PINA summit gets under way in Port Vila

Updated July 27, 2009 09:50:07

The Pacific Islands News Association conference is under way in Vanuatu, with media freedom and Fiji high on the agenda of discussions.

Presenter:Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Sean Dorney, Australia Network's Pacific Correspondent

DORNEY: Well, like the Methodist Church, the media has been under a bit of pressure. One of the journalists with Pacnews which is now operating under PINA and out of the PINA Secretariat, Pita Ligaiula, was amongst the journalists picked up by the military after the Easter abrogation of the Constitution. He was held at the police station for a little while.

PINA, Pacnews is now under censorship like the rest of the media in Fiji, which is a totally unsatisfactory situation for the rest of the members of PINA, which spread throughout the Pacific and a decision has already been taken that Pacnews should be moved out of Fiji. Now that will be confirmed at this meeting. It's not the first time that Pacnews has had to flee Fiji. Back in '87, it moved to the Solomon Islands and then to Vanuatu before being relocated back into Fiji. But I think this is an absolutely crucial conference for the legitimacy of PINA as the leading media organisation in the Pacific.

COUTTS: And so just confirming, you say that decision has already been taken, that the Secretariat, the PINA Secretariat will be moved?

DORNEY: Yes, back in May there was an announcement by Joseph Ealedona, the CEO of Papua New Guinea's national broadcaster, whose the current president of PINA, that Pacnews needed to move, that the board had decided Pacnews needed to move out of Fiji, because of the censorship.

COUTTS: Well, has PINA's role as the regional champion of free speech and free media been compromised now?

DORNEY: Oh, I don't think there's any doubt about the fact that PINA has not been able to make the forthright defence of the media, that it has been noted for many, many years. In fact what we've seen develop in the Pacific is a bit of an offshoot, the Pacific Freedom Forum, which was registered in the Cook Islands last month and one of the co-chairman of that is a former president of PINA, Monica Miller, from American Samoa and there's going to be a meeting during this PINA conference or on the outskirts of it of members of that Pacific Freedom Forum, which has developed now I think as the premier media defence spokes unit in the region. So we're going to see a lot of people turning up to this meeting who are pretty furious at what's going on Fiji at the moment.

COUTTS: Well Sean, unfortunately we've run out of time and the clock doesn't stop for anyone, including the news, but just very quickly, some other items on the agenda?

DORNEY: Oh, media freedom is going to be a major issue, but in fact, the boss of our organisation, Mark Scott, is going to be giving one of the key note addresses there. So I think this is going to be a significant PINA meeting.