Facts not threats for Fiji says PFF

The death in Fiji of media and communications worker Losana McGowan are among concerns raised in Fiji this month.
Photo / Twitter

Saturday, 18th April 2015
For immediate release
Rarotonga, Cook Islands:

. . .

Violence and threats against media - at home or at work - are tragic and inexcusable, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

"The death this month of a regionally reknown media worker in her own home is tragic," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi, about the death of Losana McGowan.

"A second incident, the assault this week of a student newspaper editor, also in Fiji, is inexcusable."

Finally, there was the a veiled threat by Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama against the Fiji Times for reporting comments from the Leader of the Opposition.

“In terms of balance, the report actually favoured the government, seeking a government response, to an opposition response to a government statement.”

Bainimarama accused the Fiji Times of “yet another grossly irresponsible piece of journalism.”

He went further in his media attack, while responding to accusations of racial bias in the country’s top boarding schools:

“Rather than report dispassionately and in the interests of national stability, the Fiji Times is controlled by a cabal that manipulates the news agenda and uses inflammatory language to create disunity, division and instability and to advance its own political interests.”

Those accusations were rejected by Fiji Times Editor Fred Wesley, who pointed out that freedoms of speech are protected under the constitution. 

Gabi called on authorities in Fiji and their counterparts around the region to answer critics with “facts, not veiled threats.”

While the three incidents were unrelated, Gabi says they highlight the need for more attention on violence and threats against media workers, with the alleged USP assault particularly disturbing.

"The allegations against the head of the University of the South Pacific Student Association reflect not just on Fiji but the whole region," says Gabi.

"If proven, the USPSA president should resign."

PFF says that the USP authorities should treat the assault as a potential test case against a growing culture of impunity around the region.

PFF co-Chair Monica Miller is also calling on the university to get involved if the student association fails to take appropriate action.

"USP must send a strong signal to our future leaders – constitutionally protected freedoms of speech reign supreme."

"The message must be that politicians of all ages should keep their hands off the media."

“It is time for Fiji authorities to step out of the long shadow of their coup culture and lead the region in human rights, instead of the region again showing them the right way to go.”

PFF joined the Fiji Media Association and the International Federation of Journalists in expressing deep sadness at the death of Ms. McGowan.

She died after an attack at her home not thought to be linked to her work, with her partner handing himself into police for prosecution.

PFF is also calling on regional organisations to work with counterparts such as Pacific WAVE Media Network to continue identifying key areas needing attention ahead of World Press Freedom Day.

LINKS

Losana's death a 'great loss to youth movement'
http://fijilive.com/news/2015/04/losanas-death-a-great-loss-to-youth-movement/60734.Fijilive

FIJI: IFJ 'saddened' by death of journalist, women's advocate
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/fiji-ifj-saddened-death-journalist-womens-advocate-9210

FIJI: 'Shocked' SPC offers condolences to McGowan family
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/fiji-shocked-spc-offers-condolences-mcgowan-family-9196

FIJI: Media association laments loss of journalist, industry mentor
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/fiji-media-association-laments-loss-late-journalist-industry-mentor-9194

‘Heart Of Gold’ Snuffed Out
http://fijisun.com.fj/2015/04/05/heart-of-gold-snuffed-out/

Death Of Losana McGowan Opens Door For Wider Talks On Domestic Abuse
http://fijisun.com.fj/2015/04/19/death-of-losana-mcgowan-opens-door-for-wider-talks-on-domestic-abuse/

EDITORIAL: Tribute To Losana McGowan
http://fijisun.com.fj/2015/04/09/editorial-tribute-to-losana-mcgowan/

USPSA Federal chair attacks student editor
http://wansolwara.com/uspsa-federal-chair-attacks-wansol-editor/

Five years, zero audits
http://wansolwara.com/five-years-zero-audits/

Editorial: A call to action
http://wansolwara.com/time-for-action/

Fiji Times defends reporting of Opposition
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/20174983/fiji-times-defends-reporting-of-opposition-comments

Wesley: There's no political agenda
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=302063

Attack on Fiji Times is unfortunate: Wesley
http://www.fbc.com.fj/fiji/28563/attack-on-fiji-times-is-unfortunate-wesley

Fiji govt attack on newspaper 'overreaction' – PFF
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/271277/fiji-govt-attack-on-newspaper-'overreaction'-pff

Pacific WAVE Media Network
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pacific-WAVE-Media-Network/121163034585771

CONTACTS

PFF Chair Titi Gabi | GM PNG Loop | Papua New Guinea Mail: PO Box 7776, Boroko, NCD, Papua New Guinea | Mob: (675) 7314 3929 | Email: titi.gabipng@gmail.com

PFF co-Chair Monica Miller | KHJ Radio | American Samoa Mob (684) 258-4197 | Office (684) 633-7793 | Email: monica@khjradio.com

PFF Editor Jason Brown | Aotearoa New Zealand | Mob: +(64) 224340831 | Email jasonbrown1965@live.com

The Pacific Freedom Forum are a regional and global online network of Pacific media colleagues, with the specific intent of raising awareness and advocacy of the right of Pacific people to enjoy freedom of expression and be served by a free and independent media. We believe in the critical and basic link between these freedoms, and the vision of democratic and participatory governance pledged by our leaders in their endorsement of the Pacific Plan and other commitments to good governance. In support of the above, our key focus is monitoring threats to media freedom and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the wider regional and international community.

. . .

Say no to PNG social media law - PFF

There are more than a quarter of a million active social media users in Papua New Guinea. Graphic / We Are Social

 

Saturday 11th April 2015
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
– for immediate release :

. . .

Don't censor the (social) media.

Punishing social media use could remove an essential check and balance on abuse of power in Papua New Guinea, warns the Pacific Freedom Forum.

"Long talked about plans for a new social media law could have a chilling effect on freedoms of speech," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi.

"Social media are an effective control on political systems including corruption."

Facebook and Twitter are hugely popular in Papua New Guinea, with hundreds of thousands using pages, groups and profiles.

That popularity has alarmed government and others concerned at free-flowing and often very critical debate.

One proposal talked about since 2012 is to introduce new laws forcing social media users to use only their real names.

PFF co-Chair Monica Miller says this would be a mistake for Papua New Guinea and other Pacific countries to consider.

"In our small to tiny communities, the risks of speaking out are high."

"Assumed names allow citizens to comment freely on the issues of the day when they are concerned about losing job, business, scholarship or other opportunities."

"Yes, there are some users who go too far, but their impact is nothing compared to governments who do not listen to their own citizens," says Miller.

"Governments should be focused on the far greater problem of reducing corruption, not reducing what citizens say about corruption."

Concerns about plans for the new law were again raised after one of two daily newspapers, The National, wrote an editorial this month claiming such a law was "necessary."

Miller says that news media need to be careful any other interests of their owners do not conflict with their responsibility as a public watchdog.

The National was established by Malaysian logging interests in 1993.

There has been widespread criticism of environmental damage by foreign and local companies in Papua New Guinea. 

LINKS

Jan 2015: PNG web, social and mobile user
http://was-sg.wascdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Slide158.png (at)
http://wearesocial.net/tag/statistics/

Apr 2015: Control of social media ‘necessary’, says The National
http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2015/04/png-control-of-social-media-necessary-says-the-national/

2014: New 'cyber crime' policy will stifle social media, says Namah
http://www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/png-new-cyber-crime-policy-will-stifle-social-media-says-namah-8559

2013: PNG MPs want new laws to control media industry
http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/papua-new-guinea/3659/png-mps-want-new-laws-to-control-media-industry/

2012: Can social media transform Papua New Guinea? Reflections and questions
http://devpolicy.org/can-social-media-transform-papua-new-guinea-reflections-and-questions20120731/

CONTACTS

PFF Chair Titi Gabi | GM PNG Loop | Papua New Guinea Mail: PO Box 7776, Boroko, NCD, Papua New Guinea | Mob: (675) 7314 3929 | Email:titi.gabipng@gmail.com

PFF co-Chair Monica Miller | KHJ Radio | American Samoa Mob (684) 258-4197 | Office (684) 633-7793 | Email: monica@khjradio.com

PFF Editor Jason Brown | Aotearoa New Zealand | Mob: +(64) 224340831 | Email jasonbrown1965@live.com

The Pacific Freedom Forum are a regional and global online network of Pacific media colleagues, with the specific intent of raising awareness and advocacy of the right of Pacific people to enjoy freedom of expression and be served by a free and independent media. We believe in the critical and basic link between these freedoms, and the vision of democratic and participatory governance pledged by our leaders in their endorsement of the Pacific Plan and other commitments to good governance. In support of the above, our key focus is monitoring threats to media freedom and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the wider regional and international community.

. . .

West Papua must be given regional voice - PFF

 

Dancers perform at a unification event between three West Papua freedom groups based in Papua New Guinea Photo / PNG Loop

Monday 6th April 2015
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
– for immediate release :

. . .

 

West Papua must be given full membership at the Melanesian Spearhead Group, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

"The people of West Papua have long been denied basic human rights by their own government," says PFF Chair Titi Gabi.

"They are therefore justified in seeking support and assistance for those rights from outside their own borders."

The Melanesian Spearhead Group will decide on an application for full membership from West Papua groups in June.

PFF is calling on the Melanesian Spearhead Group to support internationally recognised West Papua organisations, rather than a recent initiative from Indonesia.

"Indonesia already has observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group," says Gabi.

"They need to step back and allow West Papua to establish full and proper relations with their Melanesian brothers and sisters."

A recently established coalition of freedom groups called the United Liberation Movement for West Papua is now competing with an initiative from the Indonesian government to gain recognition for its own grouping.

PFF has previously joined international concerns about human rights abuses by Indonesian security forces in West Papua, including against freedoms of speech, along with assault, arbitrary arrest, torture, rape and murder.

PFF co-Chair Monica Miller says there is growing recognition for West Papua to have a voice at the regional level.

However she says there are mixed signals from within the Melanesian Spearhead Group, about which group to support.

"It makes absolutely no sense for MSG to give priority to Indonesian voices when Indonesia denies those same rights to its own citizens."

Indonesia was given observer status at the MSG in 2011, after support from Fiji.

Miller notes that support for West Papua has grown significantly since then, especially in Fiji.
 
A Facebook group called Fiji West Papua Friends has more than 10,000 members.

This compares with some 4,000 members in an Australian group, and 2,000 in New Zealand.

Support groups for West Papua have appeared in multiple locations across the region, including Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea, as well as in Australia, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark and the Netherlands.

LINKS

Indonesia lobbies MSG members as membership bid looms
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/programmes/datelinepacific/audio/20169948/indonesia-lobbies-msg-members-as-membership-bid-looms

CPJ | Media restrictions in Papua underscore Indonesia's wider problems
http://www.cpj.org/blog/2015/03/media-restrictions-in-papua-underscore-indonesias-.php

The price of protest in West Papua
http://media.wix.com/ugd/6daf1c_730a7855f6f4429793e61e402ff2592a.pdf

Young social media users engaging more in Pacific issues, say campaigners
http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2015/03/young-social-media-users-engaging-more-in-pacific-issues-say-campaigners/

Tony Abbott has an Indonesian problem he doesn’t want to talk about
http://www.news.com.au/national/politics/tony-abbott-has-an-indonesian-problem-he-doesnt-want-to-talk-about/story-fns0jze1-1227286229621

West Papua: Papua New Guinea PM Calls for Autonomy
http://unpo.org/article/18085

Deported Benny Wenda was on ‘thank you’ mission to PNG for West Papuans
http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2015/03/deported-benny-wenda-was-on-thank-you-mission-to-png/

Youth in West Papua 'frightened' after shooting
http://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/269633/youth-in-west-papua-'frightened'-after-shooting

Reports journalists were banned from asking about West Papua condemned
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/04/reports-journalists-were-banned-from-asking-about-west-papua-condemned

Fiji West Papua friends
10,438 members
https://www.facebook.com/groups/578136272205151/?ref=br_rs

Solomon Islands for Free West Papua
2,032 members
https://www.facebook.com/groups/578136272205151/?ref=br_rs

West Papua News
6,363 members
https://www.facebook.com/groups/578136272205151/?ref=br_rs

Australia West Papua Association
4,113 members
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AustraliaWestPapuaAssociation/?ref=br_rs

PFF ON WEST PAPUA

Questions on West Papua must be allowed - PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2015/03/questions-on-west-papua-must-be-allowed.html

Governments must act against impunity - PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2015/01/governments-must-act-against-impunity.html

Full investigation needed into Papua protest deaths - PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2014/12/full-investigation-needed-into-papua.html

Journalists arrest in West Papua defies presidential promise - PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2014/09/journalists-arrest-in-west-papua-defies.html

Papua police ban on new mag illegal – PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2013/07/papua-police-ban-on-new-mag-illegal-pff.html

Indonesia should release West Papua journalist immediately - PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2013/05/indonesia-should-release-west-papua.html

West Papua: shootings and arrests attack on human rights
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2013/05/west-papua-shootings-and-arrests-attack.html

Indonesia brutality towards West Papua "medieval" - PFF
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2013/01/indonesia-brutality-towards-west-papua.html

PFF joins call for action over plane attack in Papua
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2012/04/pff-joins-call-for-action-over-plane.html

PFF supports no-treason call for West Papua
http://www.pacificfreedomforum.org/2012/03/pff-supports-no-treason-call-for-west.html

CONTACTS

CONTACTS
PFF Chair Titi Gabi | GM PNG Loop | Papua New Guinea Mail: PO Box 7776, Boroko, NCD, Papua New Guinea | Mob: (675) 7314 3929 | Email:titi.gabipng@gmail.com
PFF co-Chair Monica Miller | KHJ Radio | American Samoa Mob (684) 258-4197 | Office (684) 633-7793 | Email: monica@khjradio.com
PFF Editor Jason Brown | Aotearoa New Zealand | Mob: +(64) 224340831 | Email jasonbrown1965@live.com

The Pacific Freedom Forum are a regional and global online network of Pacific media colleagues, with the specific intent of raising awareness and advocacy of the right of Pacific people to enjoy freedom of expression and be served by a free and independent media. We believe in the critical and basic link between these freedoms, and the vision of democratic and participatory governance pledged by our leaders in their endorsement of the Pacific Plan and other commitments to good governance. In support of the above, our key focus is monitoring threats to media freedom and bringing issues of concern to the attention of the wider regional and international community.

. . .