Fiji has submitted a bid to host the Eighth Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) media summit in 2026.
PINA board member and Fiji Times editor in chief Fred Wesley confirmed this following a meeting of PINA board members in Niue.
Currently attending the Seventh Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) Media Summit, Wesley said Fiji wanted to host the next meeting.
“We had our board meeting today (Sunday) and there were a couple of decisions that were made and the big one was that Fiji wants to host the next PINA Summit in Savusavu,” he said.
“This is going to be a unique experience for delegates that will be coming across to Fiji which is something we are really looking forward to.”
Wesley said PINA played an important role in developing journalists across the region.
“PINA was part of our discussions back home when we are discussing the decision to repeal the MIDA Act.
“They have also been part of initiatives and programs that involve the development of media organisations and journalists. They have been especially focused on the development of your journalists. The training of young people coming into the industry and empowering the journalist so that at the end of all of this they continue to uphold our values of journalism.”
Media professionals from across the Pacific are in Niue for the Seventh Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) Media Summit.
Delegates from countries such as Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Australia and New Zealand are attending the week-long event which was officially opened by the Niuean Assembly speaker Hima Douglas.
Speaking on the importance of the summit, Fiji Media Association general-secretary Stanley Simpson said PINA was an important institution for media and journalists across the region.
“The PINA Summit especially is very important for setting directions and discussing and creating awareness about issues that we face,” said Simpson.
“There are a lot of issues that many media across the Pacific face. It has not always been an easy journey because of the challenges that we’ve faced but for us it is about building solidarity.”
He said he was looking forward to the discussions that would be held during the summit.
“For this upcoming summit I am really looking forward to addressing the landscape that we are faced with including the new ships that are sailing through the horizons like the new technologies that are coming and basically how we keep our values as journalists in the face of all of this.”
PINA manager and organising committee member Makereta Komai said there were a few key issues that the summit would focus on
“Some of the main ones we are looking at is obviously press freedom. There’s a lot of issues surrounding press freedom and for the Fijian media they lived with that for many years,” said Komai.
“The other challenge of the geo-political interests and influences that come with it and to see if the big powers that are in the region are influencing our work.”
The theme of the event is “Charting a Resilient Future: Navigating Media Freedom, Artificial Intelligence and Geo-Political Interests.”.
The Seventh Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) Media Summit ends on 26 September.
