PAPUA NEW GUINEA has pulled out of hosting the biennial media summit next month after internal wrangles within its media association.
The Pacific region’s main media body, the Pacific Islands News Association, will now host the second Pacific Media Summit in Fiji next March.
PINA has been at loggerheads with other media groups since its management refused to speak out about media censorship by the Fiji military regime.
PINA president, Moses Stevens, says he believes holding the summit in Fiji will help promote a return to normal media relations.
“We would like [the Fiji media] to be working together for the betterment of the society and media freedom in Fiji,” he said.
“This is why we want to bring the summit to Fiji, to raise our flag there. And we still believe Fiji can turn around and things can come back to normal.
“We are aware of everything that is going on but we are not running away from the situation. We want to be engaging with them.”
Mr Stevens says if countries boycott the summit because of the venue that is up to them
Source: Radio New Zealand International, 29 September
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=63426
Comments