Neu: 2002-03-16 Contents of this issue:
1. Time Change 2. Judgement Sought 3. Whitewash Claim 4. Expose Scandals ======================================================================== March 16th, 2002 1. Time Change: Daylight saving in New Zealand is over. Kiwis turned back their clocks by an hour last night as winter approaches.Niue is now an hour ahead of New Zealand. 2. Judgement Sought : A simmering row between the Niue Public Service Commission and the Niue Government is heading to the High Court of Niue. Commission chairman Maru Talagi said an ex parte application for a declaratory judgement confirming the independence of the commission has been placed before the Court. The commission which is the employing agency of the government is established by Article 64 in the island's Constitution and its three members are appointed by the Cabinet for three years. The matter will go before the Niue Chief Justice Norman Smith and a decision is likely within three weeks. 3. Whitewash Claim: Niue Opposition MP Mrs O'Love Jacobsen has been reported on Radio NZ International as saying the commission of inquiry into e mail and internet services on the island is a political whitewash. She expressed concern that the commission visited Niue only weeks before a general election was scheduled. Mrs Jacobsen told the commission, headed by NZ Judge David Ongley, that in 1999 she and other Cabinet Ministers fully supported a memorandum of understanding signed between the government and the internet users society regarding the administration of the dot NU top level domain name. She said Mr William Semich of the US had assured the Cabinet he would pay any set up or running costs for the internet and e mail services and that the government and residents of Niue would not have to pay for connectivity. She said the society had paid $10,000 a month for the satellite frame relay link between Niue and New Zealand, had maintained equipment, and the service had not cost the country a dollar. Mrs Jacobsen said the society had also contributed to the local community by supporting health and education projects. On the matter of a percentage of funds being put into community projects Mrs Jacobsen said she was satisfied with what she understood to be assistance on a "voluntary" basis based upon a percentage of registrations of domain names. Mrs Jacobsen said she was not really concerned about how much profit the society or its marketing company made. She said Niue got an internet and e mail service free and that's a lot better than some other projects where overseas people came in and wanted big loans from the government then abandoned projects. Former Minister of Telecommunications Terry Coe told the commission he had never heard of the internet before an approach was made to government in 1999. He was surprised to learn that the top level country code had been available long before then and queried why the director of telecommunication had not raised the matter with him. "The director was attending regular overseas meetings with leaders in telecommunications but never mentioned anything to me about the internet nor the existence of the dot NU domain name," said Mr Coe. The director of telecommunications Richard Hipa said prior to 1998 he did not know much about the internet and denied being told by a government employee that the domain name was available and telecoms should seek advice on obtaining the delegation. 4. Expose Scandals: Journalists should expose political corruption, scandals and unethical practices by politicians so that people are aware and make the right choices in elections. So said Fr Jan Czuba, president of Papua New Guinea's Divine Word University, during a week-long election reporting workshop at the university in Madang. The British Government funded the workshop in co-ordination with the Thomson Foundation of Wales and the Papua New Guinea Media Council. It is part of efforts to prepare journalists for covering the coming Papua New Guinea general election. Fr Jan told participants: "It is through activities such as this workshop that you will become prepared." The trainers were British editor Graham Jones, from the Thomson Foundation, and local trainer Francis Damien, from the PNG Media Council. Participants were 11 Communication Arts students at Divine Word University and 20 working journalists from radio, television and print media. "In-depth reporting is crucial when reporting on important issues, " Mr Jones said. He said it was important to simplify complicated issues for the benefit of ordinary people. Mr Jones added that when new politicians are elected it is important to know about new personalities and it is the journalists' responsibility to seek them out. - (PINA Nius Online). __END__
