Tonga’s communications blackout ‘a problem out of their control’
Internet shock … Tonga Communications Corporation. Image: Kalino Lātū/Kaniva News By Philip Cass and Kalino Latu Tonga’s abrupt communications blackout may last up to two weeks before the fibre optic submarine cable restores the internet and mobile connection with the world. Tonga Cable Director Paula Piveni Piukala told Kaniva News repairs could be done in […]
Read More →Fiji warns ‘selfish’ countries amid Paris Agreement climate rulebook deadlock
Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama … urging world leaders to summon the courage and political will to make the switch from dirty to clean energy. Image: Fiji Times Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Talks to draft the Paris Agreement rulebook remained deadlocked today on traditionally tough issues. Emerging economies – China, India, Brazil and South Africa […]
Read More →Human rights watchdog calls for police probe into ‘unclear’ Papua killings
Christmas spirit at a Human Rights Day rally in the Papuan capital of Jayapura this week. Image: Voice Westpapua Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Indonesian police should investigate a Papuan armed group’s killing of at least 17 people, including a soldier, at a construction area in Nduga in Papua’s densely forested Central Highlands earlier this month, […]
Read More →Pacific voices tell stories of climate change reality in new documentary
A new documentary Subject to Change, a collection of interviews and personal stories from across the Pacific, explores the impact of climate change. Video: MFAT Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Two young women students are the driving force who created a new documentary titled Subject to Change which highlights the climate change challenges faced by Pacific […]
Read More →UN official defends West Papuan rights – free speech, peaceful assembly
UN’s OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani … “there are many West Papuan grievances, and we’ve seen this in many parts of the world where grievances are unaddressed, or there’s a suppression of dissent.” Image: UN interview screenshot Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk West Papuan rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly have been defended by the […]
Read More →Keith Rankin’s Chart for this Month: Crisis Postponed
Chart for this Month: Crisis Postponed By Keith Rankin Another financial crisis coming? Graphic by Keith Rankin. There will almost certainly be another major financial crisis, just like there will be another big earthquake (or, as the Australians would instead say, another big bushfire). We can do much to improve our monitoring of systemic stresses, […]
Read More →Labour rally in Jakarta, Fiji march highlight global human rights issues
How UN agencies strive to put human rights at the centre of their work. Video: UN Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Hundreds of workers from the Confederation of United Indonesian Workers (KPBI) held a protest march at the weekend in the capital of Jakarta and Fiji’s Coalition on Human Rights staged a march today to commemorate […]
Read More →Nations close ranks to stop ‘big four’ oil producers watering down UN report
By Sara Stefanini and Karl Mathiesen in Katowice, Poland In a moment of drama in Poland, countries have closed ranks against a push by oil producers to water down recognition of the UN’s report on the impacts of 1.5C warming. Four big oil and gas producers blocked the UN climate talks from welcoming the most […]
Read More →Pioneering NZ Pacific research initiative to make ‘reset’ change
Keynote speakers Associate Professor Kabini Sanga from Victoria University and Dr Alisi Holani (right), deputy CEO of the Ministry of Commerce, Consumer, Trade, Innovation and Labour (MCCTIL) in Tonga. They spoke about a “rich gap” and other issues affecting Pacific media reportage. Image: Tom Blessen/PMC By Sri KrishnamurthiThe NZ Institute for Pacific Research will cease […]
Read More →France tax rebate to boost New Caledonia’s AirCalin airliner fleet
An AirCalin promotion poster at Tontouta International Airport, New Caledonia. Image: David Robie/PMC By RNZ Pacific New Caledonia’s international airline, AirCalin, has been given tax rebates by France to buy two new Airbus airliners. The French High Commission in Noumea announced the Economics and Finance Ministry had approved the concession for the purchase of two […]
Read More →Stop harassing Rappler, media advocacy groups tell Duterte
Two global media freedom advocacy groups accuse the Philippine government of trying to “silence” Rappler and its journalists. Image: Rappler Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have written a joint open letter to the prosecutor-general of the Philippines calling for an end to the orchestrated harassment […]
Read More →Trauma research on TV journalists covering killings revealed in Pacific Journalism Review
Part of the cover of the latest Pacific Journalism Review. Image: © Fernando G Sepe Jr/ABS-CBN Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk The statistics globally are chilling. And the Asia-Pacific region bears the brunt of the killing of journalists with impunity disproportionately. Revelations in research published in the latest edition of Pacific Journalism Review on the trauma […]
Read More →Couple remanded in big Vanuatu human trafficking, slavery case
By Richard M. Nanua and Royson Willie in Port Vila Vanuatu’s Magistrates Court has remanded a Bangladeshi couple over what is alleged to be the biggest human trafficking and slavery case in Vanuatu and the region. Sekdah Somon and Buxoo Nabilah Bibi – the owners of the “Mr Price” home and furniture store in Vanuatu […]
Read More →RSF condemns Chinese exclusion of journalists at APEC side events
Chinese President Xi Jinping in Port Moresby … accused over “new media control strategy” in South Pacific. Image: SCMP Pacific Media Watch Newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the discrimination practised by the Chinese delegation against local and international media at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held last weekend in Papua […]
Read More →Six activists detained for staging palm oil shipboard rally, says Greenpeace
Greenpeace activists unfurl a banner reading “Drop Dirty Palm Oil Now” at a Wilmar International palm oil refinery in Bitung, North Sulawesi, in September. Image: Jurnasyanto Sukarno/Greenpeace Indonesia By Ivany Atina Arbi in Jakarta Six Greenpeace activists have reportedly been detained by the captain of the tanker Stolt Tenacity for staging a rally against global […]
Read More →Kanaky independence campaign rolls on … encouraged by ballot result
David Robie, who reported from New Caledonia several times during the 1980s for Islands Business magazine, The Australian, New Zealand Times and other media, returned to the French Pacific possession to observe last weekend’s historic referendum. He was also on board the Rainbow Warrior, the Greenpeace environmental ship that was bombed by French secret agents […]
Read More →MSG backing Kanak independence ‘on the quiet’, says campaigner
Kanak pro-independence official Victor Tutugoro talking to journalists outside the FLNKS headquarters in Noumea on Sunday. Image: David Robie/PMC By RNZ Pacific A leading New Caledonian pro-independence politician, Victor Tutugoro, says governments of Melanesian countries have quietly supported the New Caledonian independence cause. Tutugoro, second vice-president of New Caledonia’s Kanak-ruled Northern province and a Melanesian […]
Read More →Scrap workers deal with Saudi Arabia following execution, says Jakarta NGO
Migrant Care activists hold a rally in protest against the execution of an Indonesian migrant worker in front of the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Jakarta on March 20, 2018. Image: Seto Wardhana/Jakarta Post By Dian Septiari in Jakarta The Migrant CARE advocacy group has called on Indonesia’s Manpower Ministry to cancel a recent agreement with […]
Read More →PNG to host first Pacific APEC – but is it leaders’ hoo-ha before people?
RNZ’s Insight visits Papua New Guinea, which is due to host an APEC Leaders Summit next month. Video: RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea is about to host some of the world’s most powerful leaders at the APEC summit. But as PNG’s moment in the spotlight approaches, RNZ Pacific journalist Johnny Blades asks in a special […]
Read More →Fijian students design superheroes to challenge ‘Silence’ in comic contest
Students at Holy Trinity Primary School in Suva, Fiji, presented their superheroes designed during a workshop held on Monday. Image: UNICEF Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Advocacy groups have called on children and young people to defeat the “ultimate supervillain” – silence – to help end violence in and around schools. The Holy Trinity Primary School […]
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