All media carry a great responsibility

 FREEDOM of the media is enshrined in our national Constitution.

It is the freedom of communication and expression through mediums, including electronic media and published materials. 

In democracies like Papua New Guinea, the media’s job in maintaining equilibrium between truth and public per­ception and in ensuring always to remain just and objective cannot be overstated.

For certain people, including politicians, public perception is almost everything and heavily dependent on portrayal by the media. 

As senior government minister John Pundari rightly stated this week, “A free and open media is central to our democracy.”

PNG’s mainstream media has today taken on an undeclared competitor. In an ideal scenario, social media, via internet applications and the multitude of local blogs must necessarily complement the traditional media.  

Where mainstream newspapers, radio and television are inhibited by situations such as geographical location or censorship and commercial considerations, the social media could be the available option.  

However, recent develop­ments have given rise to criticisms against the abuse of social media in spreading defamatory information, lies and half-truths.

In the absence of any legal control or monitoring of the use of social media, it is open to widespread abuse.  

Where such abuse results in defaming other individuals and public office holders it should be of concern. 

What’s worse, the perpetrators of such abuse sometimes remain anonymous or hide behind pen names, or pseudonyms. 

It is a positive development that the public has come to use social media, which demonstrates that they are knowledgeable ab­out issues of national importance and are technologically savvy.  

There is, however, reason to believe that we need some monitoring mechanism now to avoid serious issues later.

The National Information and Communication Technology Authority has formulated a cyber-crime policy that is now before the National Executive Council for deliberation and, hopefully, will be made law by Parliament.  The proposed legislation will spell out penalties for abuses of social media.

Every Papua New Guinean has the qualified right to broadcast or publish and to take part in a public assembly.  

But that comes with a responsibility as well, which is what is lacking in social media at the moment. 

Keeping tabs on social media is necessary, yet at the same time, we, in the mainstream media, might want to do some soul-searching as well.

Some common questions being asked about the roles of these two strands of media include : 

• Is social media venturing into a grey area where the mainstream media is expected to but is either failing or being restricted by the laws on libel and defamation?
• Are the country’s newspapers, television and radio stations not doing enough for some of their readers who would rather educate themselves by using the freedom provided by the social media? 
• Whose job is it to tell the truth about public issues and controversies? Is it the mainstream media’s role to extract truth from public officials or is it incumbent upon them to provide it? 

Some users of social media have obviously descended below levels of common decency and respect for their fellow citizens and others. 

Such abuse needs to be monitored and that is the big challenge facing NICTA.  

Social media is a vital source of information and education. 

Used correctly and with proper control mechanisms, it can result in positive development for the individual as well as the community at large. 

The public might want to ask whether to take social media seriously as a source of information and education.  

Elsewhere in the world, governments and NGOs have successfully used social media to transmit vital knowledge for social and economic development.

While some work is being done in PNG with social media in that direction, let us hope that it does not thrive on conspiracy theories and is used by people to vent their hatred and malice towards others. 

To this end, we wholeheartedly support Pundari’s statement, “Let us not thrive on publicity and generate sensation on social media.”