There has never been a greater time in our history to hold onto our journalism values, than now.
This was what the Divine Word University Media Freedom Day keynote speaker and TVWan senior reporter, Meredith Kuusa, said during celebrations at DWU Madang Campus’ SVD Memorial Auditorium.
She acknowledged the event’s theme ‘Media’s role in digital era’, and said news organisations in the country were faced with the challenges of providing factual information ‘instantaneously’.
Being a DWU Communication Arts graduate herself, she said the demand for instant factual information created added pressure and said media newsrooms need to exercise caution when compiling stories.
They should be sensitive and remind themselves of their ethical responsibilities.
Kuusa commended DWU for emphasis on ethics and encouraged journalism students to be sensitive and credible in their reporting.
Students from nearby Tusbab Secondary School also participated in the event.
DWU MFD celebrations are an annual event in which the Communication Arts Department, along with sister departments in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, observe the international day set by the United Nation on 3rd May.
The global Media Freedom Day theme for 2017 is “Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies.”
(Meredith Kuusa and DWU FASS students on Friday)