REGION: Islands Business editorial on an united media front

SUVA (Islands Business / Pacific Media Watch): Quote:

 "It is a positive development that there is a realisation that the regional media puts up a united front rather than a splintered image weakened by infighting in full public view. The region, comprising a whole range of countries in various stages of political and economic development led by a motley group of leaders, many of indifferent capacities, faces a slew of geopolitical challenges. The last thing the people of the region need is an irresponsible squabbling Fourth Estate that puts personal agendas before its collective goals."

OPINION: The Pacific Islands News Association’s (PINA) call to the region’s fractious media organisations to work together and move forward at its Fiji convention in late March must be welcomed. 

Sessions at the past PINA summits have been stormy, even acrimonious, and ending up in bad blood between different factions of the region’s media practitioners over a number of issues. Members of the association have always managed to find something to fight about—be they about management and organisational matters, national and regional political developments or simply personal ideologies of the more vocal and active members.

This year’s summit was remarkably different, with a spirit of conciliation imbuing the two-day deliberations from the word go. There were none of the embarrassingly ugly scenes encountered at the earlier summit, just over two years ago in Port Vila, Vanuatu, or the heated exchanges seen at the 2003 summit in Apia. Though the issues that were at the heart of these disruptions were completely different, they highlighted the fractiousness of the collective regional media in the Pacific Islands.

Personal rifts
It is not hard to see that much of this fractiousness is driven by personal ideologies and idiosyncrasies—more than any fundamental values running media organisations.

Political developments in Fiji, where PINA has been headquartered for the most part, as well as the continued engagement of PINA’s office bearers with Fiji’s government have ostensibly spurred a faction of the members of the regional media—some of them no longer financial members of PINA—to call for its office to be shifted elsewhere. 

Among locations discussed has been Samoa. But these moves have never really achieved any traction, increasing the ill will among supporters of this faction as it were.

In fact, this demand to move the headquarters to Samoa has been given the spin of a Melanesian-Polynesian divide in some circles. This has over time further vitiated the atmosphere in media circles spilling the continuing stoush into the public domain through social networking websites, online forums, blogs and the well entrenched and ubiquitous coconut wireless. 

In the past few years, Fiji has emerged as the single biggest issue for the region’s media organisations. Opposition to PINA’s continued functioning from Fiji spurred the birth of a parallel news media organisation called the Pasifika Media Association, or Pasima.

Media practitioners—mainly from Polynesia—formed PasiMA about three years ago with its headquarters in Apia. Though PasiMA’s office bearers were sent invitations to attend the March Fiji summit, most reportedly declined to do so. In fact, they canvassed PasiMA members against attending. 

'Impassioned plea' for unity
But that did not stop at least one founder member from not only being present, but also making an impassioned plea for the region’s media organisations to work together and move ahead for the common cause, even under a “PINA umbrella,” some day.

Attending in his capacity as the publisher of Taimi 'o Tonga—and not as the deputy chairman of PasiMA—Tongan journalist and author Kalafi Moala said: “We need to heal and move forward. As long as we remain focused on Fiji alone, we’ll be blocked and there will be no going further.”  

Moala, a veteran of several PINA summits, outlined the historical bones of contention members have dealt with over the years and urged the regional media to preserve its unity despite the divergent views present in the spirit of inclusiveness that is characteristic of the people of the Pacific. 

The veteran Tongan journalist was not the only one who was urging cooperation and collaboration from the disparate factions.

Another senior journalist from Samoa, Tupuola Terry Tevita, who has been a vociferous critic of the Fiji regime and also PINA’s perceived failure to put up a strong protest against media censorship in Fiji and many other countries around the region like Papua New Guinea, attended on his own and actually toed the line his senior compatriot was espousing.

It is a positive development that there is a realisation that the regional media puts up a united front rather than a splintered image weakened by infighting in full public view. The region, comprising a whole range of countries in various stages of political and economic development led by a motley group of leaders, many of indifferent capacities, faces a slew of geopolitical challenges. The last thing the people of the region need is an irresponsible squabbling fourth estate that puts personal agendas before its collective goals.

Media needs strength and support
At a time when there is increased pressure on the media in several countries, the promise of wealth thanks to burgeoning Asian demand for natural land and oceanic resources and a reluctance for governments and administrations to be transparent about their dealings with big business to their voters, the media needs to be strengthened and supported on all fronts.

One thing that is of urgent need is building capacity in the region’s media. Dozens of vital issues go under-reported and under-commented because of the lack of capacity in the regional journalism milieu. 

The recent extremely important development about the Papua New Guinea legislature’s attempt to clamp down on its judiciary has gone largely uncommented in the nation’s media despite wide protests from students and civil society. This is only one example.

This leads to investigative reporting and commentary by journalists, academics and writers from outside the region, which often does not take on board the sensitivities that would be particular only to people living in the islands. This is then criticised severely by readers from within the islands.

There are several things a single, strongly member-supported media association can fight for in the region. As well as capacity building and training—which incidentally is one of the main resolutions of the latest summit—PINA must campaign for the Pacific Islands Forum member countries to enact freedom of information legislation, hitherto legislated only by the Cook Islands government.

After all, media is the Fourth Estate of democracy. It has no statutory power but it can be more powerful than the other three estates—legislature, judiciary and executive—combined. That is because it draws its power from the people whose interests it is supposed to primarily represent. A fractious media loses sight of its very raison d’etre.