Fiji's regime leader Voreqe Bainimarama ... told Fijians to expect more criticisms from neighbouring countries. Photo: Graham Davis

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Nanise Loanakadavu in Suva

The isolation of the Pacific Island Forum from Fiji is really a blessing in disguise for Fiji and Fijians, says Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.

He believes Fiji has become more independent then it has ever been.

Commodore Bainimarama was reacting to claims made on Radio Australia by New Zealand’s Foreign Affairs Minister and chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Contact Group, Murray McCully. Read more »

In the coastal town of Manokwari, West Papua, the Youth Forum has been actively campaigning on reproductive health and HIV and AIDS through their outreach programmes at junior and senior high schools. Photo: Unicef

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By a  Jubi correspondent in Jayapura

West Papuan authorities have recorded 10,783 cases of HIV/AIDS -  4437 people with HIV and 6348 with AIDS, according to a report  by the Health Department in  tghe province of Papua.

The number of people who have died was listed at 778

The most prominent cause of the disease is sex relations  between heterosexuals  which accounted for 93.45 percent. Read more »

A montage of Pacific Media Centre/Pacific Media Watch images at the World Press Freedom Day events in Suva. Photo: MT/Wansolwara

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Vilisite Tamani in Suva 

Journalists should not take information given to them at face value, but instead thoroughly investigate them to ensure it is free of bias and agendas.

This remark was made by Alex Perrottet from the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand at the opening of World Media Freedom Day celebrations at USP.

“Even NGOs and others who fund activities and projects in countries such as Fiji, need to be analysed and queried,” he said. Read more »

Ethics, unity and salaries on the agenda during Timor-Leste’s World Press Freedom Day debate. From left: Moderator Elitiorio Sousa, Ote Otelio, Mouzhino Lopes and Tito Felipe. Photo Bob Howarth/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Bob Howarth in Dili

The tiny new nation of East Timor, now known as Timor-Leste, has celebrated World Press Freedom Day with an hour-long forum involving its leading journalists and in-house gatherings at media houses.

The most positive news to come from Timor-Leste came from the forum in Tetum language on the national network TVTL.

Moderated by TVTL anchor,  Elitorio Souza , veteran journalist and head of the Syndicate of Journalists Ote Otelio was joined by Mouzhino Lopes, director of the new daily newspaper The Independente, and the head of the Association of TL journalists, Tito Felipe. Read more »

Former PNG Media Council chief Peter Aitsi calls on media groups to cooperate with competitors over media freedom. Image: PNG Perspective

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch in Port Moresby

A former president of the PNG Media Council has called on “isolated” Pacific news organisations to strike a better relationship with civil society groups to have a stronger stake in the community.

In a speech marking the World Press Freedom Day celebrations in the Papua New Guinean capital of Port Moresby, he said media groups needed stronger community ties to stand up to government attempts to muzzle them.

He also called on media groups to cooperate with their rivals in campaigning for media freedom. Read more »

Professor Prasad ... message for the future at teachers conference. Photo: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Professor Biman Prasad

The Fiji government needs to immediately remove the Public Order Amendment Act, the media decree and a decree giving media privilege to cabinet ministers, and the Essential National Industries (ENI) decree, says a leading economist.

Professor Biman Prasad called for this action to safeguard Fiji’s future during his keynote speech at the Fijian Teachers Association conference in Suva this week

The Fijian Teachers Association has played a critical role in the development of education in Fiji, he said.  Professor Prasad’s analysis: Read more »

PIMA chair Iulia Leilua ... more Pacific and Māori representation needed in mainstream media. Photo: Jessi Mee/PMC

Pacific Scoop
Report – By Jessi Mee

New Zealanders should not take their media freedom for granted, a leading Pasifika journalist told a public seminar marking World Press Freedom Day last night.

“I think there is a lot we have achieved but I’m not for a second complacent …we need to be vigilant,” she said.

Iulia Leilua, chair of the Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA), said the New Zealand media faced more “subtle” issues than other Pacific nations. Read more »

Pacific Media Watch's contributing editor Alex Perrottet ... "press freedom is never a fait accompli". Photo: PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Analysis – By Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Alex Perrottet in Suva

Here in Fiji, press freedom is not taken for granted. From the time of the military coup in 2006 until only recently, there was strict censorship of the press, and other basic freedoms of association and speech were curbed.

Since the lifting of the Public Emergency Regulations (PER), which had included uniformed military in some newsrooms, press freedom is slowly being opened up again.

However, the Media Industry Development Decree is in place and it provides for tough fines and even jail sentences for journalists that step over the line. Read more »

New PMC media freedom video complements the Pacific Media Watch report. Image: PMC YouTube channel

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Pacific Media Watch

Brutal repression of journalists and civil rights in Indonesian-ruled West Papua, censorship and self-censorship in Fiji and abuses of a free press in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu have been highlighted in a Pacific media freedom report being published tomorrow.

The 41-page report by the Pacific Media Centre’s freedom project Pacific Media Watch is a harrowing indictment of the “fragile” state of the media in the region.

Marking the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day (WPFD) – observed globally on May 3 each year – the report is also accompanied by an eight minute video about the media made by a School of Communication Studies crew at the Auckland University of Technology. Read more »

NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully answers the media with Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr. Photo: Alex Perrottet/PMC

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet in Suva

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and his Australian counterpart Bob Carr have received strong assurances that Fiji is well on its way to democracy and have acknowledged that Fiji “is in a state of transition”.

McCully, who is Chair of the Forum Ministerial Contact Group visiting Fiji, today  said the outlook was “very positive” but there was still concern over basic freedoms being observed.

“We were encouraged by the reports we received today about the firm intention to hold elections in 2014 and the reports about the machinery put in place to make those elections possible,” he said. Read more »