In Bislama, they say, “Wan nambanga i foldaon“.

A great tree has fallen.

The nambanga, or banyan tree, is the centrepiece of many a Vanuatu village. Its massive network of boughs provides shade, shelter and strength. I’ve only ever seen one knocked down, and that was in the wake of category 5 cyclone Pam in 2015, whose 250 kph winds had never been seen before or since in Vanuatu.

The blow on hearing of Marc’s passing this week feels the same.

In fairness, Marc Neil-Jones was often more like the wind than the tree. He’s knocked a lot of stuff over since he arrived in Vanuatu in 1989 with a few thousand bucks in his pocket, a Mac and a laser printer.

He also built the nation’s newspaper of record, and a tradition of fairness and truth in the media.

One of my first tasks as Marc’s successor as editor-in-chief at the Vanuatu Daily Post was overseeing coverage of the 2015 bribery trial that saw more than half of the MPs in Sato Kilman’s government convicted and sentenced. The saga had started with a front page photo, showing a hand-high stack of money — a bribe offered to an MP in exchange for his vote to oust the current PM and install Moana Carcasses.

On the witness stand, former Speaker Philip Boedoro was asked, “Why did you send the photo to the Daily Post? Why didn’t you just report it to the police?”

“Because I knew if people saw it in the Daily Post, they would know it was true,” he replied.

That’s a hell of a thing to say on the stand, and the fact that he could say it is indelible evidence of Neil-Jones’ legacy.

Marc was fearless, a swashbuckler in the truest sense. If he smelt a story, he’d swoop in on it, and the devil take the hindmost. His friends are fond of recalling how he broke up an international drug smuggling operation, exposing more than 500 kg of heroin buried in a local beach, and still made it to the kava bar on time.

Vanuatu mourns loss of iconic Pacific media pioneer Marc Neil-Jones #AsiaPacificReport @ben_bohane #DelAbcede @malapa_terence #Vanuatu #mediafreedom #pressfreedom #MarcNeilJones @USPWansolwara https://t.co/8dqa7HBHOz pic.twitter.com/JofXJcjm6N

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) March 11, 2025

Marc’s impact on the political scene was undeniable. But far too often, he paid for his courage with blood. He’s been assaulted with fists and furniture, attacked incessantly in the courts and even briefly deported.

In 2011, he was brutally assaulted by then-Minister Harry Iauko and a truckload of henchmen, including current MP Jay Ngwele. I went to check on Marc two days later. He related how it had all played out with trademark bravado, then he chuckled as he turned to go, and said, ‘I’m getting too old for this.’

He tried to laugh it off, but I could see in his eyes that this time was different. Eyewitnesses told me they felt that if Ngwele hadn’t convinced Iauko to relent, he might have killed him then and there.

Trauma, age and hard living took their toll. In 2015, he announced he was going to retire from the newsroom. Marc had struggled to cope with type 1 diabetes throughout his life, and the daily stress of running the paper was affecting both body and mind.

I took over the newsroom in interesting times. The pressure was intense and immediate, but Marc’s staff were more than equal to the challenge, and made my life far easier than it might have been. Due to the paper’s reputation as a bastion of fairness and honest reporting, it attracted the best that Vanuatu had to offer.

When I joined it, there was well over a century and a half of experience in the room.

Personally and professionally, Marc was not the easiest person to deal with. He was driven by passion, and impulse often preceded insight. More than one editorial meeting ended in fury.

A close friend of his described him as “a unique combination of complete arsehole and loyal mate all wrapped up in a British accent and long hair”.

That was Marc. He made you love him or hate him. Those who knew him best did both, and measure for measure, matched his fierce devotion.

I choose to remember Marc as a giant. His shadow still looms across the Pacific, causing corrupt politicians to cast a nervous glance over their shoulder, emboldening those of us who still carry his passion for the truth.

But today, his loss feels like a gaping hole, an absence where once a mighty nambanga stood.

Republished from Dan McGarry’s Village Explainer with permission.

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

A large 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila , shortly after 3pm NZT today.

The US Geological Survey says the quake was recorded at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles).

Locals have been sharing footage of serious damage to infrastructure in Port Vila.

According to one post on Vanuatu Dialogue Live Facebook group, the building which is occupied by diplomatic embassies has suffered significant damage.

There are also reports of people trapped under buildings that have collapsed from the shake.

Buildings collapsed in Port Vila, Vanuatu after strong 7.4 earthquake.
Rescuers trying to reach trapped people. #earthquake #Vanuatu #terremoto #sismo pic.twitter.com/UCbRiW6bLb

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

Tsunami waves
The US Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawai’i said tsunami waves had been observed and were forecast for some coasts.

It expected tsunami waves reaching one meter to be possible for some coasts of Vanuatu.

The tsunami was expected to reach the Anatom Island and Esperitu Santo in Vanuatu.

Fiji, Kermadic Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna faced a forecast for tsunami waves less than 30 cm high.

It said the coastal regions of Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the CNMI should refer to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center messages.

Massive earthquake in Port Vila just now.

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Massive landslides near our international shipping terminal. A lot of digging out ahead. This is going to impact our ability to respond. pic.twitter.com/dpgyK8tcpf

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Video by Dan McGarry.

One News reports that the NZ High Commission building “sustained significant damage”.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been in contact with the country’s High Commissioner Nicci Simmonds in Port Vila.

“Our High Commission building, which is co-located with the United States, the French and the United Kingdom, has sustained significant damage.

Footage posted to X shows damage to the High Commission building in Port Villa.

7.4 Earthquake damage in Vanuatu.
December 17, 2024 #earthquake #sismo #terremoto pic.twitter.com/8n6z0QEaQe

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

“We are in the process of contacting our staff to check they are safe.”

Forty five New Zealanders were registered on SafeTravel as being in Vanuatu. The ministry said it expected there would be more who were not registered.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ with additional information from Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry’s news feed.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A strong 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Vanuatu today, US geologists said, severely damaging a number of buildings in the capital, crushing cars and briefly triggering a tsunami warning.

Witnesses described a “violent shake” and widespread damage to Port Vila, located about 1900km northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane.

The Pacific island nation is ranked as one of the world’s most at-risk countries from natural disasters and extreme weather events, including cyclones and volcanic eruptions.

Michael Thompson, an adventure tour operator based in the capital, said the quake was “bigger than anything” he had felt in his 20 years living in Vanuatu.

“I was caught in the office with my colleague,” he told BenarNews. “When we came outside, it was just chaos everywhere. There have been a couple of buildings that have pancaked.

“You can hear noises and kind of muffled screams inside.”

Video footage taken by Thompson outside the US embassy showed the bottom floor of the building in downtown Port Vila had partially collapsed. Its windows are buckled and the foundations have been turned to rubble.

“It looks dangerous’
“We stood there yelling out to see if there was anyone inside the building,” Thompson said. “It looks really dangerous.”

The building also hosts the British, French and New Zealand missions.

Just down the main road from the embassy building, search and rescue teams were trying to force their way into a commercial building through the tin roof, Thompson said, but at the pace they were going it would be a “24 hour operation”.

Bottom line: It’s bad. People died, and many more were hurt. Some have lost their home, and many will find it hard to get back to work. Repairs will likely stretch for years, as they always do in the wake of disaster.

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

“We need help. We need medical evacuation and we need qualified rescue personnel. That’s the message,” he said.

The quake was recorded at a depth of 43km and centered 30km west of the capital Port-Vila, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The US Tsunami Warning System cancelled an initial tsunami warning for coastal communities in Vanuatu within 300km of the epicenter.

The quake hit the island nation not long after midday, coming into peak tourist season, when the streets of Port Vila were packed with people shopping and eating in restaurants, Thompson said.

One dead body
He had seen at least one dead body among the rubble.

“The police are out trying to keep people back,” he said. “But it’s a pretty big situation here.”

In other videos posted online people can be seen running through the streets of the capital past shop fronts that had fallen onto cars. Elsewhere, a cliff behind the container port in Port Vila appears to have collapsed.

Dan McGarry, a Port Vila-based journalist, described the earthquake on social platform X as a “violent, high frequency vertical shake” that lasted about 30 seconds, adding the power was out around the city.

Vanuatu, home to about 300,000 on its 13 main islands and many smaller ones, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because it straddles the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

Vanuatu’s government declared a six-month national emergency early last year after it was hit by back-to-back tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin and a 6.5 magnitude earthquake within several days.

Republished from BenarNews with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A large 7.3 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila , shortly after 3pm NZT today.

The US Geological Survey says the quake was recorded at a depth of 10 km (6.21 miles).

Locals have been sharing footage of damage to infrastructure in Port Vila.

According to one post on Vanuatu Dialogue Live Facebook group, the building which is occupied by diplomatic embassies has suffered significant damage.

There are also reports of people trapped under buildings that have collapsed from the shake.

Buildings collapsed in Port Vila, Vanuatu after strong 7.4 earthquake.
Rescuers trying to reach trapped people. #earthquake #Vanuatu #terremoto #sismo pic.twitter.com/UCbRiW6bLb

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

Tsunami waves
The US Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawai’i said tsunami waves had been observed and were forecast for some coasts.

It expected tsunami waves reaching one meter to be possible for some coasts of Vanuatu.

The tsunami was expected to reach the Anatom Island and Esperitu Santo in Vanuatu.

Fiji, Kermadic Islands, Kiribati, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Wallis and Futuna faced a forecast for tsunami waves less than 30 cm high.

It said the coastal regions of Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the CNMI should refer to Pacific Tsunami Warning Center messages.

Massive earthquake in Port Vila just now.

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Massive landslides near our international shipping terminal. A lot of digging out ahead. This is going to impact our ability to respond. pic.twitter.com/dpgyK8tcpf

— Dan McGarry (@VanuatuDan) December 17, 2024

Video by Dan McGarry.

One News reports that the NZ High Commission building “sustained significant damage”.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had been in contact with the country’s High Commissioner Nicci Simmonds in Port Vila.

“Our High Commission building, which is co-located with the United States, the French and the United Kingdom, has sustained significant damage.

Footage posted to X shows damage to the High Commission building in Port Villa.

7.4 Earthquake damage in Vanuatu.
December 17, 2024 #earthquake #sismo #terremoto pic.twitter.com/8n6z0QEaQe

— Disasters Daily (@DisastersAndI) December 17, 2024

“We are in the process of contacting our staff to check they are safe.”

Forty five New Zealanders were registered on SafeTravel as being in Vanuatu. The ministry said it expected there would be more who were not registered.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ with additional information from Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry’s news feed.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Dan McGarry, who served as a director of the company when he had his visa revoked in 2019, said the ruling was a “big win for independent media”.

McGarry’s work permit application was rejected by then Prime Minister Charlot Salwai’s government.

The reason given by the Labour Commissioner Murielle Meltenoven at the time was that McGarry’s role — who at the time had lived and worked in Port Vila for 14 years — could be taken up by a ni-Vanuatu person and that he had failed to train his local staff.

The Daily Post claimed that the decision to revoke McGarry’s visa was made after the newspaper had published stories concerning the arrest and arbitrary deportation of a group of Chinese nationals, some of whom had been granted Vanuatu citizenship.

McGarry and the company claimed that Meltenoven’s decision was a political one and argued that the government had no right to meddle in their lawful hiring decisions and appealed the decision.

The issue had escalated and he was barred by the government from returning to the country, a decision which was later overturned by the Supreme Court.

Acted unlawfully
On Tuesday, March 28, Justice Dudley Aru ruled that both the Labour Commissioner and the Appeals Committee acted unlawfully in barring McGarry’s employment.

“After three long years, I feel vindicated,” McGarry, who testified in the case, said in a statement.

A former Vanuatu Daily Post media director and journalist has won a legal challenge on Tuesday against the government’s decision to revoke his visa. https://t.co/KrJmYLzoCh

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) March 30, 2023

“Sadly, it took so long to get justice that I had to move on to other work, but this is a crucial principle that had to be defended.”

The use of bureaucratic measures to meddle in private business decisions and stifle our free and independent media is unacceptable in a free and democratic society,” he said.

“I’m grateful to the owners of the Daily Post and to all my colleagues and friends there who have never wavered in their stalwart defence of our right to chart our own course,” he said.

“This is a big win for the Daily Post, and a big win for independent media in Vanuatu.”

McGarry said it was not known whether a state appeal is forthcoming.

RNZ Pacific has contacted the Vanuatu’s labour office for comment.

Here’s a link to the judgment: https://t.co/zt9lndE1BI

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 30, 2023

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

• Editor’s Comment: Dan McGarry has been a valued contributor to Asia Pacific Report for several years. We congratulate him and the Vanuatu Daily Post for this victory for media freedom in Vanuatu and the Pacific.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

People in Vanuatu remain optimistic about their future after two destructive cyclones in two days left parts of the Pacific nation in ruins.

Authorities are yet to determine the full scale of the damage caused by the back-to-back severe tropical cyclones Judy and Kevin.

But those who had to endure the worst of the natural disasters last week believe demonstrating resilience is their only option.

“To have had two category four cyclones in less than a week is history in itself,” Vanuatu’s only female Member of Parliament, Gloria Julia King, told RNZ Pacific.

“[It’s] something that even the elders in our families haven’t seen before.”

She said her island nation has had its fair share of severe weather events, highlighting the destruction caused by Cyclone Pam in 2015 from which the country has still not fully recovered.

“A lot of our schools are still in makeshift classrooms, [children] still sitting on the floor without desks and chairs.”

Hopeful over challenges
But she is hopeful that the ni-Vanuatu people will get through the challenges in front of them.

“I have seen Vanuatu come back from Pam, I’ve seen Vanuatu come back from Harold, and I am positive Vanuatu will be able to bounce back from Kevin,” King said.

The country was hit by a category 4 TC Judy first on March 3, but just as people started to pick up the pieces, they had to rush to evacuation centres the following day as Kevin arrived as a category 3, intensifying to a category 4 and then reaching 5 over open water.

“People [were] carrying people with disabilities on their back to an evacuation building,” Greenpeace Australia Pacific’s advisor Shiva Gounden, who is in the capital Port Vila, said.

He said three to four families huddled in homes while properties around them were being wiped out.

“Roads are completely blocked or flooded. There’s no access for anyone to leave the village for any type of emergencies.”

‘No power, no water’
“There’s no power. There’s no water,” he added.

Gounden was in a village on Efate island helping people prepare for TC Kevin when it hit with a force much more violent than anyone was prepared for, he told RNZ Pacific.

He had to hold the doors of the house he was residing in for almost 10 hours in shin high water to remain safe.

“It was extremely strong,” he said, describing Kevin’s ferocity.

“I’ve seen and responded to several cyclones in my life and I felt Kevin was as strong as Cyclone Winston which wiped out Fiji.”

“I was trying to hold my door from 5pm till about 3am. I was using all my [strength] with my hands and my back and my legs to try and hold the door because if I didn’t, it would snap. There was water everywhere,” he said.

‘It’s a tough go for many’, says Vanuatu journalist
Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry, who has been on the frontlines documenting the disaster, visited vulnerable communities in the aftermath.

Taila Moses and her son Tom stand in front of what was once their home of 16 years. Countless houses in informal communities such as hers were damaged or destroyed. Cyclones dole put their damage indiscriminately, but society’s most vulnerable feel it more than anyone else. pic.twitter.com/cXBDuznMTz

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 5, 2023

He said people were living in “impromptu housing” in various parts of Port Vila.

“What I found was quite disturbing,” he said.

“It’s becoming obvious that the increasing reliance on a cash economy is creating inequalities in terms of people’s ability to cope with this kind of disaster cycle.”

McGarry said informal settlements up on the hillside in the capital were covered with clothing lines because everything had been soaked.

“There were tarpaulins pulled across roofs to provide some sort of temporary shelter.”

He has spoken with several residents and shared the story of one woman who has lost everything.

“She has no livelihood at the moment because her employer, of course, isn’t calling her into work,” he said.

“She’s lost everything and she is without the means to return it. It’s a tough, tough go for a great many people here in Port Vila,” he explained.

Climate crisis issue
Climate crisis is front of mind for Ni-Vanuatu residents as they start to rebuild.

“[Climate change] turns what used to be sort of periodical issues for Pacific island nations into chronic ones,” he said.

“In this case, we’ve had two severe cyclones in the course of a week an as New Zealanders have seen these weather systems are moving further south.”

He believes development partners of the Pacific cannot afford to walk away; a sentiment echoed by Gounden.

“We have the most resilient people, but there is a deep hurt that is within us,” Gounden said.

He said the “the hurt” stems from fossil fuels being burned across the world which exacerbates climate change.

“The people of the Pacific contribute the least to climate change, yet we face the greatest consequences of it all.”

“The biggest thing we can do is pressure world leaders right now to phase out [the use of fossil fuels.”

Meanwhile, Australia, France and New Zealand have been the first to send support to assist with emergency response.

“We will appreciate any help we can get,” King said.

“The biggest challenge now is just getting power and water back into full circuit around the country.”

Taking off for Vanuatu with assistance following TC Judy & TC Kevin. Australia has a rapid assessment team in Vanuatu & is delivering shelters & other items for communities.

We stand with the Pacific family #YugetaYumiStrong pic.twitter.com/IGYVrchew9

— Pat Conroy MP (@PatConroy1) March 5, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Vanuatu has been under a state of emergency, after two earthquakes and two cyclones hit in as many days, reports ABC News.

Hundreds of people remained in emergency evacuation centres in the capital Port Vila as Tropical Cyclone Kevin brought destructive winds and heavy rainfall.

The Fiji Meteorology Service said wind gusts reached up to 230km an hour in the early morning hours on Saturday.

No casualties were immediately reported but a number of properties were flattened and many homes and businesses reported power outages, said ABC.

The cyclone built to a category four on Saturday as it passed the capital and travelled south-east.

Port Vila-based journalist Dan McGarry tweeted updates as both cyclones hit.

“Port Vila has properly woken up now. Fuel is in short supply, power is out everywhere, and a boil-water order is in effect,” he tweeted early on Saturday.

“Lots of people at the few hardware stores that were able to open. Some with rather disturbing stories.”

The country’s main newspaper, Vanuatu Daily Post, did not publish on Saturday due to the cyclone, but will publish a special edition tomorrow.

Journalist Witnol Benko has forwarded what might be the first images from the southern island of Erromango. Doesn’t look good. pic.twitter.com/c8SIA1jTL4

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 5, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Ni-Vanuatu residents have emerged battered but still standing after Cyclone Kevin swiped the country with a strong backhand.

“It was quite exhausting. Dealing with two cyclones in three days is pretty draining, you know,” Vanuatu journalist Dan McGarry told RNZ Pacific.

He said the gale-force winds have been rough. He woke early on Saturday morning to try and get a sense of the extent of the damage.

He went outside in the dark to charge his phone, and when the sun came up it was a real eyesore.

“Our own laneway is blocked off. We’ve got tree limbs all the way up and down,” he said.

After clearing the way, he was able to get out and about and have a look around.

Port Vila had been badly knocked about. McGarry came across a mango tree that landed directly on top of a minibus.

“And then the wind lifted the entire tree and dumped it a metre-and-a-half away,” he said.

Fuel was in short supply and a boil water order was in effect, McGarry said.

Many people were at the few hardware stores that were open, trying to buy tools to repair their properties, he said.

On Saturday evening, the Fiji Meteorological Office said the severe tropical storm remained a category five, and was centred in the ocean near Conway Reef.

Tafea province in Vanuatu, which was under a red alert as Kevin tracked south-east, had been given the all clear.

An Australian Air Force reconnaissance flight over Tafea province was reported to have shown some intact settlements and still some greenery.

🌀 Kevin s’approche de Port-Vila pic.twitter.com/yFiynj6X7j

— Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer (@jeangene_vilmer) March 3, 2023

No casualties had been immediately reported but hundreds of people fled to evacuation centres in the capital Port Vila, where Kevin blasted through as a category four storm.

Foreign aid needed
Vanuatu needs support from its international partners.

“There is going to be a significant need — this is not something Vanuatu can do alone, so the assistance of these partners is going to be critical to a speedy and effective response,” McGarry said.

He believed cooperation from donor partners was needed. France has already received a request to send a patrol plane, he said.

“I expect that New Zealand would be putting a P3 in the air before very long. Australia has already committed to sending a rapid assessment team.”

Stephen Meke, tropical cyclone forecaster with the Fiji Meteorological Service, said cyclone response teams and aid workers wanting to help should plan to travel to Vanuatu from Sunday onwards, as the weather system is forecast to lose momentum then.

“Kevin intensified into a category four system,” Meke said. “It was very close to just passing over Tanna. So it’s expected to continue diving southeastwards as a category four, then the weakening from from tomorrow onwards.”

A UNICEF spokesperson said its team was preparing to ship essential emergency supplies from Fiji in addition to emergency supplies already prepositioned in Vanuatu.

“These include tents, tarpaulins, education, and health supplies to support immediate response needs in the aftermath of the two devastating cyclones.”

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was working with the Vanuatu government and partners to see what help it could offer.

An MFAT spokesperson said New Zealand had first-hand experience of the challenges Vanuatu faced in the coming days and weeks. It had been challenging making contact with people because of damaged communications systems, they said.

Sixty-three New Zealanders are registered on the SafeTravel website as being in Vanuatu.

Parts of Vanuatu have plunged into a six-month-long state of emergency.

Evacuations in Port Vila
The Fiji Meteorological Office said Port Vila experienced the full force of Kevin’s winds. Evacuations took place in the capital.

McGarry said he knew of one family that had to escape their property and shelter at a separate home.

“The entire group spent the entire night standing in the middle of the room because the place is just drenched with water.

“So it’s been an uncomfortable night for many, and possibly quite a dangerous one for some.”

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

pic.twitter.com/Pj7iIHeubW

— Dan McGarry (@dailypostdan) March 3, 2023

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

I spent five years as the lone journalist on the remote Pacific island of Yap. During that time I was harassed, spat at, threatened with assassination and warned that I was being followed.

The tyres on my car were slashed late one night.

There was also pressure on the political level. The chiefs of the traditional Council of Pilung (COP) asked the state legislature to throw me out of the country as a “persona non grata” claiming that my journalism “may be disruptive to the state environment and/or to the safety and security of the state”.

During a public hearing of the Yap state legislature in September 2021, 14 minutes of the 28-minute meeting was spent complaining about an article of mine that reported on the legislature’s initially unsuccessful attempt to impeach the governor.

One politician then posted about me on his Facebook page, under which a member of the public posted a comment saying I should be assassinated.

American Bill Jaynes, editor of the Kaselehlie Press in Pohnpei, one of Yap’s sister states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), has had his share of death threats over the years, too.

Several death threats
“In the 15 or so years I’ve been at this desk I have had several death threats,” he said.

“Early on in my tenure, some angry individual carved a request for me to perform an act of physical impossibility into the hood of my car which then rusted for posterity. Most of that was during the early days before I came to be trusted to view things from an FSM rather than a foreigner’s point of view and to handle things factually rather than sensationally.”

Freedom of the press is included in both the FSM and the Yap State Constitution, but as Leilani Reklai, publisher and editor of the Island Times newspaper in Palau and president of the Palau Media Council, says: “Freedom of the press in the constitution is pretty on paper but not always a reality.”

These incidents are shocking, but sadly are not isolated. Journalists in the Pacific face imprisonment, loss of employment and banishment from their homes.

“While there might not be assassinations, murders, gagging, torture and ‘disappearances’ of journalists in Pacific island states, threats, censorship and a climate of self-censorship are commonplace,” professor David Robie, founding editor of Pacific Journalism Review, wrote in a 2019 article for The Conversation.

A Fijian journalist, who asked to remain anonymous, said that after he posed questions to a politician during a public forum, the politician replied that he knew where the reporter lived. The following day, the reporter’s car was broken into.

Soon after, the reporter was told that if he didn’t stop being critical, he would be kicked out of his job “and can go bag groceries instead” and he was evicted from his housing. The reporter believes all of these incidents stemmed from the questions he asked of the politician.

“Within one week my life changed completely,” he said. “I do not see a future for me or any other journalist who is curious and questioning to make a career in journalism in Fiji.”

Fiji ranked 55th in world
According to the Reporters Without Borders’ 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Fiji is ranked as 55th out of 179.

The index highlights the “draconian” Media Industry Development Decree, introduced in 2010 and turned into law in 2018. “Those who violate this law’s vaguely-worded provisions face up to two years in prison. The sedition laws, with penalties of up to seven years in prison, are also used to foster a climate of fear and self-censorship,” said Reporters Without Borders.

In 2018, senior journalist Scott Waide of Papua New Guinea was suspended by EMTV after the airing of his report critical of the government for purchasing 40 luxury Maseratis and three Bentleys to drive attendees during the APEC conference.

Reinstated after a public and media outcry, Waide stated during an interview on ABC’s Pacific Beat programme: “Increasingly, not just EMTV, but nearly every other media organisation in Papua New Guinea has been interfered with by their boards or with politicians, or various other players in society.

“They’re doing it with impunity. It’s a trend that’s very dangerous for democracy.”

Daniel Bastard, Asia-Pacific director of Reporters Without Borders, said the situation is complicated by how small and connected many Pacific nations are.

“The fact is that political leaders are also economic bosses so there’s a nexus. It’s symptomatic of the small journalistic communities in the Pacific islands that need to deal with the political community to get access to information. They have to be careful when they criticise knowing the government can cut advertising, publicity, etc. There’s still a strong level of intimidation.”

While there are particular dangers faced by local journalists, foreign reporters living in the Pacific are not safe either.

Denied renewal of work permit
Canadian Dan McGarry, former media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post and a resident of the island nation for nearly 20 years, was denied renewal of his work permit in 2019. The reason given was that his job should be held by a local citizen.

But McGarry said he believed it was politically motivated due to his reporting on “Chinese influence” in the small nation. He was then denied re-entry to Vanuatu after ironically attending a forum on press freedom in Brisbane.

Regional and international news organisations came to his defence and the court granted McGarry re-entry, but the newspaper’s appeal to have his work permit renewed is ongoing.

I have written about some sensitive and difficult topics and like to think of myself as pretty fearless. In 2018 I wrote about illegal fishing by Chinese commercial fishing boats around the Outer Island of Fedrai. That coverage resulted in the expulsion of the fishing vessel and significant political consequences.

I’ve written about issues in the customs and immigration processes in FSM, that were potentially jeopardising tourism to Yap, which is so important to so many people’s livelihoods, and also about a huge and controversial proposed resort that would have seen thousands and thousands of Chinese tourists flown in to that tiny island on charter flights.

These stories matter and just because some Pacific nations are small and remote does not mean that they do not need or deserve the scrutiny of a free press.

But eventually, the threats to my safety were too much to handle. I spent too much time looking over my shoulder, living behind locked doors and never going out alone after dark.

In mid-2021, I moved to Guam for greater peace of mind where I am continuing to write about this largely invisible, but crucial part of the world.

Joyce McClure is a freelance journalist based in Guam. This article was first published by The Guardian’s Pacific Project and has been republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

I wasn’t invited to the inaugural Vanuatu media awards a couple of weeks ago. Nor was I asked to participate.

Instead, I spent the weekend preparing the final draft of the Media Association of Vanuatu’s Code of Ethics and Practice. I am proud to say it was adopted by the MAV executive last Friday.

If I had been there, and if I had been asked to say something, this is what I would have said (seriously: when did I ever wait for someone to ask me for my opinion?): Journalism isn’t just a profession; it’s a public service. It consists of sharing, broadcasting or publishing information in the public interest.

That’s the first paragraph in the new preamble of an updated Media Code of Ethics and Practice.

This code is integral to our work. It guides us from day to day. It tells us what we must do, what we should do, and what we should aspire to. It will help us serve the community better.

By describing how we should report the news, it helps us to decide what is news, and what’s not.

I agreed to help with this final draft because I know how important it is to think carefully about these things. Agonising over each word of this code has been an invaluable process for me. It’s taught me new things. It’s reinforced others. And it’s led me to do the one thing required of every reporter:

Challenge assumptions
Challenge every single assumption.

Reporting starts with asking questions. Who? What? When? Where? Why?

Socrates, one of humanity’s most famous inquiring minds, reportedly said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

The professional journey of every reporter begins with that phrase.

The Media Association of Vanuatu awards 2021. Image: MAV

In that spirit of examination, I want to take a moment to consider where we are as a media community, where we’ve come from, and where we need to go.

Vanuatu’s media can congratulate themselves for a number of things:

Our populace has a more nuanced and subtle understanding of the law and governance than many others. We joke about bush lawyers, but our interest in the law — and respect for it — is a product of how we in the media portray it.

We are bound to defend and protect the truth. The truth is the seed we sow. And from that seed, we reap a better democracY.

— Dan McGarry

Understanding politics
The same is true of our understanding of politics and Parliamentary procedure. Vanuatu follows Parliament the way some nations follow football. Our society is more engaged with the process of government than a great many others. The media plays a role in that, and we should be proud of it.

The status of women has advanced by leaps and bounds, both in media industry, and in society at large. Of course, the lioness’ share of the work has been done by two generations of fearless women who have campaigned tirelessly, selflessly to improve their lot.

But we have been there to mark their progress, to celebrate their wins, and to shine a light on the countless obstacles that still impede their progress.

The number of prosecutions and convictions for spousal abuse, sexual violence and other gender-based crimes is rising. These crimes are still happening far too often, but we can fairly say that the new, tougher sentences being handed out are a result of an awareness that we helped raise.

Our nation’s environmental awareness has been assisted greatly by the media. Again, we aren’t the ones saving the planet, but we are celebrating the people who do.

By giving space to the wisdom of kastom and the knowledge of science, we can exercise our right and our duty to protect this land.

The list of our achievements is long. I’m grateful that we finally found time to recognise and celebrate them. We have much to be proud of, and we should take this moment to applaud ourselves for a job well done.

About our failures
Now… let’s talk about our failures.

The Code of Ethics requires that we be frank, honest and fair. It also instructs us not to leave out any uncomfortable facts just because they don’t fit the narrative. But we cannot ignore the fact that we could do much, much more, and we could do far, far better.

Fear still dominates and diminishes us. Don’t pretend it’s not there. And don’t you dare tell me it hasn’t made you back off a story. Every single press conferences reeks of faltering confidence.

We’re all guilty of it. Every single one of us. Back in 2015, I made sure my ABC colleague Liam Fox was in the room when Marcellino Pipite announced that he had exercised his power as Acting Head of State and pardoned himself and his cronies.

I made sure he was there because I knew he would ask the one question that mattered: “Aren’t you just trying to save your own skin?”

I’m grateful to Liam for stepping up. But now I wish I’d been the one who had the courage to ask.

We have to find a way past our fear, and we can only do that together. If we all enter the room ready to ask hard questions, it’s easier for each one of us to quit wishing we could and just do it.

Stand up for each other
We have to learn to stand up for each other. Ten years ago, media pioneer Marc Neil-Jones was savagely assaulted by a minister of state.

That bullying act of injustice upset me deeply. It’s also what inspired me to take Marc’s place when his health forced him to step aside.

But what upset me even more was the failure of the media community to say one thing, and say it clearly: Violence against the media is never OK.

Never.

The only way we can be sure that those days of violent intimidation are past is if we hold that line, and condemn any act of coercion or violence loudly and in one voice.

To this day, I’m ashamed that we didn’t do at least that much for Marc.

Where is Marc’s lifetime achievement award? How much longer are we going to ignore his bravery, his leadership? Is his courage and determination going to be forgotten?

Not by me, it won’t.

Standing up to threats
I know how hard it is to stand up to disapproval, verbal abuse, threats of violence, abusive language, rumours, lies and prejudice. I know how hard it is to stand up to my own peers, to take it on the chin when I find out I’m wrong, and to refuse to bend when I know I’m right.

I’ve learned this lesson: They can take your job. They can take your livelihood. They can stab you in the back. They can grind you down. They can attack your dignity, they can shake your confidence.

But they can’t change the truth. Because it’s not my truth, or yours, or theirs.

You can find another place to work. You can find other ways to ply your trade. You can bear up under pressure, even when nobody else believes you can. You can learn to carry on.

You can do all of that, if you’re faithful to the truth. The truth is what we serve, not the director, the producer, the editor.

The truth is our republic. We have a duty to defend it. All of it. Not just the bits that please us. All of it. All the time. Even when it costs us. Especially when it costs us.

We are bound to defend and protect the truth. The truth is the seed we sow. And from that seed, we reap a better democracy.

Holding power to account
Democracy unchallenged isn’t democracy. The people can’t rule if they can’t ask questions.
This principle underpins the media’s role in keeping democracy healthy, and rebuilding it when it’s under threat. The role of the media is to hold power to account.

In Vanuatu, this basic idea needs to be better understood by the government and the governed alike. We can do this by helping journalists better understand their role, and helping them get what they need to fulfil that role more effectively.

The revised Media Code of Ethics and Practice is a milestone on that road. But it’s meaningless if we don’t stand by it.

To my media colleagues, I say: Forget your jealousies, your rivalries. Reject pride, collusion and corruption wherever you see it, even in yourself. Especially in yourself.

Stand with MAV. Uphold this code, and we will stand together with the truth. Because the truth is our republic.

Dan McGarry is former media director (pending an appeal) of the Vanuatu Daily Post / Buzz FM and independent journalist and he held that position since 2015 until the government blocked his work permit in 2019. His Village Explainer is a semi-regular newsletter containing analysis and insight focusing on under-reported aspects of Pacific societies, politics and economics.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Andy Ayamiseba died a few days ago. While the West Papuan was loved, admired and supported in Vanuatu, he fought tirelessly to win a home he could return to. He died before the dream was achieved.

Originally published by the Pacific Institute of Public Policy (PIPP), this 2013 profile of Andy Ayamiseba’s life of activism in exile by Dan McGarry is one of the few narratives of the compelling story of the Black Brothers and their seminal role the formulation of a modern Melanesian identity, and in keeping the West Papuan independence movement alive in Melanesia. It has been edited to reflect recent events and republished with permission from Griffith Asia Institute’s Pacific Outlook.

In 1983, Andy Ayamiseba and the rest of the Black Brothers band descended from their flight to Port Vila’s Bauerfield airport, to be greeted by the entire cabinet of the newly fledged government of Vanuatu. They were, by Melanesian standards, superstars.

They had come to assist Father Walter Lini’s Vanua’ku Pati in its first re-election campaign, and to pass on the message of freedom for West Papua. So began a relationship that would span a lifetime of activism, a liberation dream long deferred, and ultimately, a first glimmer of hope for political legitimacy for the West Papuan liberation movement.

The Black Brothers were already widely known and loved in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Touring PNG in the late 1970s, the band members first met Vanuatu independence figures, including Hilda Lini, Kalkot Mataskelekele and Silas Hakwa.

READ MORE: Benny Wenda’s tribute

Students at the University of Papua New Guinea at the time, they returned to Vanuatu to play key roles in Vanuatu’s move to independence.

A generation later, it’s hard to imagine the immediacy, the passion and the dynamism of the time. Kalkot Mataskelekele, who would later serve as Solicitor-General and on the Supreme Court bench before becoming the republic’s 6th president, was a young firebrand operating a pirate radio service from the bush north of the capital.

Hilda Lini, sister to two prime ministers and the first woman elected to Vanuatu’s Parliament, was a tireless organiser, working behind the scenes to promote what would become the Vanua’ku Pati.

In hindsight, it seems almost inevitable that the dynamism of this callow political leadership would mesh and meld with the creative iconoclasm of the Black Brothers. But it had to wait before it reached its full fruition.

Expelled by Indonesia
In 1980, the Indonesian government expelled Ayamiseba and the other band members. Stateless, they sought shelter in the Netherlands. Hilda Lini had contacted them in 1980 during a visit to Europe, but it wasn’t until 1983 that they obtained refugee status and official residency.

Finally able to travel again, their first destination was Vanuatu.

It was a triumphal entry. They were welcomed by Father Walter Lini’s government and a large crowd of adoring fans. Likewise, on their first visit to Solomon Islands, the roads were so packed that it took the group two hours to get from the airport into town. Their concert the next day was attended by 28,000 fans.

Their 2013 visit to Honiara was somewhat more low-key, and yet perhaps more epochal than the original Black Brothers crusade. With funding and official support from the government of Vanuatu, independence leaders John Ondawame and Andy Ayamiseba conducted a of tour of Melanesian Spearhead Group members, soliciting support for membership in the sub-regional organisation.

The West Papua National Coalition of Liberation, or WPNCL, was an amalgam of two previously divergent wings of the OPM (in English, the Organisation for Papuan Freedom) and a number of political groups advocating for West Papuan independence. It was ultimately superseded by the United Movement for the Liberation of West Papua.

Having met already with the Fijian and Vanuatu prime ministers as well as the incoming chair of the MSG and head of the FLNKS, Andy and John were hopeful that their meetings with Solomon Islands prime minister Darcy Lilo would be equally fruitful. In a 2013 interview with the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, Ayamiseba explained that he had met and befriended Lilo during his sojourn in Honiara in the mid-90s.

Should Solomon Islands decide to voice its support for WPNCL membership in the MSG, most of the political hurdles would be cleared for what might prove to be the first crack of light through the doorway of political legitimacy for the cause.

Critical opening
Arguably, the critical opening came weeks before, when Sir Michael Somare (former PM of Papua New Guinea) voiced the opinion that the MSG is not an intergovernmental organisation, but an organisation of peoples, joined by culture and geography. The statement, made during a celebration of the MSG 25th anniversary, came as a surprise to some.

In 2008, it was Somare who flatly blocked a motion to consider West Papuan membership in the MSG. (Admittedly, the motion was ill-timed and ill-prepared. Ayamiseba himself admits that his group had no prior knowledge, and were caught by surprise when it was tabled.)

The way was finally cleared, not by Darcy Lilo, but by his successor, Manasseh Sogavare. In June 2015, he chaired a meeting that saw a very Melanesian compromise in which both Indonesia and the ULMWP were formally granted a place at the MSG.

Political legitimacy for West Papuan independence in the Pacific has long been subject to the vicissitudes of Melanesian politics. While Ayamiseba’s group were the darlings of the Vanua’ku Pati, and by extension the government of Vanuatu, the association came at a price. They were expelled from the country following the party’s schism in 1989, forcing Andy to seek asylum, first in Australia, then in Solomon Islands. His friendship with then-PM Mamaloni notwithstanding, efforts to further the independence movement stalled.

Progress elsewhere in the world was also stymied by realpolitik. In 1986, even nations such as Ghana, which had objected to the manner in which West Papua was brought under Indonesian rule, were less than responsive to overtures by John Ondawame, who had officially joined the independence movement’s leadership following its reunification the year before in Port Vila.

It is saddening to observe that, despite the fact that it clearly flouted international law in its annexation of the territory, no country outside of Melanesia offered significant criticism of Indonesia’s actions in West Papua. Not, at least, until new media and the internet began to break down the wall of silence that had been erected around the territory.

But even in the face of clearly documented torture, assassination and political oppression, many nations are still loath to legitimise the independence movement.

Pitfalls and obstacles
In Vanuatu, the de facto home of West Papuan independence, the road to freedom has been a long one, as full of pitfalls and obstacles as Port Vila’s physical thoroughfares – and sometimes, just as poorly managed. When Barak Sope became prime minister in 2000, he brought together nine members of the West Papuan leadership and brokered an accord that would finally bring all independence efforts under one roof.

Later that year, his delegation to the UN General Assembly included three West Papuans, two OPM members and one from the Presidium. There, in an alarming example of fervour trumping political savvy, they met with the Cuban delegation.

For all of his energy, support and contributions to Melanesian identity, Barak Sope’s political ineptitude soon brought his government down. His failure even to produce a budget caused significant domestic turmoil, which effectively forced West Papua onto the back burner.

It wasn’t until 2003 that Foreign Affairs Minister Serge Vohor welcomed back the Black Brothers, and facilitated the opening of the West Papuan People’s Representative Office, a front for the OPM.

International awareness and support were limited. Vanuatu continued to fumble the issue, balking at formal political support while continuing to express public sympathy and tacit approval. Elsewhere, tribal leader Benny Wenda’s escape from Indonesian custody and flight to the UK opened another front in the campaign.

Indonesia did itself no favours when it abused the Interpol red list by issuing a warrant for Wenda’s arrest.

For several years, the movement seemed paralysed, unable to organise itself, beset by legal constraints and barely able to manage its own processes. Vanuatu politicians proved fickle, with VP president Edward Natapei voicing support but doing little.

Commitment remains strong
Ham Lini, whose personal commitment to the cause remains strong, was unwilling to expend more political capital on the effort after the 2008 MSG debacle. Sato Kilman, the next prime minister in line, wilfully ignored the advice of his own cabinet, supporting Voreqe Bainimarama’s move to allow Indonesia observer status at the organisation.

Quietly persistent, Ayamiseba and Ondawame continued their efforts. Its moral cause made clearer by stark images of torture and brutality circulated by West Papua Media and others, the leadership (under the auspices of the WPNCL) organised an international tour for Benny Wenda, whose travel restrictions were lifted following legal and media campaigns against Indonesia’s Interpol warrant.

Even Wenda’s rebuff by the New Zealand Parliament only fanned the flames of support.

Wenda’s 2013 invitation to speak to MPs inside Vanuatu’s Parliament was the first of a series of small but significant breakthroughs. Soon-to-be prime minister Moana Carcasses’ attendance at the event was the first public sign of his political break with Sato Kilman.

A naturalised citizen of Tahitian descent, Carcasses perhaps felt the need to placate the nativist inclination common among Ni Vanuatu. Nonetheless, allowing himself to be photographed holding the Morning Star flag (a key symbol of West Papuan independence) symbolised a shift from sympathy to overt political support for the movement. In one of his first acts as prime minister, Carcasses met with Ayamiseba and Ondawame, personally assuring them of his government’s support in their MSG membership bid, and promising the creation of a West Papua desk in the department of foreign affairs.

Arriving as it did on the heels of a surprisingly warm and supportive reception by Bainimarama and other Fiji government officials, the independence movement appeared finally to be seeing the light of hope. Outspoken and unambiguous support for membership from the Kanaky leadership was not nearly as surprising; they’ve formally supported independence since the 1990s.

With the FLNKS assuming the group chair in 2014, Kanaky support proved crucial. They got the matter of ULMWP acceptance onto the agenda, and in the end they helped carry the room when the matter was considered in Honiara the following year.

Cementing PNG support
It seemed at the time that the only remaining piece to fall into place was Papua New Guinea. Wenda’s visit to PNG in 2013 did manage to cement some amount of popular support, but achieved few tangible political results. Somare’s rather startling shift away from outright opposition caused discomfort in the PNG political establishment. But that wasn’t sufficient to move them to openly oppose neighbouring Indonesia.

One of the more popular songs Ayamiseba wrote for the Black Brothers is “Liklik Hope Tasol”, a ballad written in Tok Pisin whose title translates to “Little Hope At All”. Its narrator lies awake in the early morning hours, the victim of despair. The vision of the morning star and a songbird breaking the pre-dawn hush provide the impetus to survive another day.

The song, with its clear political imagery and simplistic evocation of strength in adversity, is clearly autobiographical. It is, arguably, the anthem which animated Ayamiseba’s lifelong pursuit of freedom.

Andy Ayamiseba aged gracefully. Encroaching frailty complemented his unassuming, soft-spoken manner, but it masked a dynamism and fervour only visible to his trusted friends and confidants. Once lit, however, that spark provided a glimpse of the man as he was, the jazz-funk rebel, walking in his exile hand in hand with equally youthful –and equally naïve– leaders. Together, they redefined the Melanesian identity.

What beggars description, though, is the determination required for Ayamiseba and his West Papuan brethren to spend their entire adult lives in pursuit of legitimacy, with only the slightest glint of light to show for that effort.

Ayamiseba expressed hope:

“You cannot stay blind and deaf for 50 years.”

Andy died last week. He lived to see the formation of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, the umbrella organisation representing key members of the independence movement. He looked on proudly as its members marched triumphantly into the MSG headquarters to lodge their membership application. He was there when Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu and Prime Minister Charlot Salwai opened the official ULMWP office in Port Vila.

But he never made it home.

Dan McGarry is former media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post. He is currently appealing against the refusal of his work permit. He has lived in Vanuatu for 16 years.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By RNZ Pacific

One of Vanuatu’s leading journalists has said the right to information law has contributed to an air of openness in the country.

The Right to Information Act was passed two years ago and will be extended to cover all government departments from August.

Over the coming months all departments and agencies will have to give information they hold, if requested.

READ MORE: Remote Vanuatu journo goes above and beyond to tell stories

Dan McGarry of the Vanuatu Daily Post said government bodies have been more forthcoming with information since the law came in.

“If we’re having a conversation and we find somebody was not necessarily being forthcoming, it’s useful for us to say “so is your department under the RTI already or is it coming?” or “when is it coming?”, just to bring that awareness back into the conversation that information is meant to be available to the public unless there’s a good reason to withhold it.”

“So for that we’re really quite happy and I think the government is to be commended for having enacted this.”

A recent article on the travel expenses of a ministry head would not have been possible without the improved air of openness, he said.

“We’ve actually got people within the administrative bodies in government coming forward with this kind of information rather than waiting until we dig it out.”

McGarry said the Vanuatu Daily Post also plans to test out the law with formal requests.

“The problem is it is extremely time consuming, it almost necessarily will involve expense and we’re a very limited media organisation.”

The law will be extended to cover not only government departments but also statutory bodies like the Malvatumauri Council of Chiefs, the National Council of Women and the Ombudsman’s Office.

This article is published under the Pacific Media Centre’s content partnership with Radio New Zealand.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

EDITORIAL OPINION: Dan McGarry and Marc Neil-Jones of the Vanuatu Daily Post call for media associations and professionals throughout the Pacific to act to protect their freedom.

It’s becoming far too common: Journalists and whistle blowers are being singled out and silenced as governments throughout the region allow the Pacific to slide down the slippery slope of repression.

Either we act now to stop it, or we accept that in ten years, the region’s media may look a lot more like the People’s Daily than The Sydney Morning Herald.

READ MORE: The Vanuatu Daily Post editorial

Australia is no exception. Even now, the Coalition government is considering draconian new laws that would outlaw activity that is necessary to the proper functioning of a democracy.

In every country of the world, social media is eroding people’s sense of the truth, and undermining its importance in their daily existence.

In the Pacific Islands, the threat is real. Last week, three veteran journalists in Fiji, all of them with spotless reputations, were detained by police on suspicion of “inciting unrest”.

They had published the news that a magistrate who ruled against the government’s interest in a labour case had been sacked. They were held for hours, and their phones and laptops were seized.

As this editorial is being finalised, Samisoni Pareti, Netani Rika and Nanise Volau are facing the possibility of charges of incitement to sedition.

Inexcusable police action
This action by police, presumably with the blessing of the FijiFirst government, is inexcusable. There is no possible justification for it. It is a direct assault on free speech and the freedom of the media to question the actions of public officials.

The clearly opportunistic prosecution of the publisher and editor of The Fiji Times is a similar travesty. The government is seeking a punishment that is wildly out of proportion with the crime these people are accused of.

Clearly, the government wants The Fiji Times shut down because it tells the truth.

We have to ask: Are the days of dictatorship in Fiji truly past?

In Kiribati too, as details emerged about the tragic—and possibly preventable—sinking of a passenger ferry, we heard that a New Zealand television news crew had their gear confiscated. This is just not on.

Yes, the news media are often the bearers of bad tidings. Yes, sometimes they are the ones who dig these stories up. Yes, sometimes they make mistakes.

None of this justifies punishing people for speaking their mind.

Constant threats
The danger is greater than it has been in a decade.

Media freedom pioneer Marc Neil-Jones suffered assaults, imprisonment, deportation and constant threats as he fought to build and preserve media freedom in Vanuatu. He did not do it alone. Every time he suffered another affront, an uproar spread across the region, making it clear to the government of Vanuatu that there would be consequences for their ill-advised actions.

Now, government and civil society leaders gather in Nauru, and not a peep is heard about their government’s serial abuses of freedom of speech and human rights.

Fiji subverts the entire media establishment, and nothing is said. Kiribati outright says “stop reporting on this story”, and aside from a few angry squawks, nothing happens.

The very governments who claim to defend democracy and Western values don’t seem as married to them as they once were.

We need to realise something: Either we speak up now and draw a clear line under freedom of speech, or we write it off in the Pacific region.

The right to express oneself is not granted by governments. Constitutions don’t give these rights either. They recognise them.

How high a price?
These rights existed before we were born, and they will continue to exist whether we admit it or not. The only question, really, is how high a price do we have to pay to exercise them? Detention? Imprisonment? Deportation? Assault?

This is not an abstract discussion. The truth matters more than ever, and media professionals across the Pacific need to understand that time is not on our side.

Across the globe, people are beginning to see the damage caused by Facebook’s pernicious influence on people’s perception of what’s true. It’s felt in small communities more intensely than anywhere else. A few unprincipled and unrestrained people are playing fast and loose with the truth, and ruining people’s lives in the process.

If our professional media associations were doing their job, they would set an example for others to follow. Instead, they cower, just as they’ve done in the face of government repression.

And now, the worst excesses of social media are being used as justification for even more suppression from these same governments.

In Vanuatu, Basil Leodoro, a highly respected doctor, was suspended from his job by the Public Service Commission for months because he spoke his mind. Both his manager and the Director-General of Health confirmed to the Daily Post that the reason for his suspension was his open letter to the Prime Minister questioning millions of dollars of spending during the Ambae island evacuation effort.

Only after it became clear that the pressure was not going to let up did the PSC grudgingly reinstate him. And even as they did, they salted the wound with unsubstantiated accusations that he had stolen money, and that letters supporting him were obtained by coercion.

A press release issued by a Public Service Commission official accused Vanuatu media of “biased and excessive” reporting on the suspension.

Clearly the government of Vanuatu needs to learn—again—that free speech is fundamental to democracy. There is nothing more important than the right to speak, free of coercion. We stand with Dr Leodoro, and with everyone who speaks their mind honestly and fairly.

Speak up for the truth
If we don’t reaffirm this now, if we don’t repeat this chorus loud and long, we will lose our democracy.

In New Zealand and Australia, in Fiji, in Kiribati, in Nauru—across the entire region—media professionals need to stand up and speak in defence of the truth. We need to set an example for others, show them how responsible, principled, fair and fearless reporting comes about.

Across the Pacific, our national media associations have to find the courage to speak again. The Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), absent all these years, needs to stop being a hollow excuse for biannual junkets, and do its job.

PINA used to be at the forefront of press freedom in the region. Now as a result of a dominating broadcast sector they have lost the plot when it comes to issuing statements critical of government attacks on press freedom.

Nobody is going to do this for us. If we don’t act, our governments will. And that won’t end well for any of us.

Dan McGarry, Media Director
Marc Neil-Jones, Publisher
Vanuatu Daily Post
Port Vila, Vanuatu

• Fiji police again question Islands Business chief editor, ex-publisher in probe

• Sign the petition to defend journalism, whistleblowers and democracy.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Dan McGarry, media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post

Media freedom is everyone’s freedom. We can’t take it for granted.

My education in the challenges of reporting the news began in a hurry. I got my first threatening lawyer’s letter less than half an hour after sitting down at my desk. The next day, I found myself at the receiving end of an angry harangue from someone whose name had just appeared on our front page. He accused me of sensationalising the news just to sell papers.

It’s a common insult, and one that many journalists learn to wear like a badge of honour. You simply can’t report the news responsibly without upsetting people. If you’re going to speak truth to power, if you’re going to confront society’s challenges, if you’re simply going to tell it as it is… you’ve got to be willing to make people uncomfortable.

Back in May last year, I gave a talk on Media Freedom Day. I described a news reporter as “the honest friend who tells you ‘yeah, your butt does look big in that.’ He’s the friend who stands between you and that bully and says, ‘You don’t have the right to speak to her like that!’ And then turns to you and says, ‘And neither do you.’

“The reporter is the friend that tells you what your other friends are saying about you. Whether you want to hear it or not.

“The reporter is the friend who tells you what you did was wrong, and who still visits you in jail. They don’t hate you when you don’t agree; they don’t like you just because you do.”

Headline shock, good news or bad
I ended with a realisation:

“It never struck me until I started working at a newspaper just how it felt for people to see their name in the headline. Good news or bad, it’s a shock.”

Good news or bad. It’s not easy being the centre of attention. The lesson really landed when friends and colleagues of mine were faced with misfortune, and I found our relationship tested by my duty to put my personal feelings aside and respect the public’s right to know.

If it hadn’t been for the example set by the Vanuatu Daily Post over the years, I would have fewer friends today than when I started. Happily, the opposite is true. Thanks to the trailblazing work of Marc Neil-Jones and the dozens of fearless journalists whose blood, sweat and tears have graced these pages, every fair-minded, reasonable person in this country accepts that the news should challenge us.

As long as it’s fair, that is. This is the challenge that keeps us awake at night, the thing that drives us to re-litigate—again and again—the means by which we prepared our stories, how we sourced them, who we talked to, what we can fairly say.

We don’t always get it right. That’s a statistical impossibility. And reporting in Vanuatu, a notoriously information-starved environment, the challenges are often immense.

At the end of March last year, I wrote: “Access to information is critical to a healthy society, and when it works, its benefits are crystal-clear.”

And later in the same piece: “Vanuatu has never lacked for communication, in every kitchen, in every bar and nakamal, in the cess of social media, in the press and on the airwaves. Some say there’s too much of it. I don’t; I just think it’s often ill-informed.

“Wouldn’t it be nice, though, if we could finally talk about what we actually know?”

Getting the facts straight
Getting the facts straight is a challenge for everyone here in Vanuatu. It makes decision-making difficult, and our understanding is often driven as much by instinct and bitter experience than actual data.

The challenge is even greater in the media. If we are to maintain the trust of our reading audience, especially in the face of a cynical global campaign to discredit the news and its purveyors, we have to work harder than anyone else. We have to scrupulously cleave to the Media Code of Conduct. We have to bend over backwards to ensure that our stories are fair, that they are as complete as they can reasonably be, and—most importantly of all—we have to be guided by the facts.

The current tidal wave of cynical detachment from events is being driven by unprincipled people in positions of power—and in the media itself. It’s a matter of great shame to me that some of my colleagues would be willing to allow pettiness and partisan affiliation to define their portrayal of the facts.

Shortly after starting work at the Daily Post, I tried to draw a distinction between scepticism, the stock in trade of any self-respecting journalist, and cynicism: “A cynic thinks he knows all the answers already, and often has to be dragged kicking and screaming toward the truth.

“A sceptic, on the other hand, doesn’t quite trust anything to be true. Not even her own knowledge. A sceptical approach to social media is nothing less than a survival tool. Above all, it’s the only way to be fair about things.

“A sceptic doesn’t speak beyond her own knowledge. A famous novel by Robert Heinlein has a character whose job it is to be a Fair Witness. Asked what colour the house in front of her was, she replied, ‘It’s white on this side.’

“That is the kind of healthy scepticism that we should be applying to every information source. We should question, and we should not take the answers on faith. We should fairly evaluate both good and bad.

“It’s neither useful nor healthy always to assume the worst, or to trust anything based only on someone’s say-so. Evidence matters, no matter where it points.”

Sense of human decency
It gives me comfort, therefore, to note how the Vanuatu public’s engagement with facts, and its abiding sense of human decency is successfully holding back the tide of cynicism, character assassination and lying innuendo that has washed over more ‘developed’ countries.

At the end of last year, I noted that “We are by nature a gossipy, jealous, petty and spiteful species. It’s just how our herd mentality expresses itself. We are also empathic and quick to unite in the face of a threat.

“Media organisations know this. Some governments and politicians know this. And whether motivated by greed or lust for power, they are willing to leverage that knowledge to the fullest extent.

“In the right hands, sensational fictionalising gives us The Grapes of Wrath and It’s A Wonderful Life. It gives us Game of Thrones as an allegory of a society breaking down into anarchy. In the wrong hands, it gives us American cable news, the Fiji Sun, PNG’s Post-Courier and an actual descent into anarchy.

“Vanuatu, on the other (other) hand, has somehow managed to maintain a balance between emotion and respect for human dignity. In spite of numerous loud complaints—and a few vividly noticeable exceptions—we manage to maintain a relatively decent sense of decorum in our discussion groups. And we do it in the face of concerted efforts to rile people up.

“The Daily Post—and I personally—have been defamed in social media. The good name of our newspaper has been tarnished by people ranging from former Prime Ministers to basement dwelling nobodies. That just comes with the territory. We deserve to be held to a higher standard, and when—not if—we get something wrong, it has to be noted loudly and visibly. It’s a basic responsibility for those who report the news.

“And we’re happy to see that Vanuatu’s online community is showing the same reputability. While scurrilous accusations and petty, ill-informed comments are still rife, what matters is how they’re received. Nearly every time an accusation is made, the poster is challenged either to provide proof or to remove their post. Fake news is outed almost as quickly as it appears.”

State of Vanuatu media healthy
The state of the media in Vanuatu is healthy. And its health can be directly attributed to the particular amalgam of fearless confrontation and respect for human dignity that has been the hallmark of the Daily Post since its first print run.

We have a great deal still do to. Media freedom and healthy public discourse are organic things. They are landscape, not architecture. They need to be tended, respected and protected from erosion over time.

It gives me immense pleasure and pride to say: So far, so good.

With a generous application of blood, toil, sweat and tears, the next 5000 issues will support and sustain a reputable, respectful and fearless media just as well as the first 5000 have.

It’s an honour to be part of this team.

Dan McGarry is media director of the Vanuatu Daily Post; Royson Willie is the editor.