Chairman to table three-day inquiry report in Parliament

By JESHER TILTO
THE Parliamentary Committee on Communications chairman Marsh Narawec said a report from the three-day inquiry would be tabled in Parliament later.
The committee’s inquiry into the role and impact of the country’s media industry ended yesterday.
“With the information gathered, the committee will prepare a report with recommendations to be presented in Parliament.
“If there needs to be policy or legislative changes, the responsible custodian of the legislation and policy will take it upon themselves to ensure those recommendations are implemented,” Narawec said.
PNG Media Council president Neville Choi said the inquiry provided a platform for many in the media industry to share their views.
“For a long time, there hasn’t been such a forum that puts the industry with the Government in the same room to have this kind of exchange,” he said.
“The conversations over the last few days has given individual organisations the chance to portray what they do.
“There is a general acceptance that there has to be some sort of guidelines that we all need to adhere to.”
University of PNG acting vice-chancellor Dr Cecilia Nembou said the primary and secondary education system resulted in the poor performance of students at the tertiary level. On journalism, she said this was reflected in the students’ output in mainstream media newsrooms, particularly on their command of the English language.
Senior journalist Scott Waide agreed that the media industry’s standards had dropped due to the poor state of the country’s education system.
“The problem is not the media, the problem is with the broken education system,” he said.