By David Robie in Port Moresby
Tonga: The deputy editor of the weekly Taimi 'o Tonga is detained for 26 hours and two pro-democracy letter writers jailed for even longer without charge. Eventually the editor is charged with "threatening" a civil servant. Vanuatu: Serge Vohor, briefly prime minister of Vanuatu after the recent general election, orders a gag on his country's news media to prevent them reporting moves to oust him from leadership. Fiji: The government denies it is planning to muzzle the news media in response to claims by opposition leader Jai Ram Reddy, who has told the public a cabinet faction "don't want you to know all the details about the scandals in government". Papua New Guinea: A hastily constituted PNG Media Council, representing the country's news media companies, organises a two-day public seminar involving leading politicians, judges, academics, an archbishop, journalists and grassroots activists in an attempt to defend press freedom.
As part of a constitutional review expected to steer PNG towards becoming a republic, Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan's government is seeking to introduce legislation which could fetter a traditionally free press.
The Constitutional Review Commission has been given a directive to produce a draft law by June. Commission chairperson Ben Micah recently led a fact-finding delegation to five Asian countries, including China, which have an authoritarian view of the news media or practise censorship.
"Is there a real justification for such a move?", asked the Independent newspaper in an editorial. "Any attempt to tamper with the freedom of the media must be viewed cautiously."
Micah was asked to cite three examples of alleged abuse by the news media as evidence of a need for legislation. Micah listed only two instances — both involved himself.
The Media Council said regulating the media was not a substitute for good government. Both the commission and the prime minister have argued that the basic constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the media would be upheld while seeking greater accountability.
But community leaders and editors have challenged this pledge. They say laws of defamation and an existing process of self-regulation based on a Press Council are adequate safeguards.
International protests followed the Tongan arrests of deputy editor Filo 'Akau'ola and two pro-democracy letter writers. Concern about press freedom in the Pacific region has been growing. Like PNG, Tonga's constitution guarantees freedom of speech.
Although PNG rarely figures in international lists of transgressing nations over violations of press freedom — two major gaggings of the National Broadcasting Commission in the past two years have been cited — editors believe they are waging their toughest fight.
Professor David Flint, chairperson of the Australian Press Council, cited US constitutional protections for the press at the recent seminar as an example for the Pacific.
Flint also highlighted safeguards within Papua New Guinea's own constitution. Under Section 46, every person in Papua New Guinea has the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
But Chief Justice Sir Arnold Amet says the right is restricted. He gave the right to life being curtailed by capital punishment as an example.
However, opposition member of parliament John Momis, one of the fathers of the constitution, said the objective of Section 46 was to be a "formal guarantee" and a "formal protection of the citizens' innate rights and freedoms".
He recalls that the provision was founded on "one of the great principles on which democracy rests, [that] is the right to differ on any topic of discussion".
If the PNG government were to truly honour this constitutional provision, he said, a Freedom of Information Act would be passed.
A leading journalist, Neville Togarewa, branded the constitutional media review as "rash, ill-conceived and without justification". He claimed the review had been forced by the government's "failure to financially support its own information and communication services to better serve government and the public".
[David Robie is a New Zealand journalist writing on South Pacific issues. He lectures in journalism at the University of Papua New Guinea.]