PINA'S MISREPRESENTATIONS

9 July 2002

Editor
Fiji Times
GPO Box 1167
Suva
Fiji
Fax: (679) 330 1521

Published in the Fiji Times on 12 July 2002 under the headline "PINA outburst" in a censored form. The parts cut out by the Times editors highlighted are in bold. Uncensored general replies to PINA can be read in the Daily Post on July 12 and on Pacific Islands Report website on July 10. (The Times never published the original Pacnews report, but on July 8 the Times published 30 rehashed paragraphs from the PINA statement as a "response" along with one sentence claiming that it had unsuccessfully tried to reach David Robie for comment.)

Letter for Publication:
PINA's misrepresentations

I refer to your half page of propaganda purporting to be "news" in yesterday's Fiji Times.

Would the real Pacific Islands News Association president Johnson Honimae please stand up? It doesn't suprise me that PINA training planner Peter Lomas should hide behind the coat-tails of Mr Honimae, who undoubtedly was unaware of the Machiavellian activities of his colleagues in Fiji.

Over the past few years, I have become used to the hypocrisy and self-serving rhetoric coming out of the Gordon St office of PINA claiming to "represent its members" in the region. I know from experience talking with many of these members that the reality is something else.

The claim about PINA's role in the establishment of the USP journalism programme is quite outrageous. Encouragement in the beginning in 1994 perhaps - but that hasn't been evident in recent years. I recently conducted a series of interviews with previous USP journalism staff members and sifted the archives. Clearly the views on PINA were very unflattering.

Also I note that neither Mr Honimae, nor his predecessor, William Parkinson, ever visited the two major journalism schools in the Pacific, the University of Papua New Guinea or USP, during my 10 year tenure. That speaks for itself.

Nor did Mr Lomas and his Gordon St clique colleagues ever visit the USP programme in the past five years. They speak from ignorance and prejudice.

The claims of defamation are laughable. What was stated in the Pacnews article is on public record and, as anybody in the media industry knows, I have been defamed by PINA in Fiji for almost 20 years.

Mr Honimae's claim about the Pacific Journalists Association is a misrepresentation. The PJA was an initiative between 1989-1993 supported by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the world's main journalist body, through its local members - the Australian Journalists' Association and New Zealand's JAGPRO - to encourage the establishment of Pacific journalist unions.

PJA was driven by Pacific Islanders but bitterly opposed by PINA's white anti-unionists. The inaugural PJA president, Samoan Monica Miller, later became the first woman president of PINA. My PJA involvement was on the fringes as a member of JAGPRO.

Until PINA's Gordon St media bureaucrats and donor manipulators can grasp that journalism is about honesty, fairness, balance and truth - not manipulation and deceit - the Fiji news media will not reach the standards of other countries such as Papua New Guinea, for example.

Finally, The Fiji Times never published the original article by an independent Pacnews journalist yet devoted an entire half page to a one-sided "response". The one sentence "balancing" claim that "Mr Robie could not be reached for comment" is biased and unprofessional. Your paper either made no attempt or did not try hard enough.

David Robie
Auckland
Aotearoa/New Zealand

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire-Media, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), and Pactok Communications, in Sydney and Port Moresby.

© 1996-2002 Copyright - All rights reserved. Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original producers as indicated. Recipients should seek permission from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views of PMW or its members. Recipients should rely on their own inquiries before making decisions based on material listed in PMW. Please copy appeals to PMW and acknowledge source.

For further information, inquiries about joining the Pacific Media Watch listserve, articles for publication, and giving feedback contact Pacific Media Watch at:

E-mail: delaro@clear.net.nz Fax: (+679) 30 5779 or (+612) 9660 1804
Mail: PO Box 9, Annandale, NSW 2038, Australia
or PO Box 78028, Auckland 1002, New Zealand
New website: http://www.pmw.c2o.org

Return to Pacific Media Watch