29 Sep 2011

PINA Media Summit rescheduled for Fiji after PNG pull-out

12:01 pm on 29 September 2011

The Pacific region's main media body, the Pacific Islands News Association, will host its second Pacific Media Summit in Fiji next March.

Papua New Guinea was meant to host PINA's biennial summit in November but internal wrangles within the country's media association have forced it to renege.

PINA has been at loggerheads with other media groups since its management refused to speak out about the censorship of media by the Fiji interim regime.

But PINA president, Moses Stevens, says holding the summit in Fiji will help promote a return to normal media relations.

"We would like them to be working together for the betterment of the society and media freedom in Fiji. This is why we want to bring the summit to Fiji, to raise our flag there. And we still believe Fiji can turn around and things can come back to normal. We are aware of everything that is going on but we are not running away from the situation. We want to be engaging with them."

PINA president ,Moses Stevens, who says if countries boycott the summit because of the venue that is up to them