Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Indonesian double standards over press freedom
Indonesian double standards over press freedom endanger safety of Papuan journalists
A Papuan journalist speaking at a "Free press in West Papua" rally parallel to UNESCO WPFD2017 in May. Image: David Robie/PMC
Wednesday, November 29,
2017
Item: 10035
JAKARTA (Media Asia/Pacific Media Watch): West Papua and repression against Papuan journalists has featured in the latest edition of Media Asia research journal in a series of special reports about journalist safety at the UNESCO 2017 World Press Freedom Day conference in May.
The abstract of the article, by Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie, says:
It was ironical that the most evocative demonstration of freedom of the press in Indonesia since the draconian Suharto era two decades ago was also given a global black mark for attempting to “gag” free discussion over violations on its own geopolitical doorstep.
Indonesian hospitality was widely praised for the four-day efforts in hosting World Press Freedom Day 2017, yet both Jakarta and UNESCO officials were acutely embarrassed over events in the easternmost West Papuan region.
Four days before the WPFD event got under way on April 30, prominent Papuan journalist Victor Mambor, editor-in-chief of Tabloid Jubi and a former chairperson of the West Papuan chapter of the Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (Alliance of Independent Journalists) between 2010 and 2016, had warned in the New Internationalist that Indonesian double standards had imposed a silence over West Papua.
Even a Papuan protest outside the Jakarta Conference Centre venue on World Press Freedom Day itself was kept at the margins, ensuring most of the 1,500 journalists, media academics and communication policy makers from 90 countries were unaware of the shocking press and human rights violations that continue almost daily in the Melanesian provinces of Papua and West Papua (collectively known as “West Papua” in South Pacific nations).
ends
UN News: Ceasefire The Only Way To End Killing And Injuring Of Children In Gaza
ICHRP: US-Japan-Philippines Trilateral Summit Makes The Philippines A Battlefield For US-China Conflict
East West Center: Environmental Journalist Alexander Kaufman Receives East-West Center’s Inaugural Melvin M.S. Goo Writing Fellowship
Compassion in World Farming: Octopus Farm Must Be Stopped, Say Campaigners
UN News: Shipwreck Tragedy Off Djibouti Coast, Drone Attacks Continue At Ukraine Nuclear Plant, Madagascar Cyclone Update
UN News: Aid Lifeline Reaches Sudan's Darfur Region In Bid To Avert ‘Hunger Catastrophe’