Timor-Leste, the youngest independent nation and the most fledgling press in the Asia-Pacific, has finally shown how it’s done — with a big lesson for Pacific island neighbours. Tackle the Chinese media gatekeepers and creeping authoritarianism threatening journalism in the region at the top.
Sadly, the Philippines has sold its soul. Thirty six years ago a People Power revolution ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos after two decades of harsh authoritarian rule. Now the dictator’s only son and namesake “Bongbong” Marcos Jr seems headed to be elected 17th president of the Philippines, according to provisional results.
It is unconscionable. A bewildering and grossly unfair crisis for 34 young Papuan students – 25 male and 9 female – the hope for the future of the West Papua region, the Melanesian half of Papua New Guinea island ruled by Indonesia.
The national news team of Papua New Guinea’s major television channel, EMTV, has walked out in protest over a decision earlier this month to suspend head of news Sincha Dimara for 21 days without pay for alleged insubordination. This is the third ousting of a news manager in five years at EMTV with PNG facing a critical national election in June.
The Pacific year has closed with growing tensions over sovereignty and self-determination issues and growing stress over the ravages of covid-19 pandemic in a region that was largely virus-free in 2020.
After three decades of frustratingly slow progress but with a measure of quiet optimism over the decolonisation process unfolding under the Noumea Accord, Kanaky New Caledonia is again poised on the edge of a precipice.
From Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau in Aotearoa New Zealand to Paris, France, and from Wellington Te Whanganui-a-Tara to Jayapura and far beyond, thousands of people across the world today raised the Morning Star flag — banned by Indonesian authorities — in simple acts of defiance and solidarity with West Papuans.
The more that universities can do to equip media graduates with advanced problem-solving skills, the more adept they will be at developing advanced ways of reporting on the pandemic – and other likely pandemics of the future – contesting the merchants of disinformation and reporting on the climate crisis.
A Frontline investigative journalism article on the politics behind the decade-long Bougainville war leading up to the overwhelming vote for independence is among articles in the latest Pacific Journalism Review. The journal also features ground-breaking research on the current state of journalism across the Pacific
Dave Edward, chief engineer on board the first Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed by French secret agents in Auckland in 1985, has died at 68. He campaigned for many years for the the protection of the environment including the Antarctic, was on the humanitarian voyage to Rongelap Atoll, and protested against French and US nuclear tests.