CoveragePost
May 6, 2026
RNZ Pacific A female journalist in Tonga has been threatened at gunpoint following the broadcast of a news story about an Australian criminal deportee serving a life sentence in Tonga for methamphetamine importation. The incident, in which an unknown individual threatened the journalist at the Kele’a Publications office in Nuku’alofa 12 days ago — 23 ... <a title="Tongan police investigate journalist threatened at gunpoint after gang-related report" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/06/tongan-police-investigate-journalist-threatened-at-gunpoint-after-gang-related-report/" aria-label="Read more about Tongan police investigate journalist threatened at gunpoint after gang-related report">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 5, 2026
By Khalia Strong of PMN News Fiji has shot up the world rankings for press freedom but the victory feels hollow as journalists across the Pacific face a wave of court battles, police raids, and vicious online abuse. The 2026 World Press Freedom Index, released last Thursday by Reporters Without Borders, shows Fiji climbing to ... <a title="Fiji’s media win in World Press Freedom Index overshadowed by threats and court summons" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/05/fijis-media-win-in-world-press-freedom-index-overshadowed-by-threats-and-court-summons/" aria-label="Read more about Fiji’s media win in World Press Freedom Index overshadowed by threats and court summons">Read more</a>
Submitted Analysis.Post
Asia Pacific Report - John Minto
Forough Amin in her opinion piece “The consequences of selective morality” (The Press, 28 April 2026) argues that the Palestine solidarity movement’s call for sanctions against Israel is “selective morality”. She says we should be calling out all human rights abuses everywhere — which in her case means Iran.
CoveragePost
May 5, 2026
POLITICAL CARTOONS: By Campion Ohasio My name is Campion Ohasio, and I am currently the only political cartoonist in Solomon Islands. In recent weeks, I have received many questions and comments from people across the country about my cartoons. Some ask why I draw our national leaders in certain ways. Others wonder whether my caricatures ... <a title="Pacific political caricatures: Why criticising a leader’s actions isn’t a personal attack" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/05/pacific-political-caricatures-why-criticising-a-leaders-actions-isnt-a-personal-attack/" aria-label="Read more about Pacific political caricatures: Why criticising a leader’s actions isn’t a personal attack">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 5, 2026
COMMENTARY: By Eugene Doyle Kiwi Julien Blondel’s face may be bloodied but it is unbowed. So far the New Zealand government has done nothing after Blondel and other New Zealand peace activists were savagely beaten by Israeli soldiers who attacked the Global Sumud flotilla near the Greek Island of Crete on April 30. The flotilla ... <a title="After Israel’s brutal attack on Kiwis the NZ government does nothing" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/05/after-israels-brutal-attack-on-kiwis-the-nz-government-does-nothing/" aria-label="Read more about After Israel’s brutal attack on Kiwis the NZ government does nothing">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 4, 2026
By Stefan Armbruster of Pasifika TV Fiji has recorded a dramatic jump in its media freedom rating to be in the top 25 nations globally while Samoan government press restrictions have seen its rating plummet in the latest World Press Freedom Index. Advocacy group Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said globally it was the first time ... <a title="Fiji jumps, Samoa plunges in World Press Freedom Index" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/04/fiji-jumps-samoa-plunges-in-world-press-freedom-index/" aria-label="Read more about Fiji jumps, Samoa plunges in World Press Freedom Index">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 4, 2026
By Charlotte England of Novara Media Israeli soldiers beat and tortured flotilla organisers Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila after abducting them in international waters near Greece in the early hours of Thursday morning, allege lawyers and diplomats. After illegally intercepting 22 boats and kidnapping around 200 activists hundreds of miles from Gaza, Israel transferred the ... <a title="Gaza flotilla organisers subjected to ‘extreme brutality’ in illegal Israeli detention" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/04/gaza-flotilla-organisers-subjected-to-extreme-brutality-in-illegal-israeli-detention/" aria-label="Read more about Gaza flotilla organisers subjected to ‘extreme brutality’ in illegal Israeli detention">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 4, 2026
RNZ Pacific Fiji has recorded the biggest improvement in the Pacific in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, rising to 24th out of 180 countries. The index has been compiled and published by global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) since 2002. Papua New Guinea moved up slightly on the index to 73rd. But Samoa ... <a title="Fiji climbs to 24th in World Press Freedom Index, biggest gain in the Pacific" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/04/fiji-climbs-to-24th-in-world-press-freedom-index-biggest-gain-in-the-pacific/" aria-label="Read more about Fiji climbs to 24th in World Press Freedom Index, biggest gain in the Pacific">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 4, 2026
Fijian Media Association Three years after the lifting of draconian media laws under which Fiji’s media industry operated, and even with significant improvements in the country’s media freedom rankings, the gains from the return of media freedom remain tenuous. This World Press Freedom Day, the Fijian Media Association is heartened by the country’s remarkable progress ... <a title="FMA praises Fiji media workers for press freedom climb but warns it is ‘tenuous’" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/04/fma-praises-fiji-media-workers-for-press-freedom-climb-but-warns-it-is-tenuous/" aria-label="Read more about FMA praises Fiji media workers for press freedom climb but warns it is ‘tenuous’">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
May 4, 2026
By Anish Chand in Suva Fiji’s rise in the latest global press freedom rankings is being credited to improved media conditions following key political and legal reforms in recent years. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says the country’s jump to 24th place in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index reflects a shift in the media environment ... <a title="Political reforms drive Fiji’s big press freedom gains, says RSF" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/05/04/political-reforms-drive-fijis-big-press-freedom-gains-says-rsf/" aria-label="Read more about Political reforms drive Fiji’s big press freedom gains, says RSF">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
April 29, 2026
By Christina Persico, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor A woman whose great-grandparents — all eight of them — were Girmitiya labourers has put their stories into her debut novel. The result is Banjara, a novel partly based on what she found, which is told through the eyes of two women more than 100 years apart. Author, ... <a title="Girmitiya ancestry the inspiration behind Fiji writer’s debut novel" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/29/girmitiya-ancestry-the-inspiration-behind-fiji-writers-debut-novel/" aria-label="Read more about Girmitiya ancestry the inspiration behind Fiji writer’s debut novel">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
April 27, 2026
By Johnny Blades, RNZ Pacific bulletin editor A Papua New Guinea National Court ruling to overturn a ban on Starlink has been widely welcomed, fresh off the back of a natural disaster which highlighted the need for low-orbit satellite services in the country. Last December, the National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) announced that ... <a title="Starlink set to return to PNG after court quashes ban, clearing path" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2026/04/27/starlink-set-to-return-to-png-after-court-quashes-ban-clearing-path/" aria-label="Read more about Starlink set to return to PNG after court quashes ban, clearing path">Read more</a>
