PUBLIC relations officers working for Pacific prime ministers have been urged to give mainstream journalists greater access to leaders and official overseas engagements to ensure balanced reporting.
Speaking at the PINA Summit in Savusavu on Thursday, National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Papua New Guinea executive director Rose Amos said PR officers played an important role in connecting political leaders with the mainstream media.
“The PR officers of the prime ministers are very important people,” Amos said.
“Your job is to connect the mainstream to our leaders. So when you have a trip coming up for a prime minister to officiate at an international event, you invite the mainstream journalists and media to come with you.”
Amos said journalists should be given the opportunity to travel with leaders so they could report directly from events, conduct interviews and provide independent analysis.
“They are on the ground doing their journalism work, doing their interviews and doing an analysis of the event and interviewing people from both sides,” she said. “And doing a balanced story for the audience back home.”
Amos said she had seen instances where PR officers travelled with prime ministers and deputy prime ministers without including mainstream journalists in official delegations.
National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Papua New Guinea executive director Rose Amos at the PINA Summit in Savusavu yesterday. Picture: ELENA VUCUKULA
