In its efforts to continue to support the role of the mainstream media, Transparency International PNG (TIPNG), through its Promoting Anti-corruption and Integrity Strategies (PAIS) project is now enhancing its engagement with the PNG media and Civil Society Organizations.
Over the course of the next ten months, TIPNG will be facilitating a series of engagements with mainstream media and civil society organizations. These engagements will include investigative journalism skills training for reporters, and number of collaborative engagements targeted at fostering a stronger link between media and civil society organizations, through resource sharing and best practice.
As the first of these formal engagements, TIPNG hosted a Media Event to commemorate World Press Freedom Day yesterday (May 3rd, 2021). With the theme for this year being “Information as a public good,” the event will also coincide with the official launch of TIPNG’s inaugural 2021 Investigative Journalism Awards.
The goal of the 2021 Investigative Journalism Awards is to encourage professional journalists to investigate, follow through and expose issues involving corruption and breakdown of governance processes.
“Investigative reporting, is an integral part of journalism and plays a crucial role in bringing corruption to light and fighting against impunity. This makes it absolutely vital to ensuring our government remains a true functioning democracy,” said Mr Aitsi.
“TIPNG is dedicated to supporting the PNG media, as a critical facet of our democracy. To further boost the impact of investigative journalism in PNG we are now rolling out this media engagement series to support capacity building, as well as the establishment of an active coalition on transparent and accountable governance, as well as reliable information networks to compliment the functions of newsrooms around the country,” he said.
The PAIS project is a TIPNG initiative which is funded by the European Union, under the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights. The current media engagement program is one of several TIPNG initiatives targeted at supporting the evolution of an independent and empowered mainstream media sector in PNG.
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