Journalists play vital role during the pandemic: PM

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

JOURNALISTS in the country have played an essential role of information dissemination in keeping the public informed since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.

This was echoed by Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare at the World Press Freedom Day celebration hosted by Media Association in Solomon Islands and its partners.

“Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, journalists continue to play the vital role of disseminating important information to the public.

“As a public good, information plays an important role in helping people to gather facts and be informed on issues that affects their lives, and therefore, information must be accessible to every citizen of this country.

“As a public good with potential for universal reach, information allows us to know our rights and privileges. It also allows us to contribute to good governance and nation building,” Sogavare said.

He encouraged the press and media to do their duty with the utmost professionalism.

“Your credibility depends very much on the confidence and the trust that the public has in you. The government will always support you, and we expect the press and media to discharge their duties in a professional and ethical manner. At the end of the day, it is the people that we serve. As we mark this day, I call on everyone to ensure the information continues to remain a public good,” Sogavare said.

He said media persons as disseminators of information also have the responsibility to make sure information released for public good are not harmful or cause hatred to the society.

“I must also say that the government is grateful to the media outlets who finds the time and space to publish these updates in their papers,” Sogavare said.

Discover more from Theislandsun

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading