Parkop calls on journalists to do more
Title -- 5227 PAPUA: Parkop calls on journalists to do more
Date -- 2 October 2007
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- PNG Post-Courier 1/10/07
Copyright - PC
Status -- Unabridged
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JOURNOS URGED TO DO MORE
http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20071001/mohome.htm
By Mackhenly Kaiok
PORT MORESBY (PC Online/Pacific Media Watch): The issue of the displaced West Papuans and their requests to be relocated has been put forward as a matter the Papua New Guinea media could work on to help find solutions to the endless questions of independence for the Indonesian province.
And this issue seems to have been accepted by the media as a taboo .
National Capital District governor Powes Parkop told media personnel last Friday during the launching of the Let's Do It PNG Media Expo 2007 that journalists should assist West Papuans in their fight for independence.
While taking a swipe at the coverage of the decade-long war on Bougainville, which ended in 1997, Parkop bluntly pointed out that the PNG media lacked news coverage on the plight of the people of West Papua.
"I cannot recall a reporter trying to enter Bougainville to report the other side of the story how people were coping with the crisis, what the views of the secessionists were, how many people had died or were
dying as a result of the war and the blockage of Bougainville," Parkop said in a statement that was likely to attract some debate from media professionals.
"The media seems to have swallowed the political line that West Papua was part of Indonesia and whatever was happening there was a matter for Indonesia," he said.
"I do not even know of or have heard of an organised media visit to West Papua through the Indonesia Embassy. It seems that as far as the media was concerned, West Papua was 'a taboo' [subject]. It's a domestic affair similar to how we treat domestic violence.
"We only highlight the facts with screaming headlines in newspapers or TV after the wife has been killed and the husband charged with murder or manslaughter."
Parkop said such assignments could be risky, but this issue needed to be addressed by the media.
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