Samoan publisher challenges politicians to 'trust' Pacific media
Title -- 3775 REGION: Samoan publisher challenges politicians to 'trust' Pacific media
Date -- 27 September 2002
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Pacific Media Watch, 27/9/2
Copyright -- PMW
Status -- Unabridged
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SAMOAN PUBLISHER CHALLENGES POLITICIANS TO 'TRUST' PACIFIC MEDIA
AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Watch): Outspoken Samoan publisher Savea Sano Malifa today called on Pacific politicians to trust the region's media and to have more respect for the role of press freedom in democracy.
Asking whether there was such a thing as media freedom in the Pacific at a conference of islander news people, Malifa cited various constitutions, saying "but in most of these nations, this freedom appears to be found only on paper".
Malifa, publisher of the Samoa Observer and winner of the Commonwealth Press Union's Astor Award for Press Freedom in 1998, cited a litany of government abuses against Pacific journalists and news media.
He criticised governments in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu in particular for attempts to gag or curb media freedom through legal moves or harassment.
Malifa was keynote speaker at the opening of the second Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA) conference. It is hosted by New Zealand's Auckland University of Technology, which has the country's main communication studies programme.
PIMA was established by New Zealand-based islander journalists last year.
"Why do some Pacific leaders have so little respect for this [media] freedom?" Malifa asked.
"Some would say that Pacific governments are fairly young, so that they have yet to reach the democratic maturity that ensures confidence when you're dealing with the free press.
"Others believe that most Pacific leaders just don't trust the free press. They feel it is too free and callous in its reporting, so they want it controlled.
"This is why some governments are holding on to newspapers, radio and TV stations."
The well-educated people blamed the lack of education among the region's politicians, Malifa said.
"Still others say press freedom is a foreign concept that should be discouraged. It clashes with centuries-old Pacific cultures, which are nurtured by respect for the village chiefs and elders, and obedience without question.
"But the cynics are blunt, straight to the point. They say the real reason Pacific politicians don't trust the free press is that it exposes the corruption they want to stay hidden from the public."
Opening the conference, Pacific Affairs Minister Mark Gosche said islanders faced a major challenge in adapting to the "information and knowledge economy".
There were now 230,000 Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand - larger than entire populations of some Pacific countries - and 60 percent of them were born there.
While it was important to learn from tradition and the past, "we cannot remain trapped there".
"Blind obedience" to authorities working in the past culture values would not work in a society where people learned to question and challenge authority.
Gosche said the growing Pacific media had an important role in providing leadership in the changes.
PIMA chairman Kalafi Moala said Pacific journalists working in New Zealand had special advantages for a multicultural society because of their bicultural language and cultural skills.
He said it was also important for journalists to question the ethos and ethics of media and be prepared to "scrutinise our conduct in our profession".
Moala vowed that PIMA would play an important and growing role in media development in a changing society.
Two winners of media scholarships for Pacific Islanders at AUT for next year are expected to be announced during the conference.
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
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