Since former Fiji military leader Voreqe Bainimarama carried out his “coup to end all coups” in 2006 and ushered in his authoritarian regime, he has reset electoral rules, abolished communalism in order to pull the rug from under the old chiefly elite, and provided the first non-communal foundation for voting in Fiji. A new book assesses his political role as he faces another election this year.
Media freedom advocates claim that the Philippines is facing its worst free expression and security crisis since the Marcos dictatorship, with The New York Times denouncing the “ruthlessness” and “viciousness” of President Rodrigo Duterte’s disdain for democracy in his bid to close the critical Rappler.
Three years after 12 people were killed at the Paris headquarters of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on 7 January 2015, those who censor in the name of God still pose one of the gravest threats to the freedom to inform almost everywhere in the world. From one continent to the next, calls for the deaths of journalists accused of blasphemy circulate widely on social networks.
Independent filmmakers fear a slow erosion of Māori and Pacific content at Television New Zealand has begun. Their fears have emerged after the role of commissioner for Māori and Pacific programmes was removed from a full-time commissioning role in recent restructuring by TVNZ.
The new book, Conflict, Custom & Conscience: Photojournalism and the Pacific Media Centre 2007-2017, has been launched to mark the 10th anniversary of AUT’s centre. It is divided into four themes – culture, environment, women, and politics, protest and conflict – through which the richness of the region comes through.
Media freedom seminar: The Philippines is the country with the largest single massacre of journalists – 32 on the island of Mindanao in 2009, where a three-month urban siege against jihadists in Marawi City has recently ended with a toll on many newsrooms.
“Gagged” PNG blogger Martyn Namorong is not the only one critical of the just-ended elections … News reports mentioned complaints of alleged irregularities … such as discrepancies in voter rolls, inadequate support for polling staff, and inefficient counting of results.
“We are inching closer towards dictatorship and the ensuing bloodshed and violence that must come from the hostility towards it. But, like lemmings and sheep, we are led to that reality with little resistance at all. Is this the Papua New Guinea we all believed in once upon a time?” — Oro Governor Gary Juffa
“The attack on Al Jazeera is part of an assault on free speech to subvert the impact of old and new media in the Arab world. It should be condemned and resisted.” One of many global media responses.
While the New Zealand campaign and success with the nuclear-free legislation was tremendously inspirational for the Pacific and globally, it should not be forgotten that some small Pacific countries and communities were actually ahead of the game.