SBS TV Reporter's Passport Seized

SBS TV Reporter's Passport Seized

SYDNEY (SBS TV/Vikki John//Pacific Media Watch): Australian journalist Bronwyn Adcock had her passport seized on Friday by Papua New Guinean authorities while attempting to board her flight to Australia.

She had been briefly questioned by police earlier that day. Adcock has been compiling a report on logging in PNG for SBS Television's Dateline program.

Logging is a sensitive issue in Papua New Guinea, especially in Western Province where a large number of foreign companies operate and there have been allegations of extensive corruption.

Adcock had completed filming on her report which investigates these allegations.

Having been refused exit from the country, Adcock sought the assistance of the Australian High Commissioner in Port Moresby.

SBS simultaneously worked with the High Commission and DFAT to resolve the issue.

Adcock's passport was eventually returned to her this morning and she has left PNG - some 48 hours later than planned - to return to Australia.

* Bronwyn Adcock's report can be seen on Dateline on SBS Television on Wednesday, 3 November 2004, at 8.30 pm.

+++niuswire

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH ONLINE
http://www.pmw.c2o.org

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).

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