Re:5884 VANUATU: PMW condemns assault on publisher

You never mention the continual abuse of the Vanuatu Media Code of Ethics by Marc Neil-Jones. How can you claim balanced reporting when these proven facts are ignored, and you simply choose to report the story from a one-sided perpective?
While ALL violence should be condemned, provocation through poor reporting and the pre-judging of individuals with a constant trial by media, as witnessed in the pages of the Daily Post, also can't be supported by the community.
Have you ever questioned the high incidence of "problems" Neil-Jones brings on himself, especially when compared to the 100 or so media practitioners who report on the same issues and are never attacked ?
Will you be doing a follow up centered on media ethics in the Pacific? You may also want to write on the topic of social destabilisation as caused by irresponsible journalism and reckless reporting.

Marke Lowen
Vanuatu News
Port Vila
Vanuatu
www.news.vu

• Vanuatu Daily Post coverage of the assault
• Pacific Media Watch condemnation of the assault
• MAV response
• PFF response
• Cafe Pacific commentary

5797 FIJI: Former Daily Post publisher criticises media council over letter ruling

Mr Singh lodged a complaint with the Fiji Media Council claiming that the Daily Post had failed to publish a letter that he had forwarded to the editor. The Media Council rejected the complaint as it is well established that editors have sole discretion in deciding which letters are published. Had Mr Singh lodged a complaint regarding the contents of an editorial or a published item then his complaint would have been dealt with in the normal way through our complaint procedure.

Bob J. Pratt

Executive Secretary

Media Council (Fiji) Ltd
Suva

Fiji

• PMW item 5797 Former Daily Post publisher criticises
• PMW item 5797b Full correspondence file
• Fiji Media Council
• Daily Post editorial - original subject of complaint
  

Great PIMA stories!

Let me say that your coverage of the PIMA conference is fantastic - some great stories by your students online.
Cheers,
Peter Rees
Editor
SPASIFIK

www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/specialreports/081010_PIMA.shtml

Congratulations to the PMC students!

Congratulations to the PMC students on their rich and diverse reporting
of the PIMA event!
www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/specialreports/081010_PIMA.shtml

Valia

Dr Evangelia Papoutsaki
Senior Lecturer
School of Communication, Unitec

Mohan Balaji's Fiji article - factual errors

Mohan: re: pmw5701 re: Fiji's political development

Good article on Fiji but some factual errors.

Three corrections:
First Coup 1987 (not 1986)
Independence 1970 (not 1969)
NZ did not impose Transit Visa bans - to the contrary, it lifted these bans
for the purpose of the Fiji delegation attending the Forum.

Also, the opinion on the Constitution and Electoral System is incorrect - the current 1997 Fiji Constitution (and its electoral system) was put together after wide discussion, consultation and debate.

It is not the Constitution or the voting system that is flawed, but the people who take the law into their own hands when the system does not deliver into Parliament them or their preferred 'partners'.

The Fiji Constitution has provisions for ethnically balancing the composition of Parliament, and has power-sharing mechanisms which allows for successful major political parties to form Governments in partnership.

It is not the Constitution that is Fiji's problem, but successive bad (and corrupt) leadership, lack of transparency, unethical practices, and poor governance. The current illegal regime is no exception.

Kind Regards

Nik Naidu

Robert Fisk on PMC's YouTube

If you missed out on the inspiring luck with British foreign affairs journo Robert Fisk at AUT University on Tuesday, then check us out at the Pacific Media Centre YouTube channel and also our stories on PMC Online. Te Waha Nui has also provided some coverage by its editor, James Murray. Fisk's video about the US "Warrior Ethos" was been top-rated within a couple of hours of it being posted.

• Robert Fisk on the US Warrior's Creed
• PMC's YouTube channel

A breathtaking view from the PMC's guy in China

Hi all,

Here's a pic of the breath-taking Great Wall that quite literally does stretch further than the eye can see. Really amazing - thin and even quite low in some places, it once stretched over 5000km over the tops of the tallest hills. Some parts have been fixed, others not really.

Then come the Terracotta Warriors. For those of you that don't know, they were made by the king who first unified China over 2000 years ago. He got arrogant and wanted to continue ruling even after his death, so he had 170,000 people work on building this army of life-sized, individualised (right down to facial expressions and ranks, see the pictured general - you can tell rank by armour and headress) and battle ready (in formation, once upon a time armed with real weapons and wooden chariots, which disintegrated etc). There are over 6000 warriors in one pit but most are still buried (they were placed in tunnels just under ground level and found in 1974 by a farmer digging a well, poor guy sits in site shop signing books all day).

Once they were fully painted but within three days of being unearthed the paint faded, they have left most buried till they can work out technology to keep the paint.

Shortly after the king died suddenly during an inspection, one of his generals led a revolt and his men found and looted the Terracotta Warrior halls, stealing the weapons and destroying most of the warriors so most of the ones seen today have been fixed up. There are in fact three pits - one command centre, one fast response unit made up of calvary, chariots and archers, and one mostly comprising the military and chariots with the main army in battle formation.

Phenomenal!

Now some of the media stuff I'm doing if you are interested. Here's a link to see our multimedia news output:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-08/29/content_6982573.htm

Also, follow this link for a column piece written about why I think the Chinese - and most internationals - support Obama:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2008-08/30/content_6983958.htm

I hope you're all well,

Cheers

Dylan (in Beijing)