Media Council of Papua New Guinea (MCPNG)

“The Media Council of Papua New Guinea (MCPNG) is calling on its membership in the mainstream media sector of the country, to increase their coverage of environmental issues, to look past the developmental benefits of our natural resources, and also shine a light on government entities charged with the responsibility as gatekeepers of our country’s natural resources.”

MCPNG President, Neville Choi said this in commemoration of World Press Freedom day today.

Kora has experienced her share of challenges in her 20 years as a journalist, but she has also had opportunities to build her career.

She was fortunate to work with female veteran journalists who guided her, but said she still had to prove herself coming through the media industry. During the 6th Pacific Media Summit in Honiara, Solomon Islands in 2022, she learnt about Fiji’s Women in Media (WIM).

He was responding to a statement made by the MCPNG calling for media personnel protection, following an incident in Moitaka where a cameraman and a journalist of the National Broadcasting Corporation were subject to a stray bullet. The bullet grazed the cameraman, but struck the journalist in the arm.

“The media are the public’s eyes and ears in our democracy, and there must be respect and protection for journalists to carry out their professional duties,” Manning said.

The Post-Courier reporter was reportedly attacked last Friday (16 February).

Incidences of unprovoked attacks, intimidation, threats, verbal abuse and arrest of media workers in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific are on the rise.

The General Code of Ethics for the news media was reviewed and updated by the Australian Press Council in October last year after the MCPNG approached and asked for their assistance, due to the growth of the PNG media industry and the arrival of social media and online news services.

The MCPNG board met and agreed to give the revised edition of the code its stamp of approval in December last year and distribute it to all media personnel on the eve of Papua New Guinea’s 2017 general election. 

“Is your content empowering or disempowering Papua New Guineans?” asked Council president Alexander Rheeney.

“If your content is not empowering Papua New Guineans then sorry, you have no business in the media industry.”

Speaking during the recent Yumi-Olgeta media get-together, Rheeney highlighted the disappointing, continuous drop in media standards in the country.

“Individual media organisations need to address the situation in their own newsrooms because at the end of the day, your content is disempowering Papua New Guineans.”

This has compelled journalists and news editors to self-censor news and consequently deny Papua New Guinean readers and viewers access to factual, balanced, impartial and objective reporting.  

Council president Alexander Rheeney said: “Last year had its challenges for media industry personnel and the first four months of this year appear to be no different to 2016, with news organisations alerting the MCPNG to two incidents of interference by those in authority.