Titi Gabi
PORT MORESBY (PNG Loop / Pacific Media Watch): Editors and news directors of newsrooms in media organisations in Papua New Guinea have agreed to act as the collective group for the media industry in the absence of the defunct Media Council.
For several years now, the Media Council of PNG has become dysfunctional and unresponsive to the needs of journalists and media workers alike.
This has meant an absence of a watchdog to monitor and provide training for industry members and most importantly the absence of a public reporting system where complaints of the public against the media are taken and dealt with.
A meeting was hosted at the PNGFM boardroom on Friday, where for the first time in a long time, news managers agreed to come together and chart a way forward.
Concerns have been raised especially on all forms of threat targeting media and also the recent court cases by both dailies.
Organiser and managing editor of the Pacific Business Review, Leo Wafiwa, said the group would meet regularly to discuss and address issues that affect the media industry which includes:
Media Practice and Standards
Media Ethics
Media Rights, and
Training
This group is confined to mainstream media. One of their concerns is to revive the PNG Media Council under a new structure.
“It’s high time we stand up to the challenge and do something about the industry now instead of wait for someone to do it,’’ Wafiwa said.
“The industry isn’t as vibrant and organised as it used to be and that is a worry,” he said.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
