Support for 'reorganising' Pacific Islands Report
Title -- 3787 REGION: Support for 'reorganising' Pacific Islands Report
Date -- 9 October 2002
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Pacific Islands Report (PIR), 9/10/2
Copyright -- PIR
Status -- Unabridged
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SUPPORT FOR 'REORGANISING' PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT
pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2002/October/10-09-12.htm
pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2002/October/10-02-01.htm
HONOLULU (Pacific Media Watch): Professor emeritus Ron Crocombe, author and a former centre director of the University of the South Pacific, has become the latest regional commentator to express support for Pacific Islands Report website.
Writing in a letter posted on PIR in Hawai'i today, Crocombe described the website as the "most reliable and broad-based general news and information service" on the Pacific Islands.
"We hope your present staffing difficulties are soon overcome," he said. "It has been a superb achievement so far."
PIR posted a brief statement on its website on 2 October 2002 saying the website was "undergoing a major reorganisation of its operations".
At the same time, editor Al Hulsen - one of the pioneers of online media in the Pacific - was quietly dropped from the website's contact links.
The statement said: "The PIR, which is considered one of the most useful websites carrying news about the entire Pacific Islands' region, would like to assure its readers and contributors that its commitment to the publication of Pacific Islands news will continue throughout this challenging transition period."
Pacific Islands Development Programme director Sitiveni Halapua was quoted as saying: "Due to a temporary staffing situation, updates to Pacific Islands Report will continue in a modified form while we complete the restructuring.
"We appreciate the understanding of our valuable readers of, and contributors to, the PIR as we strive to continue providing this vital news resource.
"Pacific Islands Report has been a key project of the East-West Center's Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP) since 1997, when former editor Al Hulsen was hired to create and develop the website. It has been visited more than one million times since then and daily carries a wide range of news items from around the Pacific Islands," the statement said.
It added that staff of PIR during the transition period included webmaster Scott Kroeker and editorial adviser Susan Kreifels.
Several PIR readers have called for acknowledgement for the pioneering role played by Hulsen in Pacific online development.
pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport
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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