- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
The pressures on South Pacific journalism
Posted By Graeme Dobell on November 25, 2019 @ 06:00
The Daily Post had just published a series of articles relating to how the government had detained six Chinese nationals—four of whom had Vanuatu citizenship—without trial or access to legal counsel. They were stripped of their citizenship and placed on a plane to China. We don’t know what happened to them after that …
There’s no evidence to suggest that China has asked for or even wanted my removal. But it seems clear that political pressures exerted on senior bureaucrats have resulted in this attempt to stifle the media.
The level of understanding and knowledge in Australia about the Pacific is staggeringly low. While there has been a significant uptick in Australian media interest in the region recently, its almost single-minded focus on China is not helping improve that understanding and is aggravating Pacific leaders who want to see Pacific voices and a wider agenda make more of an impact in Australia.
The range of threats to media freedom is increasing. These include restrictive legislation, intimidation, political threats, legal threats and prosecutions, assaults and police and military brutality, illegal detention, online abuse, racism between ethnic groups and the ever-present threats facing particularly younger and female reporters who may face violence both on the job and within their own homes.
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URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-pressures-on-south-pacific-journalism/
[1] ‘growing threats to media freedom’: https://www.meaa.org/download/media-freedom-in-melanesia-under-threat-statement-191113/
[2] Vanuatu’s expulsion: https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2019/nov/11/vanuatu-has-cancelled-my-work-permit-its-a-dark-day-for-media-freedom
[3] ‘step-up’: https://dfat.gov.au/geo/pacific/engagement/Pages/stepping-up-australias-pacific-engagement.aspx
[4] ‘trouble in paradise’: https://9now.nine.com.au/60-minutes/seeing-red/6cfbfeee-6127-45b5-a80d-69bedf16d64c
[5] As Jemima Garrett: http://www.lowyinterpreter.org/the-interpreter/china-media-freedom-pacific-and-great-australian-silence
[6] closed its shortwave service: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/silencing-australias-shortwave-voice-south-pacific/
[7] role of free media in the islands: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/hard-news-and-free-media
[8] review of Australia’s media reach in the Asia–Pacific: https://www.communications.gov.au/have-your-say/review-australian-broadcasting-services-asia-pacific
[9] identify its ‘strategic policy objectives’: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/whispering-to-the-asia-pacific/
[10] Geoff Heriot: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/asia-pacific-broadcasting-review-misses-the-point/