The need for proper journalism training

Proper journalism training is essential for healthy reporting and to overcome certain media challenges. Training can also equip journalists to be more responsible when reporting certain sensitive issues. Understanding journalism law and ethics is very important for journalists thus to prepare themselves before going out to the work force. Journalists must be well trained and must prepare to be engaged with other people. Journalists’ duties include  providing factual and accurate information to use by the general public. With that in mind, a journalist must also be objective as his duty is not to form people’s opinions for them but to inform them about people, events and places.

Dr Ian Weber, the head of Journalism School at the University of the South Pacific (USP) said, untrained journalists can get themselves into a lot of trouble along with the law relating to what they have reported. He said trained journalists have skills and experiences on hand before going out to the work force. He said journalism training is important for young journalists because they played an important role in society. Weber said that doing training provides journalists so much background knowledge and many skills that should allow and guide them to begin their work immediately at high level.

He said knowing journalism law could enable journalists to write much better stories and helped them to develop a better understanding with issues that a particular community has faced.

He added that journalists need to be persistent and be engaged no matter what challenges they may encounter.

“Journalists must speak out the truth no matter what, but they must know how to do that; knowing the law, knowing what they can and cannot write is definitely part of the process,” he said.

 “This is why journalists need to attend journalism training in order to do that.”

Priestly Habru a former USP journalism student said, journalists needed to be properly trained to avoid related problems such as defamation when reporting certain sensitive issues. He said qualified journalists have the expertise to minimize mistakes when reporting because of good journalism training. He added journalists must play their role with great responsibility and care when reporting. 

The power of media to curb corruption

The role of the media to inform citizens freely in any democratic countries is very crucial for a healthy corruption free government. The media play an important battle to curb corruptions in our various societies. It revealed new and hidden fraud dealings that coming around us. Without media we are dumb and blind at our own homes.

Just recently, Papua New Guinea’s Opposition Leader Belden Namah has reiterated the importance of media in PNG. Namah in a news conference called on all media outlets to report issues of national interest without fear or favour. He made this called following the government has allegedly miss-used more than 70 million Kina.

Why called for the media to deal with corruption issues when there are politicians, businesses or anti-corruption groups that should take the lead?  Are we always depending on the media to lead us? This clearly explains how media is so powerful to tackle corruption in our societies.

Why so powerful?

The media intervention transfers the power to the public and empowers them to demand accountability. The media also stimulates investigation into the alleged stories. Media articles can be attributed to the impeachment or forced resignation of a corrupt politician and public officials. 

Media Freedom; essential for democracy

Free media is essential in any democratic society for the stable development and balance of decision making in any government. It is a tool which enhances people in expressing their opinions and understand what is happening around them. Media play a vital role in any society to inform the public on pressing issues and work as a watchdog for healthy government. Hence, there is a true democracy in any society if citizens are equally participated and be informed in all facets of their government and its everyday activities.
In general free press is the cornerstone of democracy that has been said often. It informs the public of decisions and actions that affect the public. It provides the public the means of expressing their opinions. It asks those in power and authority the questions members of the public would like to ask. It tries to gather information that members of the public need to have before they made the important decisions in their lives. 
Thus emphasizing media freedom in any society has truly depicted the actual meaning of democracy. There is a need for a free media for ordinary people to know what is happening in their country and to monitor the government to ensure accountability and transparency. It acts as a watchdog for good governance.

However, for democracy to work, the infrastructure and communications technology needs to reach the masses so that people are adequately informed through an uncensored media. Restricting or imposing censorship on media has disadvantaged ordinary citizens to fully exercise their rights of balance information and their contribution in decision making. Also the lack of similar choice to be informed means leaders have more opportunity to make decisions which may not be in the best interests of citizens. Grass-roots people were not sufficiently informed to make critical decisions and hold leaders accountable.

Why media censorship is bad and does not depicts true democracy? Because it further prevented leaders or ordinary citizen to communicate with each other, express their ideas and to participate in decision making for a true democracy. In order for democracy to be fully realized, we need to have a proper and uncensored communication services available so that grass-roots people could freely exercise their democratic rights.

Most Pacific countries are said to be democratic societies, however, this claimed is meaningless when there is a restriction put in place on citizens to equally participate and made decisions in society. Fiji and Solomon Islands for instance have been suppressed the role of the media politically and culturally in many ways.Which people are not fully participate in decision making due to media censorship as in the case of Fiji. Also in Solomon Islands where traditional cultures has obviously suppressed the role of the media. 

‘Beche-de-mer’, a controversial issue in Solomon Islands

Beche-de-mer exporting is one of the many controversial issues that continually causing corruption among politicians, prominent government officers and business men in Solomon Islands. The said marine product cost millions of dollars which attracted many politicians and government officers to use their political power or authority to offer business men some controversial dealings or under table dealings. Hence business men involved can easily escape from laws and regulations of the country under the umbrella of these leaders through bribery and so on. The public raised concerned that the Ministry of Fisheries which responsible for the Marine products has do little to curb such corruption practice, which in return should yield large lucrative revenue for the country. A heated controversy has been again erupted last week between politicians and the public over a 20-foot container of beche-de-mer due for shipment this weekend.

Container stored at minister's residence. Source Solomon star.

The container was owned by a local Chinese Xu Qiang and was kept at the residence of Solomon Islands' Foreign Affairs Minister Clay Forau at his residence at Henderson, East Honiara. The statement said the contents of the container may have been falsely declared and the public had prompted the relevant authorities to check it carefully before shipment. Also Sources familiar with beche-de-mer export said while the number of bags loaded and quantity declared may be correct, Customs need to check out all types of species in the container.The public raised questions on whether the local Chinese has an export licence as he previously used Rendova Trading company's licence to export his beche-de-mer container. Also public raised concerned on why the minister has allowed his residence as a loading point. Forau in his respond said that he did not see anything wrong with it.

“I am a just an ordinary person like everyone else and we all do things for survival. We all work hard and do things for our livelihood.” 

Charles Dausabea a president of Malaita Ma’asina Forum called on Mr Forau to resign or the Prime Minister should sack him. Dausabea also stated that Qiang should be referred to the court for questioning or ban him from returning to the country.

Self-serving tactics in Solomon Islands' politics

The national motto of Solomon Islands is to 'Lead is to serve'. This indicated that all leaders whether at the national or provincial government level have to abide with their oath to serve all citizens. That is they have been voted into power as leaders with the expectation to serve everyone. Thus providing basic services and implement new projects thus to enhance the standard of living at all levels. However, this was not the cased in Solomon Islands’ politics; many politicians tend to take things for granted for their own benefits and self interest. So much funding or aid money poured into the country from other countries like Australia and Taiwan purposely for certain projects or development assistance which at times tempted politicians to control or divert it for other purposes according to their own interest.

In April this year, a faithful government minister had revealed the attempts made by some politicians to control the $38 million for this year’s budget that was allocated for cocoa and coconut projects. Solomon Islands’ Agriculture and Livestock Minister David Tome said, he told the politicians that the money belongs to the farmers, not them. Tome stated that he refused to several politicians who tried to convince him to channel the funding through them. The minister said he strongly opposed the suggestion to channel the money through politicians because this was specifically allocated for farmers. He said his ministry had allocated $19 million for cocoa development projects and another $19 million for coconut in their budget this year.

He stated that he opposed the funds going through politicians for fear the funds will not be used for their intended purpose. He said the ministry’s policy on these funding is clear and that is to assist farmers without any politician influence.

A number of funding in the ministries of Tourism, Fisheries, Rural Development, and Forestry are channelled through MPs, some of which ended up in wrong hands.

Also this year, the current ruling government has tried as much as possible to debate and passed in parliament many bills that excessively benefit politicians. Members of Parliament (MPs) have amazingly passed in parliament some of their entitlements with much irrational increases which caused much upheaval to the general public. Previously MPs terminal grant is $100,000, now it sky rocked to $400,000.

The statement said all the 50 Members of Parliament (MPs) will receive a handsome payout of $400, 000.00 as terminal grant after completing their four years term as parliament members. They also increased their oversea travelling allowance and education grant.

Obviously such practice and mind-set of politicians are only self-serving and self-interest considering many outstanding important issues the country has gone through. One of the pressing issues that they had ignored for quite a long time is the teachers’ demand on re-levelling exercise and backdated payments which eventually led to the nation-wide teachers’ strike early this year. The issue had taken the government many years before eventually managed to resolve it. There are also many public services needed to be improved or upgraded such as hospitals, more infrastructure development and so on. The government occasionally put a blind eye or lack consideration on these issues.

However, when it comes to issues relating to politicians’ entitlements, the government for sure would act promptly to deal with the matter. This portrayed how some politicians are so good at serving themselves without considering the general well-being of the public who had voted them into power. This is self-serving at its best. 

Political influences on media? Called for good journalism reporting in Solomon Islands

Politicians are so good in influencing the role of the media in many ways in our various societies. They influenced the media directly or indirectly for their political interest. Solomon Islands for that matter is not exception from this practice. Politicians have continually indirectly influenced or directly criticized the media in hoping to regain or keeping their reputation maintain from many reported public interest issues they have involved in. Early this year, the Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo had criticized the Solomon Starnews paper for its continue reporting on issues that the government or politicians had allegedly involved in or failed to fulfil  PM Lilo in turned describe journalism standard in Solomon Islands as unhealthy. He made the statement for what he viewed as unfair reporting on certain issues by the Solomonstar newspaper. One of the many issues that the Prime Minister was concerned about is the publication of sex scandal that he allegedly involved in. He said reporting must come with great responsibility.

 “Whilst media freedom is an important aspect of a democracy it does come with a lot of responsibility. However it is apparent that some journalists under the guise of the freedom of expression have gone to the extreme to hurt others through the production of baseless articles and promoting sensational journalism. What they don’t admit is their failure to fairly report on the issue instead they allow their emotions to take the pole position and depict to the public that they are a victim of a suppressive regime.”

He said it is the responsibility of media to verify an issue and to get the views of those who were affected or both sides of the story.

“Any trained or even untrained journalist should know the power of balancing news stories. This should be the difference between a social network and the mainstream media. If I was to rank the health of the journalism standard in this country, I would label it as very unhealthy. This is because journalism here thrives on hearsay, stories are duplicated, stories carry just one source; and seriously there is a lack of factual and analytical articles.”

However, Solomon Star’s Chief Reporter Ednal Palmer said the Prime Minister’s comments were merely to discredit the paper for obvious reasons, but welcomed the criticisms.

“Sounds a bit desperate, but we welcome criticisms and we favour no one.”

Its more reasonable to call for good journalism reporting if politicians are totally free from corruption. I think generally labelling the standard of journalism as unhealthy is sound absurd, knowing that many reported issues are facts and the media is trying its best to curb corruption in the country. The media is playing its role as a watch dog, reporting and informing the public on issues involving elites that lead the country. However, its all coming back to all media organizations to apply more journalism ethical standard and be responsible when reporting certain sensitive issues. 

Solomons' 'Ethnic tension report leakage'. The down-side of social media

The Solomon Islands’ government was disturbed on the untimely and illegally releasing of the Truth and Reconciliation Report (TRC) about the 1998-2003 ethnic tension in Solomon Islands last month. The said sensitive report was released by its editor Bishop Terry Brown to the public on Facebook forum and the internet.Terry Brown said he released the report after much prayer and reflection as the editor of the TRC report. He said he took the decision at his own judgement and he prepares to take responsibility for it.The TRC was delivered to the Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo since last year for the parliament to debate about but since then nothing has happened. The Solomon Islands’ Attorney General Billy Titiulu in responsed said the action of Bishop Brown is totally irresponsible. 

"The report is supposed to be table in parliament because the government has to act on the recommendations specified in the report before it released to the public. The action of Terry is his own and he did not know where he gets his authority from, adding he will wait on the government on how to deal with this issue."

Using of Social media has played a vital role here to inform the public on the important issue where the government has longed kept for its own political agenda. However, untimely releasing of the report on the social media is questionable as it obviously not meet the interest and expectation of Solomon Islands' government. Since social media is unregulated and uncensored in many countries likewise in Solomon Islands for that matter, any sensitive issues can made public by anyone. We like it or not, that is the challenge of social media in our society today. Information just go viral at fast rate at any time, at any place by anyone. Be it sensitive, illegal or unacceptable issues, we no longer restricted it from spreading to the general public.

Social network; is it a safe and reliable media tool?

The introduction of various social networks has made the dissemination of information much easier for public consumptions. Journalists, media organization and the public treated this as an alternative media tool to disseminate information at any time and any place. It also provides an avenue for easy interaction between people, share information and build more friendship among people. Social network is easily accessible and unregulated; you can post or share whatever information, photos music or videos at your own choice and at a reasonable cost. Twitter and Facebook, for example, are providing easy and accessible platform for public to manage, interact and share information. However, the question is, is social networking really safe and the information conveyed reliable? Social networks are personally regulated and any information provides can be miss-leading or sometimes not meet public expectation and interest. It also sometimes leads to conflict between friends, government and public at large because of its unregulated and uncensored characteristic.

Just recently, a Vanuatu journalist was arrested for publishing a seditious statement about the government on the internet.  According to the Radio Australia, Gratien Tiona a journalist working for the Vanuatu Independent newspaper was allegedly making a comment on a Facebook forum praying for an aircraft to crash that transporting Vanuatu's Council of Ministers including the Prime Minister Moana Carcasses Kalosil. Mr.Tiona was eventually facing charges of terrorist activity, seditious publication, and making threats. In his apologizing response, Tiona stated that he only discussed on the original post initiated by one Facebook forum user discussing about the Vanuatu government cabinet travelling back from their meeting.

"I wasn’t trying to make a crash happen; I’d like to say my comment has not got anything to do with terrorism. My original comment had been misconstrued."

Journalist released.
Picture: Vanuatu Daily Post.

However, the Vanuatu government was concerned and promptly acted on the issue stated that they will stand to their decision. Tiona then was detained in police cell for 30 hours and released later because of no formal complain made against his comment. 

The act of the journalist might depict some hidden agendas or if not disagreement to the Vanuatu government's trip which is questionable. After all its about freedom of expression.

However, this case has questionable to the safety of either professional journalists or any ordinary person when posting or sending information on social media. It warned us that though there is freedom of media which allowed people to freely express their views on any issue, still there are risks that suppressed that freedom. This means that we must be responsible for our actions or be responsible on what we are reporting and expressing.

Media versus culture, a silent barrier to media freedom

When reading and talking about free media in some Pacific Island Countries (PICs), it raised questions whether there is really a free media.  A number of PICs are listed to have free media, however, there are barriers that thought to have protected media to fully accomplish its work. Culture or custom for that matter is one of the silent barriers to media freedom in some island countries. Media limited its role to focus on to certain people or to cover certain issues because of the fear that they might breach certain cultural values or the people they supposed to report were their relatives. This cultural credence is seen as a challenge for media freedom in various listed free media societies in the Pacific.

Culture or custom for that matter is highly respected and uphold in Solomon Islands and to some extent a great challenge for media freedom in some cases. Just recently a Solomon star news Paper Company in Solomon Islands was attacked of being covering a sensitive issue regarding the Solomon Islands’ Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo was allegedly reported having extra-marital affair. The relatives of the woman who Lilo allegedly having an affair with, said that it against their custom and disrespectful to report such issue. They made threats and intimidated the editor and the reporter and demanded compensation. Solomon Star chief of staff Ednal Palmer refuted the action of the group said that it was the sad chapter of media freedom in Solomon Islands. Palmer said it was a sad day for freedom of information in Solomon Islands, the Solomon Star was merely reporting what has already been published in the social media and read by thousands of people around the country. He said the focus about the article was the contents of a letter sent to Forum Solomon Islands International and all media outlets by Mr. Lilo’s lawyer. What happened was a clear threat to the freedom of expression and the right of the people of Solomon Islands to know. 
The issue raised confusion to the so called free media being claimed in some Pacific Island countries. Reporting on such issue involving the Prime Minister is vital for public interest, and the media is playing its role by informing the public on this regard. Culture or custom for that matter could be a big challenge that exceptional to some countries where media freedom is strongly emphasized. Should there be a law put in place that can protect journalists to totally free from reporting cultural related issues? That is a big question considering our cultures are being inherited and passed from generation to generation. Unless our cultural beliefs are totally demise, press freedom will hardly achieve in a cultural oriented society.