Loko: New media needed
The National, Monday, May 2, 2011
By ANCILLA WRAKUALE
ONLY 2.3% of Papua New Guineans have access to the internet, Telikom chief executive officer Peter Loko said.
Loko said the country’s pursuit of new media was far from reaching its target of giving access to 20% of the population by 2015 as stipulated under the medium term development goals.
New media refers to the use of information communication technology, internet to access information, news and entertainment.
Examples include social network groups such as Facebook, Twitter and blog sites.
Speaking last Friday at the Media Freedom week opening breakfast, Loko said the availability of the new media in PNG “is still limited, highlighting high illiteracy level, infrastructure and high costs involved in accessing such new paths in communications and technology”.
He said with the use of technology, people living in rural areas could easily read news online on the same day as those in urban centres and buy airline tickets without having to travel long hours or days to the nearest town.
He said the use of VSat and wireless services provided by Telikom were very useful and he urged the people to take responsibility and look after such vital infrastructures.
Loko said that freedom came with responsibility, adding people needed to look after such vital services so money was not wasted on replacing vandalised property but to expand services.
PNG Media Council president Joe Kanekane urged the media to be accurate and objective in its reporting to make sure that all sources were consulted so it disseminated the correct information to the people.
He said that a key
challenge was for journalists to enforce the code of ethics in their profession.
Media week will consist of a series of events in Port Moresby and runs from April 29 to May 6 to commemorate World Press Day that falls on May 3 annually.
Events for the week include advertisements on media freedom, an opening media breakfast, movie marathon, radio talkback and interviews, music for media freedom festival, school visits and closing media dinner in Lae, Morobe.