Commentary

NZ media's lab test results spell bad news

COMMENTARY: By Gavin Ellis, Knightly Views publisher
Three primary indicators of the health of New Zealand news media are being published this week and, if the first is anything to go by, the industry needs to be moved to the Intensive Care Unit.

AUT’s JM&D Trust in News Survey, the Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer, and the annual breakdown of advertising spend by the Advertising Standards Authority are all due this week.

ABC 2024: Battle of wills over ideologies

COMMENTARY: By Lee Duffield
Dr Lee Duffield, a veteran of ABC journalism, former journalism academic and APMN member, has been appraising the organisation and its work. He has described one old ideology fast disappearing, a conservative aversion to new ideas and any airing of conflict in society; and two main ideologies currently in force: one a professional ideal saying the ABC must stick to instructions to be a broad church for…

Indonesian military apologies fail to mask the harassment, gagging of Papuan leaders

COMMENTARY: By Ronny Kareni
Since the atrocious footage of the suffering of an indigenous Papuan man reverberates in the heart of Puncak by the brute force of Indonesia’s army in early February, shocking tactics deployed by those in power to silence critics has been unfolding.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the plight of the leaders of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Markus Haluk and Menase Tabuni. Their…

West Papuan wounds of suffering – diplomatic pressure on Indonesia needed urgently

COMMENTARY: By Ronny Kareni
Recent videos depicting the barbaric torture of an indigenous Papuan man by Indonesian soldiers have opened the wounds of West Papua’s suffering, laying bare the horrifying reality faced by its people.

We must confront this grim truth — what we witness is not an isolated incident but a glaring demonstation of the deep-seated racism and systematic persecution ravaging West Papuans every single day.

Human rights defenders that the…