PNG media ban on foreign journalists criticised by opposition

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PNG media ban on foreign journalists criticised by opposition
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PNG deputy Opposition Leader Sam Basil … rap for the government over the Manus foreign journalists ban. Image: PNGblog

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet ofPacific Media Watch

The ban on foreign journalists on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea is making waves across the Pacific as leaders gather for the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands.

Papua New Guinea’s opposition has criticised the move by the government to bar overseas journalists from entering the location of Australia’s asylum-seeker detention centre.

The deputy leader of the Opposition, Sam Basil, said the government should not have anything to hide.

“Banning foreign journalists – and on a major human rights issue like asylum seekers – is a bad omen on the way the O’Neill government intends to do business in Papua New Guinea,” he said.

“Mr Pato, as a lawyer, should know better about defending human rights and the role of journalists.

“No Government – big or small – aid donor or aid recipient – should be allowed to handle humanitarian issues in the dark. The media – and foreign journalists in particular – have demonstrated that public exposure they bring can defuse bad decisions and their dire implications on the people.”

News first emerged from Nau FM’s Quintina Naime, and from Radio New Zealand International which was picked up by the Pacific Media Watch, and has since been reported at Fairfax’s The Age in Melbourne.

Radio New Zealand International interviewed PNG’s new Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato who said: “PNG is a culture where we discuss, negotiate and compromise. So we don’t want any misreporting, as a consequence of which issues could be misinterpreted by our own people as well as by the outside world.”

PNG’s Director-General of Immigration Mataio Rabura confirmed he had issued instructions to all PNG’s overseas missions not to facilitate visas for journalists planning to come to the country to cover the Manus story.

Pacific leaders, including PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neil, are on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands this week for the Forum.

Journalists covering the Forum are seeking comment from the Prime Minister about the ban.

Alex Perrottet is Pacific Media Watch contributing editor and coordinator of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Islands Forum coverage.

Source: 8074 Pacific Media Watch

Temporary ban slapped on foreign journalists

This item is republished courtesy of Pacific.Scoop.co.nz.