Year 18 | 11 June 2021

EDITORIAL
ON THE REQUEST TO REMOVE DEBATE TRANSCRIPTS
The Editorial Board

On June 11 the Editorial Board received a request that the transcript of the Minister of Engagement Interview for the June 2021 Cabinet Election be removed from this organisation’s thread on the Gameplay forum, where it had been published as one of three venues maintained for the distribution of our media content. The request argued that "elections are a private regional matter and the opinions that candidates express, while held with the region's interest, will not always be appropriate for prime time television".

This request prompted a productive discussion among the Editorial Board regarding the role of journalism in the community and the prerogatives and privileges of private media within a democratic society. Resulting from this discussion, the Editorial Board has unanimously voted as follows:

• The request is declined and, therefore, the transcript of the Minister of Engagement Interview will not be removed from any venue where it is currently published.
  
• This organisation has, consistent with the right to freedom of the press, discretion to determine the time and place where it publishes its content, without any need to ask permission from, or otherwise notify, any third parties.

The South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN) is, as its name suggests, an independent and privately owned media organisation. Its vision, mission and objectives are its own; they are not dictated by the Government of the South Pacific nor are they accountable to an electorate. The initiatives that are pursued and the content that is written, edited, published and distributed are consistent with the objective of ensuring the growth and development of the Network as the main media alternative within the South Pacific.

In response to the points raised by the request, we address them as follows:

• While content has not often been published on the Gameplay forum, it has still happened in the past, most recently with the publication of 3 Key Insights Ahead of the June 2021 Cabinet Election on 01 June 2021.
  
• Even if this organisation has never published election debates and interviews on the Gameplay forum, the practice is not without precedent within the region. The Southern Journal published its coverage of the November 2015 Cabinet Election on said venue, as was its prerogative as a news organisation.
  
• The invitation to participate in election debates and interviews comes with the logical expectation that full transcripts will be published in those venues that this organisation deems suitable. A cursory review of the coverage of the October 2020 and February 2021 Cabinet Elections will show this to be the case.
  
• The content of election debates and interviews can hardly be considered "logs", which could perhaps be subject to certain privacy concerns. These are discussions held on the record in a public venue. Any expectation that their distribution would be limited to a limited audience is naive and inconsistent with basic principles of journalism.
  
• The distribution of debate and interview transcripts to a foreign audience has no negative effect over the region, just as the publication of a piece that might criticise the government has no negative effect over the region. On the contrary, both are legitimate exercises of the free press that show the vitality of South Pacifican democracy.

This organisation performs a valuable service in its role as one of the foremost media organisations within the South Pacific. It informs the public and seeks to ask difficult questions that might not be asked otherwise. A perfect example of this is A Final Look at the Government before the New Year, which brought to the forefront of public debate the inactivity of the Cabinet at the time. A less obvious example are the election debates and interviews, which promote the confrontation of ideas and help the public see their candidates in real time.

This organisation is not, however, a public utility. It does not answer to any electorate other than its Editorial Board, and it does not seek to advance the interests of any public institution. This does not make SPINN an enemy, it simply makes it an organisation that exercises its right to freedom of the press to its logical consequence: sometimes it will make decisions that some will find disagreeable, and while it will hear those disagreements and consider them fairly, in the end it does not need to comply with them.

In the end, the Editorial Board does hope that this incident will not detract from what it considers to be a good record by SPINN of reporting the news, asking difficult questions and informing the public, particularly as it concerns the ongoing June 2021 Cabinet Election. There is much work to be done, and while not all will disagree with the way it is done, rest assured that the South Pacific Independent News Network will remain as it has always been, a clear reminder of the strength of this region’s commitment to freedom and democracy.

The South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN) is an independent news organisation established in 2003 with the goal of providing good, insightful and timely commentary on regional events for the citizens of the South Pacific. Opinions expressed in this publication do reflect the views of the Editorial Board. The SPINN is not associated with the Government of the South Pacific.

Reply

This organisation is not, however, a public utility. It does not answer to any electorate other than its Editorial Board, and it does not seek to advance the interests of any public institution. This does not make SPINN an enemy, it simply makes it an organisation that exercises its right to freedom of the press to its logical consequence: sometimes it will make decisions that some will find disagreeable, and while it will hear those disagreements and consider them fairly, in the end it does not need to comply with them.

How do you reconcile this with your special access to the public utility that is TSP's Discord? Your ability to post in #announcements and your frequent pinging of the legislator role are special privileges afforded to you that ordinary citizens do not have.

Benevolent Thomas-Today at 11:15 AM
"I'm not sure if Altmoras has ever been wrong about anything."

Reply

How do you reconcile this with your special access to the public utility that is TSP's Discord? Your ability to post in #announcements and your frequent pinging of the legislator role are special privileges afforded to you that ordinary citizens do not have.

Our use of the #announcements channel is not the result of anything untoward or inaccessible to ordinary citizens. It is the result of a mere request for access to the channel and a legitimate need for it. To our knowledge this can be requested by any individual or organisation.

Reply

I applaud the journalistic integrity of the people at SPINN. SPINN was well within its rights to publish the debate and interview transcripts in the NSGP subforum. As a truly independent media organization, SPINN represents an institution that behaves without fear or favor and in the absence of interference by government officials and political candidates in the South Pacific. The independence of SPINN from such interference is sacrosanct, and freedom of the press must remain inviolable. Article III, Section 1 of the Charter makes it abundantly clear that freedom of the press exists in the South Pacific. These rights and freedoms set us apart from other regions that try to undermine such things, and going down this path would run contrary to the regional ethos of the South Pacific.

4× Cabinet minister /// 1× OWL director /// CRS member /// SPSF

My History

Reply