In recent times the government has been trying to hold media in Papua New Guinea accountable to things that catch everyone’s attention, and when the government is trying to do that, they are simply disregarding every good that has been done by the media.
This was emphasized to journalists in Kokopo by Media Council President Mr. Neville Choi.
Mr. Choi said that it is even worse that the government is seeing the mainstream media, traditional media in the same lance as social media.
“Because they see two different things through the same lance, they feel that they can hear the mainstream media, but they cannot control the social media, so they will just group all into one and come up with a policy or law that gives them more control,” said the Media Council President.
“However, as journalists we need to see that we can overcome this through ethical reporting and many times despite us practicing it, we often never really think about it.”
He added that the government of the day does not understand that as journalists, ethics and good moral judgments are the foundation of what journalists do.
“Ethics combined with honest, unbiased and well researched reporting are the two things that set the foundation to build credibility and right now that is what’s under attack, our credibility,” said Mr. Choi.
Mr. Choi further stated that in recent times, the national leaders have led the charge against what they consider to be unregulated media, practicing low standard journalism.
“The only counter to this, is for us, as media practitioners to ensure that our reporting is beyond reproach, criticisms or questions.”
Everyone understands that politicians cannot make the laws or govern things like the media because they are part of the political race regardless of what they say; they remain politicians, part of a national political race.
“However, ironically the government is usually the biggest critic of the media because their work involves and impacts the lives of everyone, and as journalists report on the impact, the government turns and criticizes the media, despite journalists just doing their normal job,” he added.
“Question is how do we stop this?” “The answer is really simple; all journalists must follow media ethics because ethics in the line of reporting the news is the first and the last safeguard against bias.”
Whether we realize it or not, media ethics remains the core of our everyday work as media practitioners.