Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka will officially open the eighth Pacific Media Summit in Savusavu on September 22.
The summit will be held at Wasawasa Lodge and is being hosted by the Fijian Media Association (FMA) on behalf of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA).
It returns to Fiji after a 14-year absence and has attracted almost 200 media leaders, journalists, communications specialists, development partners and government representatives from across the Pacific.
FMA general secretary Stanley Simpson said the return of the summit to Fiji was significant given the country’s media environment when it was last held here in 2012.
“The last time the summit was held in Fiji in 2012, we were still living under censorship and some journalists refused to attend,” he said.
Simpson said the Savusavu summit would celebrate the progress made while focusing on strengthening media and democracy in the Pacific.
The summit theme is “Reaching the Remote: Media and Digital Innovation for a Connected Blue Pacific.”
Key discussions will focus on press freedom, media sustainability, climate and disaster reporting, artificial intelligence and digital innovation, public broadcasting funding, independence and inclusive media leadership.
Simpson said the summit came at a critical time for Pacific media as newsrooms grappled with misinformation, disinformation and limited resources.
He said holding the event in Vanua Levu was deliberate, allowing the region’s media community to engage more closely with communities that newsrooms often found difficult to serve.
Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica will represent the Fiji Government at the opening High-Level Panel on September 23.
Papua New Guinea Minister for Information and Communications Technology Robert Naguri will participate in the panel via Zoom, while PINA president Kalafi Moala will deliver a response.
A Pre-COP Climate Change Town Hall will also be held at Nukubalavu Village next Wednesday, giving Northern residents an opportunity to raise climate and environmental concerns with government representatives.
Six pre-summit workshops will be held from September 21-22, covering innovative storytelling, climate change loss and damage, digital innovation, climate corruption and transnational organised crime, ocean issues, and women’s participation in media.
The summit will close on September 25 with the PINA annual general meeting and presentation of a Savusavu Outcome Statement by FMA president Rosi Tamani-Doviverata and Moala.
The event is supported by several development partners, including Australia’s Regional Media Support Fund, PACMAS, the British High Commission, BBC Media Action, the Fiji Government, FCOSS, SPC, SPREP, UNODC and the Waitt Institute.
