Media urged to report fairly

THE media has been encouraged to ensure balanced reporting as it is an important development partner.
Former governor-general Grand Chief Sir Paulias Matane said this during a media conference in Kokopo yesterday.
“If they balance their reporting, many people will begin to realise the important role they play in terms of development,” he said.
He said it was a new year and it was important for the media to evaluate their performance and encourage positive reporting.
Sir Paulias said there was nothing wrong with negative reporting but it was important that the media balanced reports and gave fair coverage of positive and negative issues.
He said more negative stories were being accessed globally which were painting a bad picture of Papua New Guinea.
“I encourage reporters and media officers to make the best reporting this year,” he said.
While congratulating Ila Geno, Sinai Brown and Akipa Miakwe on receiving their titles in the New Year honours list, he urged reporters to be mindful of how they addressed Sir Michael Somare and him.
He said there were many prominent people in the country who had been given the title “Grand Chief” but they had not been officially recognised. They are and called chiefs.
He said Sir Michael and him were the only two people officially recognised as “Grand Chief” and should be addressed correctly in the media.
He said because of their title, it was important that anything they said regarding public issues should be covered by the media as a matter of protocol.
“Even if what we say is old news, report it in the media as part of protocol,” he said.
Sir Paulias said many people in the country were ignorant about issues concerning the nation.
“Is it because they do not have any access to media or is it plain ignorance?” he said.
He called on the public to accept and appreciate issues that affected them and to address issues in whichever way they could.