Twenty five broadcasters from 13 Pacific countries touched down in Auckland recently for the Pacific Broadcasters conference.

A meet and greet filled with lots of talanoa, networking and healthy debate, the conference was a welcome change from a typical Zoom meeting.

Natasha Meleisea, chief executive of Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Ltd (PCBL), which operates Pasifika TV, says the conference was about uniting Pacific broadcasters.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific broadcasting reports

“I’ve kind of shared messages today around, it’s never a solo journey. There is strength in the collective and partnerships is really important,” Meleisea says.

“For a very long time we’ve had Pacific voices or Pacific stories being told by non-Pacific. There’s nothing wrong with that.

“However, it’s good to provide a platform where our own Pacific people can share those stories themselves and PCBL, Pasifika TV enables that.”

Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Cooperation (VBTC) chief executive Francis Herman says that after seeing Vanuatu stories in the hands of overseas productions, story sovereignty is an important point of discussion.

‘Misconstrued a lot of things’
“We’ve noticed that in previous years, people have just flown in, told our stories, misconstrued a lot of things,” says Herman.

“[They’ve] gone for the ratings, gone for the dollars and left us high and dry, and they really haven’t told the real stories. We are the experts in our own culture, our own island, or about our people.”

But Herman says the PCBL partnership has been a “faithful . . . and equal partnership.”

“We haven’t been seen as a very small island developing state or a very small broadcaster. They’ve treated us as equals.

“We tell our own stories. We know our audience better, we know our country better than they do.

“Let’s tell our stories. And I think Pasifika TV has given us that opportunity and that’s why we’ve continued that partnership.”

Story sovereignty major factor for Pacific broadcasters. Video: Tagata Pasifika

Part of that partnership includes training in camera production, operation of Live U units and journalism training, something which Kiri One TV chief executive Tiarite George Kwong deeply values.

“Kiri One just started five years ago . . . and so we are very new in this kind of industry,” Kwong says.

‘Upgrading our skills’
“The idea for the partnership with PCBL is to upgrade our skills so that the news that we produce is up to the standard that people want to listen and watch every day.

“Compared from day one that we started, we have seen the improvement.”

Broadcasters like Mai TV in Fiji have taken the PCBL training one step further, when they acquired the netball rights for the Oceania Netball Series in 2022, their first time to do so.

“We were thinking we cannot do this because you need all the different equipment and costs and things,” says director of Mai TV Stanley Simpson.

“But we spoke with PCBL and they found solutions for us. And through that we were able to take the Oceania Netball series to Tonga, to Samoa and the Cook Islands, which is the first time that we were able to distribute rights from Fiji.

“That empowerment has been really strong. And from the discussions and the inspiring conversations we’ve had with the team at PCBL, it made us look around and realise that we have the best stories in the world in the Pacific.”

Now that their Pacific counterparts are receiving the necessary training and equipment, Meleisea says there is an abundance of Pacific content being produced from their regional partners.

‘A phenomenal feat’
“We went to air in 2016, at that point in time we weren’t getting any content from the Pacific. Fast forward eight years down the track, we’re now getting eight to 10 hours a day from the Pacific, which is a phenomenal feat.

“In order to achieve that, it’s been a slow build. It’s been about providing equipment, providing training, and then providing the infrastructure and the connectivity to enable it.

“So without all of those three things, we wouldn’t have been able to get the content from the region.”

Funded as part of NZ’s Public Interest Journalism project. Republished from Tagata Pasifika with permission.

Clinging to the top of a swaying coconut tree, Vanuatu journalist Edgar Howard carefully plucks out his phone from his pocket.

He’s clambered up there looking for a strong enough signal, so he can file his report to VBTC, the country’s public broadcaster in the capital, Port Vila.

That’s the way Edgar Howard often files his stories as one of the world’s most remote radio and TV correspondents, reporting on news and current affairs from Vanuatu’s northernmost islands in Torba province.

LISTEN: Remote Vanuatu journo goes above and beyond to tell stories

With increasing effects of climate change and rising seas, his work has become all the more important.

For 15 years he’s travelled between the 13 islands, sometimes motoring in his banana boat in high seas and strong winds for five hours at a time to reach the far-flung communities.

“The government must be informed about what’s happening in the province of Torba,” he said.

“I think there’s a lack of information there and that’s why the government does not know how exactly to help those people.”

According to him, there are plenty of stories to tell among the province’s 8000 people who make a living mostly from copra, coconuts, crabs, lobster and fish.

Self-taught and committed
Howard is self-taught and so committed he funded himself for the first few years until the public broadcaster VBTC took him on as a paid correspondent.

“I start like bottom up. I start with nothing and I build myself up and now I’m working with national TV and radio.”

Paying passengers hitch a ride on his boat to help defray the expensive fuel costs.

Howard doesn’t have a story in mind when he sets out as he knows there’s always something happening.

“Every day I get a story with the local people,” he said, explaining that the chief is always his first port of call when arriving on an island.

“He directs me to the people I have to talk to and I make my interview.”

Climate change coverage
The effects of climate change on the province’s coastal communities are some of the main stories he covers.

“Now they [have to] start to move inland because the place they lived before is covered by the sea.

“We’re not used to living in the middle of the bush. It’s a big change.

“Some of the historical sites we lost because of climate change, like the oldest places of our grandfathers.”

Resulting conflicts over land are also a big issue.

Conflict over land
“Because the land is not now enough, population growth is one issue and makes sometimes conflict with the land, the tribes.”

The loss of fish varieties, troubles with crops and ways to ensure fishing is sustainable for future generations are all subjects for his reports.

Howard has a 30-minute TV programme to fill every week which he films, edits and voices himself with a self-recorded stand-up at the start.

The recognition he gets when walking down the street on his occasional trips to Port Vila make him proud.

“They say, woah …Vois Blong Torba!” he laughed, referring to the name of his programme which he sends off on the weekly flight to the capital.

Tree-top reporting
It’s a risky business sending some of his reports from the top of a 30-metre-high tree, especially in heavy rain.

“Sometimes the tree is too slippery. I must make sure the phone is in my pocket. I find a branch of the tree to make sure I don’t fall and slowly I take the phone out of my pocket and I start to communicate.

“It takes me about 20 minutes up there to finish all my reporting.”

The reporting may be difficult, but the effort is worth it, Howard said.

An Australian-funded police post in Sola came about through his reporting.

“I feel so glad because it’s good feedback for my job. It’s so satisfying and I’m really glad because I feel I have contributed to the project.”

This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

“VBTC is important to the government, as part of the 100 Days Plan, the government wants radio coverage to reach the whole country,” Prime Minister Salwai told the Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC) board of directors and staff during his visit to the national broadcaster late last week.

Stressing the importance of media and the role that VBTC is expected to play as the government’s mouthpiece, Salwai questioned why the state-owned institution was not functioning up to expectations.

“Media is important because information is important so people can be aware of what is happening nationally, regionally and also internationally.

“Unfortunately not everybody is reached. It is our homework to increase the coverage because it’s not only information but also educational for the people.”

The Prime Minister recalled having access to radio coverage when growing up as a child on his home Island of Pentecost during the colonial era.

“Now there is no coverage, even in rural Efate,” said Prime Minister Salwai.

Lack of coverage
“With more facilities in place like the e-govt network, submarine cable and the establishment of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), lack of coverage is a challenging issue.”

Salwai said he was concerned about the status of the institution and made it clear that he intends to get to the bottom of the issues that are affecting VBTC.

He called for more transparency and accountability, saying the institution’s annual report did not reflect the reality of the situation it was facing.

The prime minister said VBTC had an annual budget every year from the government on top of fees from other operators.

He said he would get a second opinion in terms of an audit report if needed.

“I want to find out what needs to be addressed,” he said.

Overall he said as minister responsible he would continue to support the media to work freely in the country.

In response, VBTC general manager Fred Vurobaravo thanked the prime minister for the “challenging words”, saying it would take time and a collective effort to address the issues.

Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlot Salwai Tabimasmas has terminated the board of the national broadcaster Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation after meeting with the previous board to hear its reasons for the long delay in re-establishing the VBTC’s transmitter network.

Johnety Jerety from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade is now chairman of the board.

Newly appointed board members are: Jennifer Kausei, Transparency International Vanuatu CEO; Wilson Toa; Gratien Tiona, journalist with The Independent newspaper; journalist Aristide Meltecoin; former VBTC marketing officer Alex Steven; and former Greens Confederation politician Iarris Naunun.

The level of information concerning service giving has certainly improved with the arrival of a government determined information should flow freely.

Prime Minister Salwai has spoken out concerning deficiencies in the public services of VBTC, especially the physical extent of its reach.

This is a topic previously taken up by senior media personnel in the Vanuatu Daily Post. The daily newspaper has been the major provider of news on an increasing basis, but it lacks the reach-all network provided by VBTC’s short wave.

VBTC has hit back at the Daily Post which has been giving considerable column centimetres to the Leader of the Opposition, always ready to fill them.

The Opposition’s Kalsakau has criticised – in Daily Post – the Mayor of Port Vila, stating that the Mayor is not paying the monthly allowances of Opposition side councillors.

“The way the council is depriving Opposition councillors of their Special Duty Allowance is illegal and it is a maladministration practice of the council which brings disrepute and discredits this high office,” said Alatoi Ishmael Kalsakau in the Daily Post.

The deprivation is alleged to have started around six months ago.

Kalsakau has called on Mayor Sumptoh to resign.

However, Town Clerk Ronald Sandy said through Radio Vanuatu noon news that every allegation made was wrong and that the Opposition should check its facts, as should the Daily Post.

There had been no complaint to the Town Clerk concerning missing duty allowances, nor to the ministry, said Sandy.

VBTC also reported on a documentary film made by Red Cross concerning women’s role in the Cyclone Pam recovery period. Haos i foldaon: Woman i stanap was made for International Women’s Day earlier this week.

It will be screened in Saralana Park on Monday at 5:30pm.

Such an extra dimension to media services of the state within Vanuatu should only be carried out with the approval of the population as a whole. Yet there has been no public debate on television availability at all hours – no forum of any kind.

And meanwhile the public complaint concerning Radio Vanuatu reception continued during Cyclone Pam and last week with the passage of Cyclone Winston when warnings could only be heard on South Pentecost through FM107 or seen on tiny mobile telephone screens.

People should not have to climb hills and trees to have reception of such warnings when they have been available on the household radio for over 40 years, managed by ni-Vanuatu transmission engineers, sometimes supported by foreign aid, but without the need to bring Chinese companies into the formula.

Vanuatu Daily Digest learned of the Pentecost island cyclone Winston warning problem only on Thursday night. Radio reception of the national service remains a difficulty on West Coast Santo and in the Banks and Torres where they hear their warnings from the Solomons.

The problems in VBTC are further highlighted by a post of long serving broadcaster Antoine Malsungai on Facebook on Thursday.

The VBTC claims to be taking action against certain staff for various offences and yet the staff union is bringing a case against VBTC Board and management – a case which still has to be heard. Malsungai also raised the matter of the Chinese company involvement in the corporation.

The whole matter surely needs the interest of the newly formed government.

The earlier Vanuatu Daily Digest item said:

A media project which has been given negligible public awareness is the VBTC arrangement with a private Chinese company to provide television to all the islands of Vanuatu.

The VanuaMadia [sic] Digital TV Network is reported created for this purpose by Vila Times. VT 500 million worth of equipment is said to be going to arrive, the first shipment this [last] weekend.

There has been no public discussion on the merits and disadvantages to communities and cultures of such a scheme.

Accounting at VBTC has been the subject of complaint by the Auditor-General and it is to be hoped that appropriate expertise has been sought to evaluate such a project at a time when food and water are being shipped to islands suffering the ravages of El Niño.

An early opinion of the Salwai government would be appreciated by everyone.