyne Joku contributed to this report from Port Moresby. Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

Facilitated by ABC International Development, and conducted by veteran journalist Scott Waide, the first-of-its-kind training in Papua New Guinea aims to plug the skills gaps identified in the last 10 years, especially with news journalists.

“While we have students graduating from the University of Technology, Divine Word, the Pacific Adventist University and the University of Papua New Guinea, training gaps still remain,” Waide told Lae media after the second day of the weeklong training on Tuesday.

“And some of those gaps are very basic and shouldn’t be that way.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific journalism training reports

“With the help of ABC, this template was developed and we had to go through the training ourselves.

“A trainer, Chris Kimball, tested it on us and we suggested changes — for local context — and then we took the training and tested it on Chris and all our participants to see if it worked.”

The training includes the definition of public interest journalism, what constitutes public interest, interviewing tips and tools, writing structures, characteristics of a good journalist and the difference between proactive and reactive journalism.

“It seems very basic but if you look at it, the content is very relevant,” said Waide.

“If a person is graduating from another course, another programme in university, and then goes into news journalism; we’ll take him or her through that course and give that person a broad understanding of what news is and what journalism is.

“Particularly in Papua New Guinea, it’s about public interest journalism.

“We can talk about the big things, like politics and economics, but if there’s no understanding of why we’re doing it and why people are important in public interest journalism then that journalism actually becomes useless and worthless.”

Seven Highlands-based NBC presenters and broadcasters are also part of the training, including members of Lae media.

The training ended yesterday.

Australia’s support for the Solomon Islands media sector is long-standing and is now providing support for the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) to get ready for the 2023 Pacific Games in November.

ABC International Development (ABCID) has delivered more training to the SIBC earlier this month which focused on the use of mobile journalism (MoJo) kits.

More than half of the SIBC staff received training from Dave McMeekin, a leading content quality advisor from ABC News in Adelaide, on September 12-16.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific Games reports

The ABC recently distributed MoJo kits to all its locations in Australia so the SIBC staff are now using the best equipment available as preferred by journalists in Australia.

MoJo kits consist of an android phone, microphone, tripod, and other components that allow a single person to capture high-quality audio and video.

The content can be recorded on the phone for later use or sent back to a studio for immediate broadcast.

These kits are designed to be portable and operated by one person.

Setting up, maintenance
During the training sessions, conducted in small groups of four or five SIBC staff members, the focus was on setting up and maintaining the MoJo kits.

In addition, the training included techniques for visual storytelling, which makes it easier to capture short stories in the field.

Practical exercises were carried out on the streets of Honiara, including in the Central Market and the Art Gallery.

Last Saturday, SIBC journalists used the MoJo kits to report on the Solomon Airlines Peace Marathon — putting into practice the training and equipment they will use during the Pacific Games.

As part of the Australian project, managed by ABCID, SIBC will receive two MoJo kits.

SIBC also plans to purchase two additional kits, with one of them being stationed in Gizo.

These four kits will be used by SIBC reporters to file stories leading up to and during the Pacific Games.

The Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands runs from November 19 until December 2.

Republished with permission from SBM Online.

The integration of RNZ’s digital team with the wider news team was meant to take place during the merger with TVNZ that never eventuated, the organisation’s board says.

It comes after an investigation into the inappropriate edits being written into news stories blamed differences between news teams, a lack of supervision and inconsistent editorial standards.

However, a report released on Wednesday also accused RNZ’s leadership of over-reacting, saying it “contributed to public alarm and reputational damage” while the journalist “genuinely believed he was acting appropriately”.

• LISTEN TO RNZ MORNING REPORT: Dr Jim Mather on RNZ’s ‘integrity and trust’
• READ MORE: The RNZ audit reports
• The Independent External Review of RNZ Editorial Processes

The independent panel was established by the RNZ board after it was revealed in June that some foreign news stories from wire services such as Reuters and the BBC were inappropriately edited.

The panel made 22 recommendations, including merging the radio and digital news teams, a review of staffing levels and workloads, refresher training for journalists, and hiring a new senior editor responsible for editorial integrity and standards. It stressed the creation of a single news team “cannot happen soon enough”.

RNZ has agreed to implement all the panel’s recommendations.

Speaking to RNZ Morning Report, RNZ board chairperson Dr Jim Mather said the recommendations would be initiated as “promptly as possible”.

Dr Mather accepted RNZ had been slower than other public media entities to integrate its digital team with the wider news team — but it had been endeavouring to do so.

“The potential merger of RNZ and TVNZ that was being considered for a number of years was going to be the catalyst for that occurring. That didn’t go ahead so that issue came directly back onto the board table and it has been a priority.

“I wouldn’t say we took our eye off internal issues, it was in anticipation of that potential merger moving forward and recognising that that would incorporate this, so when that didn’t happen, we as a board and the executive team through the chief executive reverted directly back to that plan and that is a priority.”

An area of improvement
Dr Mather said it had been identified as an area of improvement as RNZ “did want a unified leadership” over its news operation.

Dr Mather accepted the panel’s finding that a lack of access to training had contributed to the editorial breach — and said RNZ needed to create a culture where training was implemented and effective.

“The report did highlight that there was intense level of pressure on staff in the digital news content area and also the training needed to be more effective, ie provided on a regular basis, … noted and there needed to be audit and follow-up on confirmation that the training had been effective.

“Once again, that’s another area of opportunity for the chief executive and our executive team to be looking at.”

Dr Mather said there was a “significant body of work” to be done.

“I think responsibility starts with the board, ultimately we are accountable for everything that occurs within the organisation and we accept that our level of responsibility of what’s occurred and with responsibility and leadership comes a requirement to make the necessary corrective actions.”

Publishing complaints
While Dr Mather said he believed RNZ to be a “very transparent organisation”, the report has indicated it could be more “robustly transparent”.

It had noted that other public media entities, such as TVNZ, publish the overall number of editorial complaints and the number they uphold in their annual reports.

“I expect that we will be following suit also,” Dr Mather said.

He said RNZ remained the most trusted media organisation in Aotearoa and it was his “emphatic” objective for that to remain the case.

“We will do whatever we are required to do to remain our country’s most trusted media entity.”

RNZ’s response to breach
Dr Mather accepted that RNZ’s trust was eroded to some extent — but the organisation responded very quickly to restore the public’s confidence and took the issue very seriously.

The panel was critical of chief executive Paul Thompson’s initial public response in calling the edits “pro-Kremlin garbage” and said it contributed to the story gaining international attention.

Dr Mather said he understood why Thompson made the comments he did.

“We are all committed to ensuring that the integrity and trust that is held in RNZ is maintained and that was obviously factored into the way we responded.”

The panel had said the issue was contained to a small section of RNZ and Dr Mather emphasised that the “vast majority” of its news output was of an “excellent standard” – which was reinforced by the panel in the report, he said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

A five-day Media, Elections and Democracy workshop wrapped up last week in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro with the first-ever Summit on Democracy: Public Engagement, Communications and the Media.

More than 40 students, journalists and public information officers from government and NGOs participated in the programme organised by the Pacific Media Institute in the Marshall Islands.

The workshop featured an experienced team of Pacific Island journalist trainers and resource people led by Honolulu-based writer and photographer Floyd K. Takeuchi.

• READ MORE: Other media and democracy reports

Nearly 20 journalists and college students from the Marshall Islands participated in a morning track of the workshop, while close to 30 PIOs from the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau took part in an afternoon workshop track.

The workshop focused on learning to “write tight”, with techniques such as haiku (a Japanese poetic writing style) and the four-paragraph story employed.

Numerous special presentations were offered during the lunch hours, including:

• How media organisations support independent journalism and what they’ve accomplished in Tonga and the Solomon Islands, led by Kalafi Moala, president of the Media Association of Tonga, and Georgina Kekea, president of the Media Association of the Solomon Islands.

• Domestic violence and prevention initiatives, led by Kathryn Relang, Country Focal Officer, Marshall Islands, Human Rights and Social Development Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).

• Teieniwa Vision for Journalists: Anti-Corruption Reporting Toolkit for Journalists, led by Rimon Rimon, investigative journalist, Kiribati.

The workshop culminated in an all-day Summit on Democracy at the government’s International Conference Center.

It featured speeches by Marshall Islands President David Kabua and Nitijelā (Parliament) Speaker Kenneth Kedi, both of whom said they supported the summit concept from the time that Pacific Media Institute sought their endorsement early this year.

The Office of the Speaker co-sponsored the summit with Pacific Media Institute.

Guest speaker was Kalafi Moala who spoke about “Independent news media and traditional leadership: Can they live together?”

Each day of the workshop, including the summit, workshop participants, individually and in small groups, had writing assignments they delivered to the team of Pacific media trainers for review and editing.

Donor partners supporting the Media and Democracy workshops and Summit on Democracy include: AusAID, Republic of China/Taiwan Embassy in Majuro, USAID PROJECT Governance that is managed by the East-West Center and SPC, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists Network, New Zealand North Pacific Development Fund, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

Giff Johnson is editor of the Marshall Islands Journal and co-founder of the Pacific Media Institute in Majuro.

The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme is open to strengthening engagement and partnership with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) following the recent visit of senior ABC executives to Fiji.

Last week, ABC International Services head Claire Gorman, ABC International Development public affairs lead Jo Elsom, ABC Sport head Nick Morris and ABC Asia Pacific News managing editor Matt O’Sullivan met USP Journalism coordinator associate professor Shailendra Singh and staff to discuss ways ABC International Development (ABCID) and its regional media development programme (PACMAS) could assist the media in Fiji and journalism students at USP.

The discussions with the visiting ABC delegation focused on the possibility of content sharing, student professional attachments as well as priority areas for partnership such as youth, gender and regional cooperation to strengthen capacity-building and opportunity for growth.

USP Journalism students and staff have participated in a number of ABCID/PACMAS capacity-building workshops and training, including the Women Leaders Media Masterclass, Reporting the Story of Us: Media Masterclass, Factcheck webinar, Pacific Resilience Masterclass as well as a Training of Trainers short-course for Fiji journalists at the Fiji National University’s National Training Productivity Centre.

The ABC executives were also given a brief tour of the newly-refurbished USP Journalism facilities at Laucala campus.

Geraldine Panapasa is editor-in-chief of the University of the South Pacific’s award-winning journalism newspaper Wansolwara. Republished under a partnership between Asia Pacific Report and Wansolwara.

Media partnerships are an important part of the region’s journey and narrative as a Pacific family, says Vanuatu’s Finance and Economic Management Director-General Letlet Augustus in a message to news media.

Opening the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) Media Workshop in Port Vila last week, he said the skillset of media practitioners in ensuring information made sense in Pacific languages for growing awareness was also important for those leading economic recoveries.

“The Vanuatu FEMM is a historical moment for media and public access to this meeting. [Media] will have new access to the private sector and civil society dialogues,” he said.

• READ MORE: Outcomes of the 2022 FEMM in Port Vila

“This bodes well for quality reporting of the FEMM as the space where we must set and share our plans for economic resilience and stability,” he told participants of the workshop organised by the Pacific Assistance Media Scheme (PAMS), Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

Wansolwara student editor Sera Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti was one of four journalists from the region selected by PIF to attend the masterclass and report on the FEMM proceedings in Vanuatu.

She said the opportunity to be part of the media workshop would boost her journalism knowledge and training to report on FEMM fairly and accurately.

“The masterclass will enable and equip me with the right skills to understand and formulate questions relating to the economy and its impact on the community,” said the final-year journalism student at the University of the South Pacific’s Laucala campus, who is also a freelance writer for Islands Business.

‘Upskill my knowledge’
“It would also upskill my knowledge on the various economic jargon and how to best relay this to the public,” she said.

“The workshop would also allow us access to leaders in decision-making roles, especially relating to economic development.”

PIF Secretary-General Henry Puna said media partnerships helped cement awareness of the Forum and its members, on the importance of regionalism and leaving no one behind.

“The core message is that as a sea of islands we are stronger when we are together. We are in unprecedented times and face unprecedented challenges and opportunities,” he said.

“The onus now lies with us to seize these opportunities and with it, heighten our visibility as an influential bloc at the global level.”

Republished under a student partnership between Asia Pacific Report and the University of the South Pacific’s Wansolwara.

For the Pacific news media sector, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s recent eight-nation South Pacific tour may be over, but it should not be forgotten. The minister and his 20-member “high-level” delegation’s refusal to take local journalists’ questions opened a veritable can of worms that will resonate in Pacific media circles for a while.

However, Wang’s sulky silence should not be seen as an isolated incident but embedded in deeper problems in media freedom and development for the Pacific.

Besides dealing with their own often hostile national governments and manoeuvring through ever-more restrictive legislation, Pacific media is increasingly having to contend with pressure from foreign elements as well.

• READ MORE:  Fiji police evict two Chinese defence attaches amid Pacific Forum tensions
• Other reports on China in the Pacific
• Other Pacific Islands Forum reports

China is the most prominent in this regard, as underscored by Wang’s visit, but there have been other incidents of journalist obstruction involving countries like Indonesia as well.

What is particularly appalling is how some Pacific governments seem to have cooperated with foreign delegations to stop their national media from asking legitimate questions.

Fijian journalist Lice Mavono’s account of the extent to which local Fijian officials went to limit journalists’ ability to cover Wang’s visit is highly troubling. In scenes rarely seen before, Wang and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s joint press conference was apparently managed by Chinese officials, even though it was on Fijian soil.

When some journalists defied instructions and yelled out their unapproved questions, a Chinese official shouted back at them to stop. One journalist was ordered to leave the room with a minder attempting to escort him out, but fellow journalists intervened.

Journalists obstructed
Similar behaviour was witnessed at the Pacific Islands Forum-hosted meeting between Wang and forum Secretary-General Henry Puna, where Chinese officials continued to obstruct journalists even after forum officials intervened on the journalists’ behalf.

The Chinese officials’ determined efforts indicated that they came well prepared to thwart the media. It also conveyed their disrespect for the premier regional organisation in the Pacific, to the point of defying forum officials’ directives.

However, what should be most concerning for the region as a whole is the way this episode exposed the apparent ability of Chinese officials to influence, dominate, and even give instructions to local officials.

This is all the more disturbing as China is ramping up its engagement with Pacific governments. Consequently, longstanding questions about China’s impact on the region’s democratic and media institutions become even more urgent.

Indeed, just weeks after Wang’s visit, Solomon Islands media reported that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, in an extraordinary gazette, announced that the government would be taking full financial control of the state broadcaster, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC).

There are fears that this arrangement — which draw comparisons with the Chinese state-owned broadcaster CCTV — will give the government far more control over SIBC, potentially both editorially and in its day-to-day management.

This is troubling given Sogavare’s antagonism towards the SIBC, who he has accused of giving more airtime to government critics than to officials. Veteran Solomon Islands journalist Dorothy Wickham condemned the move, stating: “We now don’t have a public broadcaster!”

Additional steps
This trend indicates the need for additional steps to strengthen media rights by, among other things, boosting journalist professional capacity. This is simply because good journalists are more aware of and better able to safeguard media rights.

To this end, one area that clearly needs work is a greater focus on reporting regional events effectively. As major powers jostle for influence, and Pacific politics become ever more interconnected, what happens in one country will increasingly affect others.

Journalists need to be aware of this and more strongly frame their stories through a regional lens. However, this will not happen without focused and targeted training.

In this context, media research and development is an oft-overlooked pillar of media freedom. While all kinds of demands are made of Pacific journalists and much is expected of them, there seems to be little regard for their welfare and not much curiosity about what makes them tick.

To get an idea of how far behind the Pacific is in media research, it is worth considering that there has only been one multi-country survey of Pacific journalists’ demography, professional profiles and ethical beliefs in 30 years.

This recent, important research yielded valuable data to better understand the health of Pacific media and the capabilities of Pacific journalists.

For instance, the data indicates that Pacific journalists are more inexperienced and under-qualified than counterparts in the rest of the world. In addition, the Pacific has among the highest rate of journalist attrition due to, among other things, uncompetitive salaries, a feature of small media systems.

Conditions ignored
So, while governments make much of biased journalists, they conveniently ignore the working conditions, training, education, and work experience that are needed to increase integrity and performance.

In other words, the problems in Pacific media are not solely the work of rogue elements in the news media, they are structural in nature. These factors are not helped by draconian legislation which is supposedly intended to ensure fairness, but in fact only further squeezes already restricted journalists.

This situation underscores the need for further research, which can identify and offer informed solutions to the problems in the sector. Yet, scholarships and fellowships for Pacific media research are as rare as hen’s teeth.

Furthermore, Wang’s Pacific visit and China’s activities in the region are a wake-up call for regional media as to the urgent need for capacity-building. Any remedial actions should be informed by research and need to consider problems in a holistic manner.

As we have seen, “band-aid’ solutions at best provide only temporary relief, and at worst misdiagnose the problem.

This China fiasco is also a reminder to care about Pacific journalists, try to understand them and show concern for their welfare. We should not regard journalists as merely blunt instruments of news reporting.

Rather, a free and democratic media is the lifeblood of a free and democratic Pacific.

Dr Shailendra B Singh is the head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific and a research fellow at the Australian National University. This article was first published by ANU’s Asia and the Pacific Policy Society Policy Forum and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Dear Minister,

Congratulations on assuming the Broadcasting and Media role.

The announcement of your new portfolio put me in mind of Hercules as King Eurystheus told him there were a dozen small jobs he would like done.

Like Hercules, you will find that the tasks ahead are challenging. Some will seem insurmountable. Yet, the underlying message of that particular piece of Greek mythology is that nothing is impossible.

• READ MORE: RNZ-TVNZ mega-entity named ‘Aotearoa New Zealand Public Media’ in draft law
• Public media: new name, new law, new minister, old questions
• Other public media reports

I would hesitate to suggest that success will lead to immortality, but you will certainly make an enduring name for yourself if you are able to ensure that New Zealand’s media ecosystem is fit for purpose.

In order for that to happen you must undertake, if I may be so bold, the Twelve Labours of Willie Jackson.

Here are the tasks you should address:

1. The new public media entity — ensure it is an entirely new approach to a digital future and not merely a TVNZ/RNZ merger, and enshrine independent governance.
2. Media content review – act as the coordinator for a project to determine how we should address harmful media content, which spans a multitude of issues and ministries.
3. Social media platforms — make them pay for plundering our media and our audiences, and make them accountable for content.
4. Public Interest Journalism Fund – restore public confidence in the fund (by removing requirements seen as linked to government policy) and continue to fund the scheme.
5. Regulatory structures – facilitate the replacement of the Media Council and the Broadcasting Standards Authority by a single, demonstrably independent, body.
6. Private sector survival — investigate alternative mechanisms that replace declining revenue, and incentivise plurality.
7. Māori media — Have a stern talk with yourself, as the Minister for Māori Development, to finally bring something concrete out of the Māori Media Sector Shift that has already been three years in the making.
8. Ethnic media — recognise and support media that directly address often hard to reach communities.
9. Media law — review statutes that were predicated on media structures and methodologies that have long been superseded.
10. Media training — resurrect the Journalism Training Organisation with a mandate to devise curricula standards and assess their implementation by tertiary institutions.
11. Policy balance – work to ensure that the legitimate Te Tiriti initiatives being pursued by the Labour Government do not inadvertently ignore the broader needs of the media sector and its audiences (plural).
12. Technology watch — set up a monitoring group to alert government to technological changes (in areas such as artificial intelligence) that will affect media production, impact and oversight.

I realise that it is no more than 18 months to the next election and, even if you expect another term in government, you will need to prioritise.

Three broad rubrics
The tasks fall under three broad rubrics that are inter-related: Media sustainability, media governance, and social cohesion. Admittedly, they involve some activities that currently sit outside your portfolio but there is a crying need for a coordinator. That can, and should, be you.

The most pressing task is the New Public Media Entity, which both Television New Zealand and RNZ openly call “the merger”. You have inherited a project in the second of its three phases, and I am sure the easiest approach would be to leave it to take its (predetermined) course.

That would be both a lost opportunity and, I respectfully suggest, an abrogation of your responsibility to oversee the establishment of an organisation that is truly fit for purpose.

Your predecessor, Kris Faafoi, is admirably well-meaning and I have no doubt the initiative started under his watch had sound core purposes. However, he tended to lead from behind and the outcomes to date suggest the results will be less than the sum of their parts.

There is a golden opportunity to establish an entirely new organisation, born for a digital future that can accommodate but not be led by its legacy technologies and cultures. Its impact on the overall media landscape will be so significant that it must have a unique multi-tiered independent governance structure to insulate it from government control and to contain its own power.

I see neither of these imperatives in any of the material that has so far entered the public domain and I fear the introduction of draft legislation in the next week or two will confirm my misgivings on both fronts. My hope is that you will intervene to ensure the final form of the bill addresses both opportunities and threats, and your discussions with the Establishment Board gives it the courage to think a significant distance beyond the square.

The Content Review, led by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also demands your attention. While extremely useful work has already been undertaken on harmful content in various forms of media, there is a real need for strong coordination with your portfolio. My fear is that mainstream media could suffer because, when it comes to policing content, they are low hanging fruit. The real danger with harmful content lies with digital platforms.

Absence of strong government direction
Those social media platforms also demand your attention in other ways. The absence of strong government direction (the antithesis of what is evident in Australia and the European Union) has allowed them to apply a cynical cherry-picking approach to compensating New Zealand media for the material they appropriate.

Unless they are forced to act responsibly, they will continue to serve only their own pecuniary interests and to minimise their responsibilities for content. You have an opportunity to align New Zealand internationally.

Your predecessor performed a real service to media and the public in setting up the Public Interest Journalism Fund. I have to declare an interest here: I have been involved in evaluating applications for PIJF on behalf of NZ on Air. That involvement has allowed me to witness at first hand the determination to pursue journalism that is squarely in the public interest and to see successful applications for projects that hold government — and other forms of power — to account.

Blackened the name
However, oppositions forces (both political and more malign) have blackened the name of the fund. It has been characterised as a bribe that has muted criticism of the Labour government.

It may be a hard ask, given that you represent the very people accused of doing the bribing, but you need to restore the fund’s reputation…and commit to its continuation.

You may feel those tasks will be more than sufficient to keep you occupied for the rest of the current term, but you cannot ignore the other Labours of Willie Jackson. I suggest you coalesce them into a single project: Futureproofing New Zealand Media. It could provide the blueprint for your next term as Minister of Communication and Media.

It may also embrace the idea of my long-advocated Bretton Woods #2 and bring together the many elements that make up our media and their audiences to map a collective future. That would make this old man very happy.

I wish you well with your new portfolio. You bring to the role many years of media experience. Complete these 12 labours and, like Hercules, you will be a hero.

Dr Gavin Ellis ONZM MA PhD

Dr Gavin Ellis holds a PhD in political studies. He is a media consultant and researcher. A former editor-in-chief of The New Zealand Herald, he has a background in journalism and communications — covering both editorial and management roles — that spans more than half a century. Dr Ellis publishes a website called Knightly Views where this commentary was first published and it is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

The first media freedom advocacy group has formed in the Marshall Islands. Organisers this week were in the initial phase of outreach to launch the Pacific Media Institute, which was incorporated last month as a non-profit organisation.

Despite a small but robust independent news media in the Marshall Islands, there has never been an advocacy group for media freedom in this nation.

“If ever there was a ‘right time’ to form an advocacy organisation for freedom of expression and transparency in government, now is it,” said Marshall Islands Journal editor Giff Johnson, one of the founding members of the institute.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific media freedom reports

“Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine is a prime example of a violation of a sovereign, independent democracy that undermines the rule of law.

“Moreover, we watch as Russia suppresses access to independent media at home to prevent its citizens from knowing what is happening in the Ukraine and the world’s reaction to the invasion.”

Founders of PMI said closer to home, there were indications of democracy and media freedoms eroding in island nations that banned visits by foreign independent media and attempted to restrict their own media and freedom of expression by their citizens.

“We are fortunate in the Marshall Islands to have clear free speech rights enshrined in the Constitution and to have had governments for decades that respect this essential element of democracy,” Johnson added.

Freedoms ‘cannot be taken for granted’
“But these freedoms here and in the region should not be taken for granted. We need to celebrate them where they exist, strengthen them where we can, and advocate for them where they don’t.”

A growing concern is the increasingly active presence in the islands of governments outside the region that do not support media freedom and transparency in government operations at home and bring this philosophy with them into the region, he said.

The PMI is a joint effort of three people in independent media in the Marshall Islands.

Joining Johnson as co-founders of PMI are Daniel Kramer, CEO of Six9Too Productions and Power 103.5FM, and Fred J. Pedro, a long-time broadcaster and talk show host.

They said PMI hoped to promote independent media and transparency in government in the Marshall Islands as well as neighbouring nations.

The purpose of the new non-profit organisation is to:

• Advocate for and engage in media freedom and freedom of expression;

• Promote transparency and accountability in government;

• Support expansion of independent, non-government media; and

• Promote training and other initiatives to increase the number and skills of people working in media and the quality of reporting in the Marshall Islands and regionally.

‘Watershed moment’
Veteran Pacific islands journalist Floyd K. Takeuchi said: “This is a watershed moment in the history of independent journalism in the Western Pacific.

“And what better country to see a media freedom group organized than the Marshall Islands, which for more than half a century has shown how democratic values, chiefly and cultural traditions, and a free press can comfortably coexist.”

PMI has already reached out to Takeuchi and other journalists with extensive experience in the region to collaborate on proposed training for media and outreach dialogues with top-level government authorities in the initial phase of the organisation.

“We want to see more young people take up careers in media in the future,” said Kramer.

“We hope that PMI can help interest young people in media careers through training and other opportunities that our new group plans to offer for journalists here and in the island region.”

Kramer’s Six9Too Productions has established an ongoing record of collaboration among musicians from the Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands and Polynesian countries that have produced hit songs and music videos.

He said PMI hoped to see this type of collaboration among working journalists here and in the region to bolster reporting skills and media freedom in general.

The PMI founders said they were hopeful that countries internationally that supported media freedom, democracy and transparency in government would be supportive of PMI training and other initiatives.

“We want to start tapping opportunities for synergy among working journalists in the Marshall Islands and in other Pacific islands through collaborative training programs and reporting initiatives,” said Johnson.

Senior EMTV journalist and bureau chief Scott Waide in Papua New Guinea’s second city Lae this week called time on his inspirational 25-year relationship with the television channel. He is taking on other challenges, like Lekmak, and this was his social media message of thanks to supporters.

I didn’t quite realise how many people I touched positively through this work. It has been an emotional week talking to and encouraging, especially younger staff in Lae, Port Moresby, and the outer bureaus.

This transition has been harder on them. Personal messages have been overwhelming. They’ve come both from people I know and total strangers.

It has been a 25-year association with EMTV. Even with short absences, the relationship has always been there.

• READ MORE: Scott Waide’s blog My Land, My Country

However, after two and a half decades and a third stint lasting almost 10 years, my contract has ended and I have decided to move on.

There have been a lot of questions and suggestions that I will or should contest in 2022.

The answer is NO. I have no interest in politics.

One of my primary goals was to give young people the opportunity to excel and to guide them as much as possible so that a new generation of journalists take on the challenges.

Creating opportunities
I spent a lot of time between Unitech and Divine Word University (DWU) talking to as many students as possible and creating opportunities – opportunities many of us didn’t have back then.

We live in two worlds – one, urban and convenient and the other rural and difficult where men women and children die every day.

There’s still a lot of work to be done. My hope is to see younger people go out to rural PNG and tell our people’s stories. Because if we don’t, they will only see government presence during election time and continue to suffer.

We must celebrate the good in our country. We must celebrate our people, culture and our way of life. We must appreciate our knowledge keepers, our elders and our children.

Papua New Guinea is a great country with huge opportunities.

For EMTV, it is a Papua New Guinean institution. It is a custodian of nearly 40 years of history. It is not just a cash cow for shareholders.

My appeal to the government is to care for this institution by choosing good people for the board and good organisational heads that understand this country and care about it.

Good leadership vital
Without good leadership, staff will suffer, good people will leave and the institution will be destroyed.

I want to thank my wife — Annette — and my children. They sacrificed and suffered a lot because I was absent when I was needed most.

While the job, from the outside, looked glamorous. It wasn’t. It takes an incredibly strong woman to live through the challenges.

I owe an enormous amount of gratitude to my brothers and sisters and my parents for their understanding.

Thank you to John Eggins, Sincha Dimara, Titi Gabi, Father Zdzislaw Mlak, Father Jan Czuba, Tukaha Mua and Bhanu Sud who gave me the opportunities. If it weren’t for these seven people, a lot of us would not have come this far.

Television New Zealand and Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) have launched a new training programme to help broadcasters across the region deliver a premium news product to their audiences.

Designed and led by 1 NEWS’ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and produced by Lee Taylor, the 10-week training programme will be attended by 21 broadcasters, representing 11 Pacific nations.

More than 100 journalists are participating, demonstrating a need from the Pacific broadcasting community for “connection and support” in delivering their services.

READ MORE: Other Pacific Media Watch reports

“I’m incredibly proud of this new initiative. It pulls together experienced individuals across the 1 NEWS floor and makes use of the tools we’re fortunate to have at our disposal,” said Dreaver.

“Pacific broadcasters want to deliver the best news product possible for their viewers.

“They face unique challenges in meeting their ambitions and that’s what this programme is all about.”

The programme is centred around weekly sessions conducted over livestream and covering a range of topics.

With so many broadcasters represented, there is also an opportunity for discussion around shared challenges and issues.

A series of “news bytes” is also being produced, giving all participants a video catalogue of training materials to continually refer to.

1 NEWS journalists around New Zealand will provide material for this.

Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited chief executive Natasha Meleisea said the new programme would play an important role in PCBL’s strategy around media resilience in the Pacific.

“Covid-19 has been tough for our broadcasters with their output being severely curtailed,” she said.

“At the same time, the need for local reporting has never been greater.

“This programme is about supporting and sharing what we have, so news in the Pacific continues to go from strength to strength.”

When he was appointed at the FMA’s annual general meeting last night, Delaibatiki told members he would like to do more training for local journalists.

“I notice tonight we’ve got a very young group of journalists and that is a good sign for the future, that’s something we can build on, but training is absolutely important.”

Delaibatiki takes over as FMA president from the current Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre communication officer Ricardo Morris, previously founding editor of Republika.

Elenoa Masi Baselala of the Fiji Times was elected vice-president.

Other elected FMA members include:

• Stanley Ian Simpson of Business Melanesia was unopposed to the position of general secretary
• Geraldine Panapasa of Fiji Times is the assistant general secretary
• Makereta Komai of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) is the elected treasurer
• Tokasa Rainima of the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) was unopposed to the position of assistant treasurer
• Geoffrey Smith of Fiji TV is the elected TV rep
• Ropate Valemei of Fiji Times was unopposed to the position of print rep
• Peni Shute of Newswire was unopposed to the position of online rep
• Karai Koroi of FBC was unopposed to the position of radio rep
• Lice Movono Rova was unopposed to the position of freelance rep

The group of Pacific educators will host a series of panel discussions at the WJEC Pacific preconference held on July 13 at the Auckland University of Technology.

Eliki Drugunalevu, a journalism broadcast tutor from the University of the South Pacific in Suva, says he is excited to be presenting a panel about broadcast education in Fiji.

“Being a part of WJEC will expose me to a whole range of issues out there and I’ll be able to meet academics, researchers, journalists who have done so much contribution in this field.”

Drugunalevu, who is also manager of Radio Pasifik, says the audience could expect a thorough look at how student radio stations are offering real world journalism experience to students, which is important under Fiji’s strained media climate.

“The existence of such a facility is critical in engaging students in discussion through a broad range of community, educational and cultural programmes.”

Eddie Osifelo, a journalist from the Solomon Star, will be presenting about some of the challenges in the Solomon Islands media.

“As a journalist I have experienced harassment, verbal abuse and court challenges,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

His presentation will focus on the use of anonymous sources, particularly in political and business articles.

‘Digital divide’
Another journalism lecturer, Maria Sagrista, from Divine Word University (DWU) in Papua New Guinea, will present a discussion on the “digital divide” in PNG.

She told Pacific Media Watch that the digital divide presents many challenges for students transitioning from university to “real world” media organisations.

“The first one of them is the lack of equipment and resources at the university level that do not allow students to become familiar with the current technologies used in “real world” media organisations.”

Access to new technology is crucial for developing countries to play an active role in a knowledge-based society, she says.

“New technologies and the internet have the potential to enhance access to information for people and to bring countries such as Papua New Guinea to a position of active producers of knowledge, shifting away from the traditional role of passive silent consumers,” she says.

Other Pacific contingent members speaking at the preconference include Emily Matasororo (University of Papua New Guinea) and Dave Mandavah (Vanuatu Institute of Technology).

They are all being sponsored to attend by the New Zealand Institute of Pacific Research.

NZIPR director Toeolesulusulu Associate Professor Damon Salesa says the conference aligns with the goals of the institute by providing a place for the sharing of knowledge that will help improve the role of the Fourth Estate in the Pacific.

“It allows for the Pacific to get to know more about New Zealand and world media, and for New Zealand media to better understand the Pacific,” Toeolesulusulu says. “We are really excited and looking forward to this conference.”

Corruption and bribery
A special panel topic about corruption and the media in the South Pacific has been organised by Transparency International and will be streamed live on Asia Pacific Report.

Panelists include Alex Rheeney (editor-in-chief of the Post-Courier in PNG), Dr Shailendra Singh (USP) and Kalafi Moala (Taimi ‘o Tonga media group and deputy chair of the Pasifika Media Association-PasiMA)

Transparency International New Zealand’s Fuimaono Tuiasau, the Pacific director, says the forum enables TINZ to support Pacific journalists in their work to tell stories about corruption and bribery.

“We hope to highlight to an international audience the role of he media in the Pacific and the challenges that face media organisations and to expose those at the forefront to an international audience.”

Fuimaono says corruption and bribery should be a topic introduced into journalism education and training so the media can develop the skills necessary to tell these stories.

• Register for the preconference here.
• Strong Asia contingent lined up for WJEC
• Pacific preconference webpage
• WJEC website

OPINION: By Kalafi Moala in Nuku’alofa

A brother has made a terrible mistake. He has, however, taken responsibility for it and has apologised. Those of us who are offended need to offer forgiveness in the spirit of Pacific compassion, and move on.

Gatoa’itele Savea Sano Malifa, founder and editor-in-chief of the incredibly successful Samoa Observer, admitted it was a mistake for the Sunday Samoan edition of his newspaper to have reported on the suicide of a 20-year-old transgender woman, Jeanine Tuivaiki; and especially to publish a photo of the lifeless body of the deceased.

I have known Savea for almost 30 years, and he is one of the most professional and enduring journalists in our region. He has also been very successful in building a news organisation, and a daily publication that has made all of us Pacific people proud.

The Samoa Observer has a code of ethics, and Savea is one whom I know to advocate passionately for the need for media organisations to have a code of ethics.There is no excuse for mistakes so blatant as this suicide report, and I would be the last one to offer any justification for what the Samoa Observer did.

Reactions to the Sunday Samoan report has been largely fair, and reasonable. Media is often the harshest critic of itself, but criticism is usually left with a close-ended condemnation without any solutions.

We also need to be reasonable, compassionate, and be balanced in our judgments.

Balanced criticism
The Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has given a very balanced criticism of the Observer. He is a wise friend of media to have done so without resorting to a “ban the media” mentality.

I found Sandra Kailahi’s offer of using a guideline she has written on suicide reporting very helpful indeed. But that’s what we need to do, to help each other when mistakes are made, and then move on to do what we have been called to do in each of our countries and societies.

There is really no time to get vicious and to use this occasion as an opportunity to exact retribution on Savea and his organisation, for it is not really helpful, even in this situation.

I have read most of the criticism and attacks made on Savea and his organisation. I have also been invited to join the condemnation. But before I consider doing so, I need to look back also at my own news organisation, and publication, and ask what mistakes we’ve made in our 28 years of operation. I am ashamed to say that we made quite a few mistakes ourselves over the years.

The key however is to recover, correct course, and move on with the business of providing information for our people.

This is not the time to pick up stones and throw at Savea and the Samoa Observer. Let us not forget the incredible contribution he has made to Samoa and Pacific media for over 30 years. He has not only been inspirational to many of us, he has also helped in providing employment, training youth in journalism, and also speaking out without fear in his watchdog role.

Journalism is a profession that often walks the edge of risky engagement, and is demanding of every ounce of professionalism from us. We are bound to make mistakes now and then. But, can we also learn, make corrections and move on?

Not helpful
It is not helpful to get on an “anti-Sano, anti-Samoa Observer” bandwagon. I believe we are mature enough in our Pacific media roles to criticise Savea and the Samoa Observer fairly, but at the same time be embracing and helpful.

The Observer will still be going on strong tomorrow, next week, and in the future. We need to support our brother, even after we’ve expressed our disappointment. He is one of us. If he has failed, let us encourage him to “fail forward” so that we can all learn and continue to do what we need to do, in a spirit of co-operation and loving partnership.

Kalafi Moala is the chief executive and publisher of the Taimi ‘O Tonga group and vice-chair of the Pasifika Media Association (PasiMA). He is also on the editorial board of Pacific Journalism Review.

• Earlier reports on the Sunday Samoan publication issue
• Samoa’s Ombudsman on complaints over publication