The experiences and challenges facing Pacific journalists attempting to uphold freedom of expression and information across the region, will be captured for the first time in an inaugural survey of Pacific media freedoms, For us. By us. About us.
Launched today by the regional media freedoms watchdog, Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF), the survey asks journalists in 14 Pacific countries excluding Australia and New Zealand, to base their answers on the day-to-day reality of reporting in their respective island states.
An online network founded more than a decade ago, the PFF works to protect and promote Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which establishes the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of information as a fundamental human right.
The pilot Pacific Islands Media Freedom Survey is aimed at establishing robust baseline data on the state of media freedom in the Pacific, according to PFF Chair, Robert Iroga.
“We intend to use the survey results to create an inaugural Pacific Islands Media Freedom Index or standard for measuring Pacific media freedoms that is for us, by us and about us,” Iroga said.
PFF will use this baseline for further monitoring, capturing, reporting, and prompting of media freedom in island nations.
“Given the development of the media industry in our region, it is high time that we as Pacific islanders, who live and know the Pacific well, carry out the survey with and for our Pacific journalists,” Iroga said.
A founding editor of one of Solomon Islands most prolific online news sites, Iroga is also the Vice President of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) which is collaborating on the project.
The PFF plans to launch its inaugural Pacific Islands Media Freedom Index (PIMFI) and accompanying report at PINA’s biennial media summit to be held in Niue in September.
PFF and PINA jointly represent Pacific Islands journalists on the media freedom and free speech monitoring conducted by the IFEX – the International Freedom of Expression Exchange – a global network that defends and promotes freedom of expression as a fundamental human right.“
Internews,the global media and information strengthening NGO, whose Transparent Pacific project is supporting the survey and establishment of a PIMFI, is also hosting two days of dialogue for editors and journalists at the PINA summit. It is hoped these roundtables will provide an opportunity for a collective response and strategies to be formulated in light of the snapshot of the challenges facing media freedoms across the region in 2023 provided by the survey.
The PFF wanted to acknowledge Reporters without Borders for their previous global work Iroga said. “The work done by them helped highlight that it was time to develop a more specific and Pacific-led approach,” Iroga said.
PFF’s Micronesia Co-chair Leilani Reklai of Palau said the focus on Pacific islands media personnel should establish a clearer sense of the reality of media freedoms for newsrooms in what are often unique islands contexts.
“Our Pacific colleagues’ participation in the survey will help us to understand the nature and the context of media freedom challenges our journalists faced in 2023,” Reklai said.
PFF’s Polynesia Chair, Katalina Tohi of Tonga, noted the time frame for the survey only 2023, should not stop people from participating and sharing.
“Many of us who have left newsrooms but are still in media may wish to comment on what they have seen their colleagues go through in 2023 – it is important people who witnessed challenges be able to share their story, even if it did not happen directly to them, it’s still a part of their experience,” she said.
If you are working in the media in a Pacific Island nation you can take the 2024 Pacific Islands Media Freedom Survey at For us. By us. About us.
