SUPPRESSED OUTRAGE LEADS TO PLAN FOR A NEW PACIFIC ISLANDS MEDIA ASSOCIATION
Peter Olszewski
6 July 2010
Media Blab
English
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A group of independent media operators in the Pacific is setting up an alternative regional body to the Pacific Island News Association, Radio Australia reported.
The Pacific Island News Association vice president John Woods has resigned, criticising the organisation for being too politicised, and failing to advocate on behalf of journalists - particularly in Fiji.
Woods said independent publishers and broadcasters from Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and Cook Islands were planning to set up a new body to represent the region's media.
He said the new organisation would encompass media groups from the entire Pacific region, from Wallace and Futuna to French Polynesia.
He said, "Disillusionment has grown and spread throughout the region amongst journalists and media operators because of the inaction of Pacific Island News Association to the point of frustration.
"And the suppressed outrage is going to manifest itself with the silent transfer of support and allegiance to a new entity, which has the working title of Pacific Media Association."
But the president of Pacific Island News Association said he was not too worried by moves to set up a rival group to represent the media in the Pacific. President Moses Stevens, from Vanuatu, said the idea had been around for a while.
