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Wickham’s ‘One News’ goes on air
By Karl Suhara
Turn on your TV set in Honiara and you’ll be watching three channels relayed through Solomon Telekom—ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Asia Pacific’s two channels and a BBC channel.
| Dorothy Wickham... makes last minute changes before her newsreader takes over. |
There are no local news and current affairs programmes aired except when they are relayed on ABC Asia Pacific or BBC.
But these are reports targeting overseas audience and when they reach the Solomon Islands could be distorted, sensationalised or out of context.
That prompted long-time radio journalist Dorothy Wickham and a group of young television enthusiasts to start a one-hour local daily television programme called “One News”.
She explained that one reason why she launched “One News” was to properly portray their people and nation.
“Solomon Islands is a big country with lots of events happening on a daily basis. But they were only heard on radio or read in newspapers. We are starting a television news organisation covering local news, current affairs, sports and later when we develop and have proper equipment and manpower, we will produce documentaries about the Solomon Islands and Solomon Islanders,” said Wickham, who is the chief executive of “One News”.
She said “One News” will in its initial stages cover Honiara, the capital of Solomon islands, where many of the events are taking place. But this won’t stop the “One News” team covering other events in the rural areas.
Wickham said, “currently we don’t have a licence to broadcast but we bought airtime from Solomon Telekom which means we will use the television channel allocated to us for one hour each night and one hour in the morning to repeat our programmes.”
Solomon Islanders will be able to see the local news, current affairs and sports at 8pm and a repeat will be aired the next morning at 7am for those who missed out.
“We will try our best to portray the Solomon Islands as best as we could and in context to bring about peace and unity,” Wickham said.
“Many Solomon Islanders have heard about south Guadalcanal and Malu’u on Malaita but they have not actually seen the people there and it’s this medium that will link people to appreciate the well-being and hardships of their fellow countrymen and women.
“One News”, like all other independent news outlets, will make sure leaders in the public and private sectors are transparent and accountable for their actions.”
Will “One News” be able to sustain and expand its programming for a longer period?
Advertising in a small economy such as that of the Solomon Islands, where there are already three FM stations, one public radio and about two major newspapers operating and competing for the same advertising dollars, will be a challenge.
Already a number of FM stations are facing difficulties securing advertisement contracts with major companies in Honiara.
“The recent burning of Chinatown, where most of the businesshouses were located, was a serious blow to our new establishment. We had been talking to some of them and they were about to sign contracts when the incident happened. Now we are faced with a difficulty in securing major sponsorships for our programmes and general advertisement. But we’ve been very lucky in that King Solomon Hotel has come to our rescue,” said Wickham.
“We paid dearly for this TV idea. We dug deep into our pockets to get the last coin out to be able to meet airtime charges imposed by Solomon Telekom and get the programme off the ground.”
When “One News” went on air on June 12, the first politician to be interviewed was Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare.
SMEs can now access loans
Small and medium businesses (SMEs) in the South Pacific will now be able to access long-term commercial loans at low prices because of a pilot project that will soon be introduced into the region by the European Investment Bank.
The project is the result of a recent meeting held in Suva, hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Professor Andreas Antoniou, who represented the Commonwealth Secretariat, said the pilot scheme would serve two roles: The first is to reduce the cost of borrowing long-term funds for SMEs by reducing the associated risks; the second is to help develop the local financial sector.
PNG tuna capital of the world?
Papua New Guinea could be seeing the establishment of its first marine industrial park soon. To be located in Madang, the marine park is an initiative, fish experts say, could turn PNG into the “tuna capital of the world”. It is a project that is also set to create thousands of jobs for Papua New Guineans working in multi-million kina fishing-related businesses—directly and indirectly—when it is fully functional, say industry experts.
The marine industrial park will be located on Vidar Plantation along the north coast of Madang. The stakeholders in this project include the Madang Provincial Government, National Fisheries Authority and RD Tuna. The lead government agency co-ordinating the development will be the Industrial Centres Development Corporation (ICDC).
New owners for Yaqara Pastoral
Two renowned American companies, Roll International Corporation and Harris Ranch, will jointly invest F$25 million to lease the Yaqara Pastoral Company Limited over a 10-year period and develop it into an international best practice beef farming operation.
Following the green light from the Fiji government, the joint venture will facilitate the development of the beef industry first for local consumption and also cater for the thriving tourist market which currently imports most of its requirements. Roll International is the parent company of a number of subsidiaries which includes Natural Waters of Viti Limited (NWVL).
Harris Ranch is a well known California beef cattle producer and operates a very sophisticated beef processing facility ranging from rearing, slaughtering and processing of beef products. CEO Parmesh Chand, of the Public Enterprise ministry, said the joint venture is determined to create a market brand for Yaqara beef and crops by taking advantage of their existing marketing network both in the United States as well as internationally.
EC takes stock of assistance
The European Commission (EC) is taking stock of its assistance to the Pacific countries. The EC has engaged a consortium of companies led by Development Researchers Network (DRN) to evaluate the support provided by the Commission to the ACP Pacific region.
The evaluation covers the commission’s strategy for the region in the period 1997-2007 and the implementation of support in the period 1997-2005. The evaluation is required to pay particular attention to the links between regional and national activities.
This includes keys areas of Regional Economic Integration and Trade; Human Resources Development; Fisheries; Sustainable Development of Natural Resources. Selected countries covered for the field visits are Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Steamships goes mobile phone?
Steamships Trading Company Limited has teamed up with NASFUND and Datec group of companies to bid for one of the two new mobile telecommunications licences on offer. The introduction of two new mobile phone carriers by the Papua New Guinea Government would remove the monopoly currently enjoyed by Pacific Mobile Communications, a subsidiary of Telikom PNG Limited.
Air Niugini jets to Japan?
The Papua New Guinea Government is close to securing a deal for Air Niugini to enable it to fly another weekly flight to Japan in a bid to capitalise on the Japanese tourism market. The deal could see a Bird of Paradise tail-aircraft land at Kansai International Airport, or a code-share agreement being signed with the Japanese airline, JAL, if Air Niugini cannot find another wide-bodied aircraft to serve the proposed route.
Germany eyes region
As the largest economy in the European Union (EU) and third largest in the world, Germany is eager to do direct business with the Pacific Islands nations, according to Papua New Guinea’s National newspaper. Heinz Werner Dickmann, head of the foreign trade department in Hamburg, told Pacific Islands journalists who were on a information tour of Germany recently that there was “very little” information available to them on trade and investment in the Pacific.
Horst Joachim Hortelmann, Germany’s honorary consul in Papua New Guinea, said the country had the potential to sell its attractive tourist destinations to the European market, but needed to improve its infrastructure first. He said limited business activities between the Pacific and Europe was also due to the “long distance” that separates them.
Regional fuel plan by lawmakers
Pacific lawmakers are working on a regional fuel plan to address the steadily rising oil prices that are crippling their economies and making life harder for the islanders. The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures (APIL) adopted a resolution calling for the establishment of a “regional fuel plan” to reduce the price of fuel in the Pacific Islands Region, Marianas Variety reported. The APIL members are the Northern Marianas, Guam, Hawaii, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap, Palau, American Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati.
EC’s US$650m for region under EDF
The European Commission (EC) has proposed that Pacific ACP states have access to 500 million (US$650 million) in development assistance funds under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).
“We as a commission are proposing to allocate to the region something which is close to half a billion Euro (500 million) for the next six years. It has been adopted by the commission but it is in the European Union member states’ hands in order to draw a proper conclusion,”
European Commission director-general for development, Stefano Manservisi said. “I believe this should be a new chapter in the relation between the European Union and the Pacific.”
Cook Islands, Samoa and Tuvalu have set the pace in the region—successfully implementing their national-regional programmes—resulting in extra allocation in EU funding following mid-term reviews.
New measures to reduce cost of living
New Caledonia has announced a series of measures aimed at reducing a perceived soaring cost of living and a shrinking of the population’s purchasing power, a situation that had sparked a mass demonstration in April, Oceania Flash reports.
Economy minister Didier Leroux said prices of essential items would be closely monitored for an initial period of 12 months. In the meantime, new indexes and statistical monitors would be devised to take into account the high cost of living and contain any future hikes.
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