Pacific Media Institute works in the North Pacific, mentoring, training and upskilling journalists and public information officers.
By Michelle Curran
Strategic Communications, Pasifika TV
After more than four decades working in journalism, Marshall Islands Journal editor Giff Johnson has a pretty good lay of the land in the North Pacific.
Originally from the United States, Giff relocated to the Marshall Islands in 1984, the same year he had his byline story published in the Journal.
The rest, they say, is history.
“By the end of March 1985, I was named editor of the weekly newspaper, a position I have held since that time, except for a couple of periods of about a year in the early and mid-1990s,” Giff explains.
Forty-plus years later, after authoring several books, continuing to ensure the Marshallese have a trustworthy news source and voice at the table, Giff is focused on advocating for media freedom and building capability, in the North Pacific.
In 2022, Giff, along with Daniel Kramer, the Chief Executive Officer of Six9Too Productions and Power 103.5FM, and stalwart broadcaster Fred J. Pedro established the Pacific Media Institute (PMI).
The non-profit organisation aims to promote independent media and transparency in government in the Marshall Islands as well as neighbouring nations, while advocating for and engaging in media freedom and freedom of expression and supporting the expansion of independent, non-government media.
Giff says a major goal for PMI is to promote training and other initiatives to increase the number and skills of people working in media and the quality of reporting in the Marshall Islands and regionally.
“We first held training workshops in 2022 combining high school and university students with working journalists here in Majuro, and it created a great dynamic,” he says.
“In 2023, we continued building and decided to get into the Public Information Officer (PIO) space these were super well-received as there is very little in-country journalism training in the region.
“What we discovered, is there is no professional development available for PIOs in the region – journalists get invites to conferences and workshops, but these are not aimed at PIOs.”
Giff adds many PIOs, and government press releases are a main source of information for the likes of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Kiribati and Nauru, whereas Palau, the Marshall Islands and the US territories have a small but robust independent media operating.
“Another thing we learned from the workshops, is that most government offices in these countries did not have a communications strategy, so the PIOs felt unprotected, and had no foundation to work from… part of our workshop was providing the PIOs with a communications strategy framework.”
The “cross-pollination” of journalists and PIOs proved popular, with experienced guest trainers from the region, such as photographer Floyd Takeuchi, University of Hawai’i at Manoa Professor Emerita Ann Auman, and managing editor and publisher at Islands Business Samantha Magick, traveling to Majuro and Palau to mentor their Pacific counterparts.
With limited access to journalism courses and media training, PMI takes its role of encouraging the next generation of journalists, seriously.
Giff says journalism is not often considered as a career pathway in North Pacific island nations, but PMI is trying to change that, with future workshops planned this year aimed at getting more young people, especially women, interested in the profession.
Stalwart journalist Giff Johnson is interviewed by mentees at the Pacific Media Institute Summit.
Training more people to advocate for the local voice and story sovereignty is also what drives the stalwart journalist after all these years.
“I would just really like to see more people across the media landscape in the North Pacific.”
Visit the Pacific Media Institute Facebook page for more information.
