Marape furious over report

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Tuesday December 17th, 2013

 FINANCE and Education Minister James Marape is surprised and angry with the way a story regarding his referral to the Ombudsman Commission relating to the Unesco PNG office was presented on a front-page of a newspaper.

He said the story in the Business Review was poor reporting.

 Marape said he was also surprised to learn of the referral through the media regarding work-releated issues involving international agency Unesco.

“Firstly, I would like to condemn the manner in which the newspaper did take my story and fell short of ethical reporting by not cross checking with me before giving a negative front-page title of me being referred,” he said.

Marape said while news agencies had the constitutional right to run stories as they saw fit, it was ethical journalism to get the other side, especially when a character was  brought into question.

“Lately, I have been a victim of numerous erroneous allegations both on social and now print media initiated by political opponents to discredit my reputation. 

“I have engaged lawyers to bring those responsible to prove their allegations in court and seek for damages to reputation.

“I hold closely to my heart my brand name James Marape, which belongs to my people of Tari-Pori,” he said.