OPINION: Moale James

What should we expect for the future of media freedom in the Pacific? And how do we sift through the “bullshit” as emerging journalists? These were two of the many questions raised at the pre-conference keynote for the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum at Griffith University, Brisbane.

Attending on the night where various media professionals, many with extensive careers in the Pacific. A few notable attendees included SBS correspondent Stefan Armbruster, retired foreign correspondent Sean Dorney, radio journalist Pauline Nare and academic Dr Tess Newton Cain.

Key note speaker, Professor David Robie focused the night’s conversation on the lack of media freedom in West Papua with the main issue being the lack of international media attention and its effect on opportunities to make positive humanitarian changes.

READ MORE: WEST PAPUA: PMC director blasts politicians, media over ‘shameful silence’ on rights violations

To date, 528,000 West Papuans have lost their lives to a slow-motion genocide.

Dr Robie and audience members expressed their disgust and concern at the silence and inaction from international governments and the lack of media reporting on these events.

With a death toll as high as this, it becomes clear that the lack of journalistic reporting on this issue is a deliberate decision. This is not a number that can simply be ignored.

Dr Robie likened the media situation in West Papua to the cases of imprisoned female investigative journalists in Iran. The deliberate action of imprisoning critical journalists who are exposing human rights abuses is a mirrored pattern in the Pacific.

However, although there are international journalists being imprisoned there is an exciting emergence of “citizen journalism” a term that describes the creation, collection and distribution of news and information by the public on the internet and social media.

West Papuans are using the resources that they have on the ground and in their hands to capture the human rights abuses they are experiencing and actively sharing these online, forcing open the eyes of the world onto the slow genocide occurring in West Papua.

The “citizen journalism” coming out of West Papua has created global pressure on the Indonesian Government, which initiated a blackout across West Papua on August 21, 2019  in response to the growing unrest. Black spots are still active today in Jayapura and Maokwari.

Coming to the end of the key note presentation, Dr Robie unfurled the West Papuan flag  from behind the podium. In an act of solidarity, he asked all attendants to stand with him and make the promise that they would endeavour to be honest, passionate and critical journalists when it came to writing about the atrocities in West Papua.

If mainstream media are deliberately choosing not to report on the events in West Papua, then independent journalists must make the conscious decision to do so instead.

As the lecture came to an end it became clear that conversations around West Papua did not simply end with the slideshow. Conversations and deliberate actions of those present following this event are sure to be the catalyst for change for media freedom in not only West Papua but across the Pacific.

Papua Merdeka from Sorong to Samarai.

Moale James is a student at the University of Queensland undertaking her Bachelor in Journalism. Moale also proudly identifies as a mixed-race Papua New Guinean-Australian.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Michael Andrew

PMC Director Professor David Robie gave a blistering attack on the Australian and New Zealand governments and mainstream media for their deafening “silence” over the West Papua crisis earlier this week.

Speaking in the pre-conference keynote for next month’s Melanesian Media Freedom Forum (MMFF) at Griffith University’s South Bank campus in Brisbane, Dr Robie said Canberra and Wellington needed to get behind the Vanuatu-led Pacific initiatives on West Papuan self-determination or face growing insecurity in the region.

He told the audience – which included experienced “Pacific hands” Dr Tess Newton Cain, Lee Duffield, Sean Dorney, Bob Howarth and Stefan Armbruster – that the 1969 UN-mandated plebiscite on the future of West Papua was a sham and that a fresh vote was needed.

READ MORE: Veronica Koman wins prize for West Papua work

While praising public broadcasters ABC and RNZ Pacific for their coverage of West Papua, Dr Robie described the mainstream commercial media’s reporting of recent protests in Papua as “shameful.”

Dozens of people have been killed and many thousands forced to flee over the past three months as Indonesian military and police clashed with Papuan demonstrators protesting against racism.

He said Pacific media were doing a better job of covering the crisis than mainstream Australian and NZ news organisations.

Dr Robie also said it was embarrassing that international news agencies were doing a better job of covering something “right on our own doorstep”.

“West Papua has generally been poorly covered by New Zealand mainstream media – and only slightly better in Australia – apart from RNZ Pacific and a handful of specialist websites such as the Pacific Media Centre’s Asia Pacific Report,” he said.

Dr Robie spoke about the principles of “human rights journalism” as a guiding framework for covering conflicts in the region.

Journalists with ‘guts’

He commended specific journalists and media practitioners who have incorporated this into their work and “stuck their necks out in defence of a free press.”

“It takes serious guts to do so in the Pacific.”

Scott Waide, Neville Choi and Sincha Dimara from Papua New Guinea’s EMTV were praised as was the Vanuatu Daily Post’s Dan McGarry and the Post Vila-based independent journalist Ben Bohane.

“Fiji’s Simpson @ Eight – Stan Simpson is doing an excellent job on the University of the South Pacific expose at the moment – and Alex Rheeney and Mata’afa Keni Lesa at the Samoa Observer are examples,” he said.

“West Papua Media is one of the networks of citizen journalists which has also played a key role. And Stefan Armbruster of SBS News and Johnny Blades of RNZ Pacific are key contributors too.”

“But there are many more journalists who deserve credit.”

MMMF conference

A select group of Pacific journalists will be gathering for the MMFF conference at Griffith University on November 11-12 to map out a media strategy for Melanesia.

Some of their presentations are expected to be published in a special edition of Pacific Journalism Review research journal.

During his keynote, Dr Robie presented a “wish list” for journalist action, including pressing for an impartial investigation into cases of arbitrary arrest and impunity in West Papua; open access to news workers, diplomats and human rights advocates; and a new independent plebiscite on West Papuan self-determination.

After his speech, Dr Robie unfurled the West Papuan flag of independence – the Morning Star – and wrapped it around himself, saying: “Journalists really need to decide where they stand in relation to the issue.”

The whole room of journalists, academics and activists then came up to the front and joined Dr Robie around the flag.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Michael Andrew

Media freedom in Melanesia will be the focus of the next edition of Pacific Journalism Review in partnership the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum with academics and journalists invited to submit papers on the subject.

The research journal will focus on the political and socio-cultural challenges and constraints for a free press in Melanesia.

This will follow a special double edition due to be released this July.

READ MORE:Pacific media freedom and news ‘blackholes’ worsen for World Press Freedom Day

PJR editor and director of the Pacific Media Centre Professor David Robie welcomed the opportunity to partner with the forum for the conference in November.

“Media freedom is tracking downwards at the moment and we need a challenging forum like this to clear the air over threats to the region,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

“Also, those courageous journalists in the region who are holding the line need to be celebrated for their work and this will be a tremendous opportunity to uphold media freedom.”

Papers can include but are not restricted to human rights journalism in Melanesia, gender and identity, environmental or climate change journalism, press freedom and the intersection between custom and indigenous knowledge in contemporary Fourth Estate practice.

Other topics
Other journalism topics will be publish as usual in themed editions of the journal.

The deadline for submissions is January 20, 2020.

Pacific Journalism Review is also encouraging presenters to take part  in the Melanesian Media Freedom Forum in Brisbane on November 11/12, 2019.

Co-organised by Griffith University and the Melanesian Media Freedom Group, the forum will give priority to presentation on media freedom in the region, but also welcomes presentations on social justice, human rights, environmental and climate change reporting in the Melanesian media.

Forum co-organiser and director of the journalism programme at Griffith University, Dr Kasun Ubayasiri said the time was right for practitioners, academics and media freedom activists to come together to discuss the changing media landscape in Melanesia.

“We are hearing about increasing threats to media freedom in Melanesia from journalists, editors and media watchers across the sub-region,” he told Pacific Media Watch.

“There seems to be a spread in authoritarian attitudes, policies and practices by governments, often presented under the pretext of ensuring ‘stability’, and the apparent increase in intensity and frequency of threats seem to align with this shift in Melanesian politics.”

Incidents reported
Pacific Media Watch has reported on recent incidents involving such threats and policies in the region:

Dr Ubayasiri, who is co-editing the next edition of PJR, said a free press was vital for a robust and healthy democracy and there was no logical reason to undermine it.

He said he had worked under media restrictions and censorship in South Asia as a former journalist.

“Media freedom is an issue very close to my heart.”

Chair of the Melanesian Media Freedom Group and MMFF co-organiser Dr Tess Newton Cain said she appreciated the challenges to a free media.

Difficult circumstances
“Based on my experience of living and working in Melanesia, I am very well aware of the difficult circumstances in which journalists and media outlets are operating.”

An expert on Melanesia, Dr Newton Cain said she hoped the forum would provide senior members of the industry with an opportunity to come together and address the challenges media freedom faced throughout the region.

Scholars are invited to submit 200-300 word abstracts for conference presentations.

The forum abstracts deadline is June 20, 2019.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz