PINA President Appeals For Media Freedom Featured
Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) President Moses Stevens is appealing to all key players in the Pacific Media industry, including publishers, media workers, governments and other stakeholders to re-think the role of the media in our respective communities.
In his World Media Freedom Day address which celebrated Sunday around the globe, Stevens said if media workers are confident and work in a free and inclusive environment, it will reflect positively on the media organisation.
“As President of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), I’d like us to focus on improving the welfare and security of our media workers in the Pacific. Let us look within to see if we have been fair in the treatment of our media workers and provided them an environment where they are free to express themselves and report freely.”
“PINA appeals to the leadership of media organisations in the Pacific to support and take ownership of the work of National Media Associations (NMAs) PINA urges media owners to allow their workers to join and positively contribute to the work of NMAs in their respective countries.”
He said one of the strategies of PINA going forward is to support and strengthen the work of NMAs in member countries.
“The NMAs serves as a platform at the national level where media organisations pool and share their resources for training and professional development for media workers. NMAs can also be an avenue where governments and other stakeholder engage the media for development purposes.”
“NMAs will also have an advocacy role for the defence and promotion of media freedom. We have said on various occasions that PINA can only be as strong as its National Media Associations.”
Commenting on this year’s theme- “Let Journalism Thrive! Toward Better Reporting, Gender Equality and Safety in the Digital Age”, he said with the advent of modern technology, things are swiftly changing in the Pacific, impacting the social, political and economic landscape of our societies.
“These realities require us to be innovative in our approach to media development to ensure that there is a right balance between our rights to express and report freely and to be responsible.”
“I urge owners of the media in the Pacific to strengthen leadership of our industry and move away from the "spoon fed" mentality that for far too long has influenced and dictated the way we portray and report on our communities.”.
“We must look for opportunities to learn from each other and share resources amongst ourselves. We must take our cue from our governments that are pursuing South-South cooperation amongst themselves.
“I am urging the Pacific media to do likewise and use the technical expertise and resources of our fellow Pacific media family to train and develop the media industry.”
He added that the way forward now is to integrate modern concepts with the traditional forms of communications that retains our unique Pacific Way of doing things..
He also acknowledged the formation of the Fijian Media Association (FMA) last year and revival and election of Media Council of PNG.
SOURCE: FIJI LIVE/PACNEWS
