‘As the sole voice of the collective regional media of the Pacific islands, there is much it can do to raise not just the profile of its constituents but also help develop much needed capacity in a range of areas as much as contribute to the growth of med


At its biennial convention that was marred by the near-total absence of its incumbent board including the president, vice president and members save one—a first in the history of the organisation—the Pacific Islands News association (PINA) elected a new president and board members in Honiara last month, who will now take charge of its stewardship.

Over the years PINA’s functioning has often been undermined both by individual and regional politics and every couple of years, when a new board is elected, the region’s media pins its hopes on it to pick up the pieces and move ahead. 

The presidency has been awarded to Papua New Guinea, which, in line with its population, has the islands region’s largest and perhaps most vibrant media environment.

It is hoped the new board will breathe new life into PINA’s many activities and get on with everything that needs to be done to bring the region’s media up to speed on all fronts—journalistic, technological, legal and managerial.

For the story of PINA so far is a classic saga of missed opportunities and unrealised potential.

As the sole voice of the collective regional media of the Pacific islands, there is much it can do to raise not just the profile of its constituents but also help develop much needed capacity in a range of areas as much as contribute to the growth of media literacy among the general public.

This, especially at a time when there has been a growing number of instances of political interference in the functioning of the media in several parts of the region: The regimes in Fiji and Tonga have rounded up journalists and taken them up for questioning, at times detaining them.

Photographers have been threatened and their equipment damaged. Governments have continually warned media outlets to tone down their criticism under the pretext of emergency situations prevailing in the countries.

National politics aside, on the technology front too, this is an exciting time when the Pacific islands media industry can take advantage of the new information and communication technologies rapidly taking root across the region.

Technologies are there for the asking—and they are far from expensive. What is lacking is the human capacity especially in the media industry to put them to use for the benefit of the people.

Because of their geographical isolation and limited financial and human resources, media outlets have always depended on PINA and its funding agencies to organise and support training programmes.

This is not to say that PINA has not contributed in these areas. It has, over the years, conducted training programmes and workshops for regional journalists. But it needs to broad base these programmes to include journalists at all levels in media organisations.

The argument—as contended by some quarters at the Honiara convention—that juniors are not considered for training because there is a high attrition rate amongst them who tend to leave the profession for alternative careers within their first few years in the job is unconvincing. It can be counter-argued that they do so because there are few avenues for training and career advancement.

Experts from outside the region have regularly commended the regional media on its work on reporting news. What is still missing after all these years is specialised reporting and analytical and interpretative journalism.
It is hard to come by editorial comment or news analysis in most of the region’s print media.

Similarly, in-depth articles or radio programmes on specialised topics like business, economy, governance, human rights, health, alternative technologies, ecology and education are few and far between.

There are several success stories of enterprising people living and working in the islands that need to be told to a wider audience. For instance, the impressive strides made in the use of alternative agro-based fuel as a substitute for petrol in many islands economies is a case in point.

Indeed it is this kind of writing that contributes significantly to public debate on national and local issues, while promoting media literacy in the people of a nation. PINA’s training initiative—which is one of its main activities—needs to address this glaring lacuna urgently.

There is also a need to raise the technological profile of both media outlets and journalists in the region. Fiji’s interim administration got its first taste of the power of blogging over the past few weeks. Blogs are an excellent example of how very personalised the business of publishing has become.

News media organisations in the region must be encouraged to set up blogs and online spaces for common people to post stories from far flung places not served by a nation’s mainstream media, thereby contributing richly to the region’s news network. That is an idea whose time has come.

But will PINA’s new board rise to the occasion? Will it rise above the politicking it has been severely plagued by in past years? If at all there is anybody that can ensure they will, it is none other than its own members who must pin down accountability on it in no uncertain terms and not watch passively until the next convention in Port Vila, Vanuatu, two years later.

While expecting its members to keep a close watch on political governance throughout the region, the Fourth Estate’s apex body must set its house in order first. Charity begins at home.