Pacific Media Centre (AUT)'s video: Journalism under duress in Asia-Pacific - the seminar PMC

AUCKLAND (Pacific Media Centre): The Pacific Media Centre at Auckland University of Technology has highlighted the threats to media freedom in the Asia-Pacific region in an event marking its 10th anniversary. Following the International Day of Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists earlier in November 2017, the PMC hosted two guest speakers in a panel addressing the so-called “war on drugs” in the Philippines and the extrajudicial killings estimated by officials at more than 7000 while human rights agencies claim a higher figure; and also human rights violations in West Papua. The event featured Malou Mangahas, executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, speaking on journalist safety and the culture of impunity. The Philippines is the country with the largest single massacre of journalists – 34 on the island of Mindanao in 2009, where a three-month urban siege against jihadists in Marawi City has recently ended with a toll on many newsrooms. The deadly crackdown reportedly eased up last month when President Rodrigo Duterte, who unleashed the brutal war on drugs, ordered the police to leave action to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), saying the shift was to target “big fish”. Human rights advocates had accused Duterte of waging a “war on the poor”, but Mangahas argued that there has been no real change in strategy. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in Manila the deaths “require investigation”. Johnny Blades, a senior journalist of RNZ International, also spoke about his challenging experiences in West Papua, especially during an “official” visit to the Indonesian-ruled Melanesian provinces in 2015. The panel was chaired by founding PMC director Professor David Robie, who has campaigned for many years on media freedom issues and was in Jakarta for the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day conference in May 2017. A special video by Sasya Wreksono highlighting the PMC's achievements over 10 years was screened along with a photographic exhibition of the research centre’s evolution. Story on Asia Pacific Report: https://asiapacificreport.nz/2017/12/05/philippine-media-freedom-riskier-traumatic-under-duterte-says-pcij-director/ MC: Alistar Kata (Tagata Pasifika) Editor: Tom Hood (AUT) - Edited from the Livestream (CC) 2018 Pacific Media Centre, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. www.pmc.aut.ac.nz