The United Nations in Papua New Guinea has met the leadership of the Media Council of PNG to advance collaboration in support of a strong, independent and responsible media sector, reports UNPNG.

The meeting addressed recent incidents of threats and violence against journalists — especially attacks against women journalists and the growing risks they face while reporting.

Participants identified key priorities to strengthen media freedom and safety. These included:

• Improving journalist safety measures;
• reinforcing newsroom integrity and professional standards; and
• promoting responsible and accurate reporting in the lead up to the national elections.

The UNPNG statement said dialogue reaffirmed the shared commitment of the United Nations and the Media Council to “support a safe and independent media sector and to ensure that everyone in PNG can access reliable information that supports free and informed participation in public life”.

Present at the meeting were Media Council PNG president Neville Choi, secretary Belinda Kora and treasurer Genesis Ketan, UN Resident Coordinator Richard Howard, Human Rights Advisor Marc Cebreros, UNDP Country Representative (OIC) Aadil Mansoor, Chief Technical Adviser on Transparency and Anti-Corruption Alma Sedlar, Peace and Development Advisor Tony Cameron, and UNDP Assistant Resident Representative for Governance, Gender and Peace Zoe Pelter.

MCPNG president Choi thanked UN Resident Coordinator Howard and UNDP for the continued support of media freedom in PNG.

Earlier this month, the MCPNG condemned an alleged assault on a senior female reporter by warders at Bomana Prison and called on the police to conduct a full independent investigation into the incident on February 27.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Media Council of Papua New Guinea (MCPNG) has condemned an alleged assault on a senior female reporter and called on the police to conduct a full independent investigation into the incident last Friday.

Council president Neville Choi also condemned the attack and threat against one of its own
members, saying reporters in Papua New Guinea must be “respected for the work that they do in informing and educating the public of what is happening around them”.

A statement at the weekend by the MCPNG detailed the circumstances of the attack and although the reporter was not named in the report, she was bylined in her news story about injuries suffered by prisoners in an attempted break-out at the Bomana jail near the capital Port Moresby.

The reporter, Rebecca Kuku, is an experienced reporter of The National daily newspaper.

Her article reported that “more than 50 remandees were injured, and nine hospitalised in what a top official described as a failed jail break” at the Bomana Correctional Service Institution on Monday, 23 February 2026. Photographs of some of the injured remandees were published with the article.

The MCPNG statement said “an attack on one journalist is an attack on the media industry”.

The statement said that the attack happened about 11am on Friday, February 27, as Kuku was about to enter Correctional Service headquarters to attend a Press conference.

‘Confronted by 5 officers’
“She was confronted by five Correctional Service male officers who questioned her about an article that she had reported on in relation to injuries sustained by prisoners at the Bomana Correctional Service facility,” the statement said.

“One of the CS officers punched the female reporter on her left ear, to which she reacted by pushing him away in self-defence, while another officer attempted to slap her across the face.

“Following the incident, the reporter returned to the office and reported the matter to her editor before filing a formal police complaint regarding the attack.”

“The unprovoked attack was in relation to a news article in The National carrying the reporter’s byline entitled “50-plus prisoners injured in ‘failed’ jail break.”

The MCPNG quoted a brief statement by The National newspaper management:

“The National merely reported a serious assault upon prisoners perpetrated, it has been confirmed, by warders.

“The Prime Minister has ordered an investigation. For warders to now assault a journalist is reprehensible and does nothing to improve the image of the service.

“We are fully supporting our journalist in filing a criminal assault case. We are calling on the CS command to look into this and discipline the officers responsible.

“We have lodged a complaint with the CS management. Regardless of this we will continue to report fairly all matters to do with CS including this incident.”

‘Damning evidence’
Since the incident, said the MCPNG, said it had received “damning evidence” which included Whatsapp messages and voice notes which reflected the “very worrying conduct of officers” within the Correctional Services.

The media council reminded the public that “freedom of the press is the fundamental right
of journalists and media organisations to report, publish, and disseminate information, news, and opinions without government censorship, intimidation, or undue restriction”.

President Neville Choi condemned the attack and threat, saying reporters in Papua New Guinea must be respected for the work that they do in informing and educating the public of what is happening around them.

He added that citizens not happy with a news report could raise a formal complaint with the MCPNG Media by writing to the council, or via its website complaints page.

In a comment reported by ABC News, Choi said public servants and authorities needed to understand the importance of journalists.

“We’re not here to point fingers at anybody, we’re here to report the facts and for our citizens to make more informed decisions and even for authorities to pay attention to what may be happening that they don’t know about.”

The National reported that Prime Minister James Marape had ordered a full investigation.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Telikom PNG, which is 100 percent government-owned, has two key outlets: FM100 radio and EMTV.

Recently, it sacked FM100 talkback host Culligan Tanda after he featured opposition East Sepik Governor Allan Bird on his show, following the most recent vote of no confidence.

Local media report that Tanda was initially suspended for three weeks without pay on April 22, and subsequently terminated.

MCPNG president Neville Choi said this was just the latest example of media suppression by Telikom PNG going back to 2018.

He said that he himself was sacked in 2019 after EMTV had run a story quoting the former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying she would not be riding in one of the PNG government’s luxury Maseratis during an APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in Port Moresby.

Choi said the story, though correct, was perceived as painting the government of the day in a “negative light”.

‘Free, robust media essential’
He said a “free, robust, and independent media is an essential pillar of democracy”.

“It is the cornerstone of allowing freedom of speech, and freedom of expression.

“Being in a position of power and authority gives no one, especially brown-nosing public servants wanting to score brownie points with the sitting government administration, the right to suppress media workers who are only doing their jobs, and doing it well,” he said.

The council also reminded the management’s of state-owned media organisations, that the Organic Law on the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) defined corrupt conduct by public officials and the dishonest exercising and abuse of official functions.

According to a PNG Haus Bung report, Marape has directed his chief of staff to get to the bottom of the issue.

He has also denied government interference, according to a report by Exeprenuer.

“We don’t get down that low as to editorial content,” Marape was quoted as saying by the the online magazine.

In December, Marape gave “full assurance that my government will not dilute the media’s role.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Papua New Guinea government’s push for news organisations to become its cheer-leading squad is under further scrutiny this week as Parliament hears testimony from journalists and top officials.

The effort to wield influence over the news, first announced last year as a “media development policy”, has been watered down in the face of strong opposition.

Despite the changes, the policy still contains avenues for politicians and officials to undermine the watchdog role of the Pacific island country’s media.

“When we say media development we are saying media should be a tool for development because we are a developing nation,” said Steven Matainaho, Secretary of the Department of Information Communication Technology, which devised the media regulation plans.

“In a more advanced and mature economy it could be used as a Fourth Estate for balance and check, but in a developing economy every stakeholder should work together to develop the country — that includes the media,” he told the Committee on Communications’ hearing at Parliament House.

Papua New Guinea’s global ranking in the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index deteriorated to 91st place this year from 59th last year. In 2019 it was placed 38th out of the 180 nations assessed.

“We’re calling it the ‘media control policy’, not the ‘media development policy’,” Scott Waide, a senior Papua New Guinea journalist, told BenarNews.

“We didn’t agree with it because it was trying to make the media an extension of the government public relations mechanism,” he said.

Amid the criticism, the parliamentary committee on Wednesday asked the Media Council of Papua New Guinea to amend its submission to include a proposal that it takes the leading role in drafting any media policy.

Marape threatened media
Prime Minister James Marape has threatened to hold journalists accountable for news reports he objected to and has frequently criticised coverage of his government’s failings and Papua New Guinea’s social problems.

The government has an at times tenuous hold over the country, which in the past few months has suffered economically ruinous riots in the capital, spasms of deadly tribal violence in the highlands and a succession of natural disasters.

The fifth and latest draft of the policy argues that a government framework is needed for the growth of a successful media industry, which currently suffers from low salaries, insufficient training, competition for readers with social media and, according to a government survey, a high level of public distrust.

The media policy is also needed to justify providing funds from the government budget to bolster journalism training at universities, according to Matainaho.

It envisages a National Media Commission that would report to Parliament and oversee the media industry, including accreditation of journalists and media organisations. A Government Media Advisory Committee would sit inside the commission.

A separate National Media Content Committee would “oversee national content” and a National Information Centre would “facilitate the dissemination of accurate government information” by overseeing a news website, newspaper and 24-hour news channel.

It also aims to make existing state-owned media a more effective conduit for government news.

Government role ‘too much’
Neville Choi, president of the Media Council of PNG representing the major mainstream broadcasters and publishers, said the plans still give far too much of a role to the government.

He said the council is concerned about the long-term risk to democracy and standards of governance if the state became the authority for accreditation of journalists, determining codes of practice, enforcing compliance with those codes and adjudicating complaints against media.

“One must consider how future actors might interpret or administer the policy with political intent,” he said in the council’s submission to the committee.

“The proposed model would allocate too much centralised power to government,” he said.

Waide said the main focus of a media development policy should be on training and providing adequate funding to university journalism programmes.

Media, he said, “is a tool for development in one respect, in that we need to promote as much as possible the values of Papua New Guinean society.

“But there has to be a healthy mix within the media ecosystem,” he said. “Where opinions are expressed, opinions are not suppressed and not everyone is for the government.”

Call to develop ‘pathways’
Although the policy mentions the importance of press freedom in a democracy and freedom of expression enshrined in the country’s constitution, other comments point to different priorities.

“It is necessary to review, update and upgrade how we do business in the media space in PNG. This must be with the mindset of harnessing and enhancing the way we handle media information and news for development,” Minister of Communications and Information Technology Timothy Masiu said in the document.

It is timely to develop “pathways” for developing the industry and “holding media in general responsible and accountable,” he said.

And according to Matainaho: “The constitution protects the rights of the citizens, we must not take that away from the citizens, but at the same time we need to find a balance where we still hold the media accountable.”

His department had studied Malaysia — which ranks lower than Papua New Guinea in the press freedom index and has draconian laws used to threaten journalists — when it was developing the media policy, Matainaho said.

Media’s rights under the constitution are not absolute rights, he said.

Harlyne Joku contributed to this report from Port Moresby. Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Papua New Guinean government has been bluntly and frankly reminded to leave mainstream media alone as a long awaited consultative workshop on the recently introduced National Media Development Policy took place in Port Moresby.

Media stakeholders stood in unity with the PNG Media Council yesterday to express their concerns on the alleged threat it would pose if the government enforced control over the media in PNG.

Transparency International-PNG chair Peter Aitsi reminded the government that a “free and independent media deters corruption and underpins justice”.

“If we take some more independence away from the media, we [are] only adding more fuel to the flames of corruption,” Aitsi said.

TIPNG’s response to the policy was that licensing through a government-enforced process would be a threat to the media professionals and that there were already existing laws that the media was abiding by.

Also the draft policy did not explain why this was not sufficient to ensure accountability.

Before Aitsi spoke, PNG Media Council president Neville Choi said the purported policy was not encouraged and that the national government’s push to control narrative was not supported.

He stressed that every media house in PNG had its own complaints mechanism, own media code of ethics, code of conducts as guides and that there were laws that the media abided by. He saw no reason, based on the draft policy, for it to be progressed.

‘Lack of government support’
“We remind government, that the current level and standard of journalism performers is largely a result of lack of government support to the journalism schools and institutions in our country,” Choi said.

“And we remind government that before this policy was announced, the Media Council had already begun a reform process to address many of the concerns contained in this draft policy.

“We ask that this process be respected, and supported if there is a will to contribute to improving the work of the media.

“We call for full transparency and clarity on the purpose of this policy, and reject it in its current v2 form.

“And I say this on the record, so that this continues throughout the rest of this consultation process.

“We acknowledge that there are areas of concern from which solutions can be found in existing legislation and currently available avenues for legal redress.

Thank you to @jo_m_chandler @CainTess @SamisoniPareti @DavidRobie Bob Howarth @TI_PNG and host of other stakeholders who submitted feedback on the Media Development Policy. We were able to have good discussions with secretary Matainaho and his team. @SecPNGDICT pic.twitter.com/nTv7SHwlBI

— Scott Waide🌴🌴 (@Scott_Waide) March 2, 2023

‘Too much at stake’
“There is too much at stake for this to be rushed.

“There are too many media stakeholders, both within our country, the region, and internationally, who are watching closely the process of this policy formation.

“We all owe it to our future generations, to do this right.”

Prominent PNG journalist Scott Waide was also also highly critical of the government’s draft policy and warned against it going a step further.

Pacific Media Watch reports that last month Waide wrote a scathing critique of the policy on the Canberra-based DevPolicy blog at the Australian National University.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The national news team of Papua New Guinea’s major television channel, EMTV, walked out last night in protest over a decision earlier this month to suspend head of news Sincha Dimara for alleged insubordination.

They have condemned the political “endless intimidation” of the news service which has led to the suspension or sacking of three news managers in the past five years.

The news team has vowed to not return until the “wrongs have been righted” by the EMTV management with Dimara, a journalist of 30 years experience, being reinstated, and acting CEO Lesieli Vete being “sidelined and investigated for putting EMTV News into disrepute”.

In a statement signed by the “Newsroom 2022” team made public tonight, the team apologised to viewers for not broadcasting last night’s news bulletin.

“With all that has happened in the last eight days, the EMTV News team has decided to walk off producing EMTV News for tonight, Thursday, 17th February 2022,” the statement said.

“We, therefore demand that Ms Dimara be reinstated and for interim CEO Lesieli Vete to be sidelined and investigated for putting EMTV News into disrepute.

“We no longer have confidence in her leadership.

Apology to viewers
“The EMTV Newsroom would like to apologise to our viewers for not bringing you tonight’s news bulletin. We will return when the wrongs have been righted.”

The controversy arose over a series of news stories about Australian hotel businessman Jamie Pang and his court cases.

According to the newsroom statement, on Monday, 7 February 2022, “a fraction of the EMTV News team was verbally notified of a decision made by EMTV management to suspend EMTV’s head of news and current affairs, Sincha Dimara for a 21-day period”.

The statement said the decision had been based on two grounds:

“Purported insubordination over a series of news stories relating to Jamie Pang and his associates and damaging the reputation of EMTV, which the interim CEO claims EMTV received negative comments from the public on the airing of Jamie Pang’s stories.”

The news team said the issue could have been “handled better” by the interim CEO Vete who “lacked a demonstration of leadership”.

“We are dismayed at the extreme harsh treatment of our head of news and the continuous interferences from outside the newsroom,” the statement said.

Third suspension in five years
“This is the third time in a space of five years for an EMTV news manager to be suspended due to external influence.”

• Scott Waide was the first manager suspended in 2018 over a story aired during the 2018 APEC meeting.
• Neville Choi was terminated in August 2019, also on grounds of “insubordination”.
• And now Sincha Dimara was placed in a similar situation.

On Wednesday, 9 February 2022, the news team wrote a letter to Vete expressing concern on the suspension of Dimara.

According to the news team, Vete queried the letter demanding to know which staff members were involved in sending out the letter.

The same day, Thursday, 10 February 2022, the entire news team expressed their concern in another letter with signatures from all individual members to support the call to re-instate Dimara.

“We are certain that the manner and approach taken by the interim CEO over the suspension of Ms Dimara is not right,” said the news team.

“We consider the grounds of suspension to be shallow, contradictory and irrelevant.

News reports ‘unbiased and factual’
“The news team strongly believes that the stories that ran on the nightly news relating to Jamie Pang were unbiased and reported with facts and did not impede on any of the current laws nor did not implicate anyone.”

On Thursday, 10 February 2022, the EMTV management team, acting CEO of Telikom – the owners of EMTV’s parent company Media Niugini Limited (MNL)  — and few senior officers met with the news team and explained their decision to suspend Dimara.

The management team initiated an audit investigation into the situation to determine what went wrong. That investigation is still continuing.

After that meeting, the news team wrote another letter addressed to Telikom acting CEO, Amos Tepi and copied in the chairman of Telikom, Johnson Pundari which was sent to both Tepi and Pundari yesterday – February 17.

“The decision to suspend Dimara is wrong as it breaches the Media Code of Ethics which is to report without fear or favour,” the news team said.

The team also said it was standing up against continuous intimidation from the interim CEO.

‘Endless intimidation’
“We condemn the endless direct or indirect intimidation which includes:

• Threats of terminating news members for not putting together a news bulletin;
• Micromanaging daily news production by being present in the master control room during live news;
• Forcing the news team to sign a recently drafted news manual through the HR Department; and
• Attempts to single out individual staff and asking if they have read the news manual or finding out if they have completed a degree or diploma in their respective fields.

Under Dimara’s leadership, EMTV News has won the award for AVN Outstanding Reporting from the Pacific category for a well-documented series, Last Man Standing, which covered the political life of a founding father of Papua New Guinea, Sir Julius Chan.

Dimara was planning the coverage of Papua New Guinea’s 2022 National Elections and the news team insist they need her leadership.

There was no immediate public response from the EMTV management to the news team’s walkout protest last night, nor was there any mention of the absence of the nightly bulletin on the new channel’s website.

Several media freedom monitoring organisations have made statements with the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemning the “unacceptable political meddling” and calling for immediate reinstatement of Sincha Dimara.

The Paris-based International Federation of Journalists also condemned Dimara’s suspension and urged the company to immediately reinstate her.  Pacific Media Watch reported on the ongoing intimidation of EMTV editorial staff.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Michael Andrew

Journalists across Papua New Guinea have spoken out in support of EMTV news director Neville Choi after his “unacceptable” termination from a role he had held for six years.

A public statement released on Monday listed the reasons for his termination, one of which was his refusal to bury a February 2019 story about the PNG Defence Force pay strike outside the Prime Minister’s office.

However, EMTV deputy head of news Scott Waide told Pacific Media Watch they broadcast the news because it was balanced and the fallout had already been resolved internally.

READ MORE: EMTV staff protest over sacking of ‘flawless’ news manager Neville Choi

“Neville did his job as head of news and a journalist. He took both sides of the story and we ran it on EMTV news,” said Waide.

“There was nothing conflicting about the story but the fact that he defied the orders of the acting CEO didn’t go well with the management and they issued a warning letter to him.”

Another reason for the termination was Choi’s defiance of a directive from EMTV’s board, Kumul Telikom Holdings Ltd, to fire Scott Waide himself for his coverage of the 2018 APEC summit.

The story reported New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s decision not to use the controversial government Maseratis during the summit.

While Choi refused the directive, management suspended Waide until an angry public backlash saw him reinstated.

Choi received a warning from management for his refusal to follow directives.

Flawed logic
Waide said he and the other journalists at EMTV could not understand the logic of using long resolved issues as an excuse to terminate someone.

“What management in their right mind would table something that they’ve already issued a warning letter for and resolved and then put it in a termination letter?”

While fellow journalists have rallied in support of Choi, Waide said the saga had affected the morale of the newsroom and compromised the plans and strategies that were in place.

“It has pretty much destabilised the whole EMTV newsroom and the management, but also it jeopardises our international links with organisations like Reuters, RNZ, and ABC because Neville is the main point of contact.”

Credible journalist
“Neville is a credible journalist in his own right,” he said.

“He’s set the standard in terms of his professionalism and he’s been in news management for 20 years.

“He’s not a controversial person. He’s just a very down-to-earth journalist who does his job. He’s being very loyal to EMTV and he’s built up a formidable team. They look up to him for support and leadership; to have that important element removed like that has been very upsetting for many people, not just within EMTV but outside as well.”

Waide said that other staff were intimidated by acting CEO Sheena Hughes, from Fiji, and human resources when they expressed their concerns about the termination.

“They told them if you are unhappy with this decision we will happily show you the door.”

Newsroom strike
While Meriba Tulo was made acting news director, she and the rest of the EMTV news team protested against the termination by walking off the job, forcing the broadcaster to replay the news bulletin for the first time in 30 years.

While there has not yet been a positive response from management, Waide said there were negotiations going on at various levels.

Social media has erupted with comments of support for Neville Choi and outrage over his termination.

Journalists and cameramen are being urged not to accept offers of work from EMTV to fill the void left by the striking news team.

PNG Media Union
On a Facebook comment, journalist Harlyne Joku stressed the need for a union group to represent the PNG media.

“We need to seriously consider forming a PNG journalists union to help us stand in solidarity to peacefully protest and negotiate issues affecting our colleagues, in this case the termination of EMTV news director Neville Choi,” she wrote.

“If EMTV staff protest or go on a sit in strike they can be terminated too. Let’s start by forming a journalists union.”

A Facebook post from former Post-Courier editor and chair of the PNG Media Council Alexander Rheeney called for Sheena Hughes herself to stand down and condemned the interference of the EMTV Board Kumul Telikom Holdings Ltd (KTHL) in independent news.

Commercial interference
According to former EMTV journalist Sylvester Gawi, commercial and governmental interference in the PNG media is a common occurrence.

“Journalism in PNG is no longer free. Commercial TV stations like EMTV are owned by Kumul Telikom Holdings Limited a government entity and it is nonetheless controlled by the government through the board,” he told Pacific Media Watch

“I was asked to resign from EMTV in 2015 after I refused to do a story for one of their commercial clients.”

“I see that as much as we need commercial clients to support EMTV’s operation, the newsroom should not be expected to compromise its stance with commercial partners.”

However, he says that Choi’s termination sets a dangerous precedent and would only add to the demise of journalism in PNG.

“I believe journalism in PNG would go down the drain if we tolerate such actions like the termination of Neville Choi for standing up for his news team.”

• More EMTV News stories

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk

Papua New Guinea’s EMTV news and current affairs manager Neville Choi has been sacked after six years of service in this role, triggering strong protests from staff in the country’s main television news service.

EMTV staff called for the reinstatement of Choi and for the “sidelining” of acting chief executive Sheena Hughes for bringing the company into “disrepute”.

Choi is the president of the PNG Media Council and an experienced head of the news room having previously worked for several years as editor of Wantok Niuspepa.

READ MORE: Bryan Kramer: Who was behind O’Neill government revenge on Scott Waide?

According to a statement released by the EMTV management this afternoon, his termination took effect yesterday morning, report the PNG Post-Courier’s Melisha Yafoi and Elias Nanau.

The company said his termination had no association with political motives, and was a “disciplinary action” taken for non compliance by Choi towards EMTV’s company human resources policies.

EMTV said his role will be looked after by Meriba Tulo who is now the acting head of news and current affairs.

ËMTV management said it was confident over Tulo’s appointment as the acting news manager and would continue to support him and the overall news department.

Deeply resentful
The company also thanked Choi for his leadership, guidance and experience in the role, but staff are deeply resentful over the termination.

A staff person who did not want to be identified said Choi had delivered a “flawless news content development and presentation” under his leadership within the news and current affairs team.

Last year Scott Waide, the bureau chief of EMTV’s Lae Office was terminated for reporting about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s refusal to use the controversial Maserati vehicles when she attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Port Moresby.

Waide was reinstated after widespread protests and news consumers petitioning against his termination on social media.

Staff at the television channel tonight issued their own statement, saying they were “appalled and ashamed” by the harsh treatment by EMTV’s acting chief executive, Sheena Hughes. The statement on social media said:

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz