The Office of the Prime Minister has rejected views carried on the article in Island Sun paper of 16th September 2016 – labelling the Government\’s figure – head as ill-advised.
The Prime Minister\’s Office deem the piece is a skewed and inaccurate perspective by a person who has not substantiated their claims, provided a balanced perspective and failed to offer readers enough evidence in the piece to warrant a news item.
The Prime Minister\’s Press Secretariat says, just by going through the article, the author got the facts all muddled up on the nature of meetings which Prime Minister Sogavare attended in Hawaii weeks ago.
These include – the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders (PICL), The Pacific Ocean Summit (POS), organised and funded by IUCN and the Pacific Islands Coalition for West Papua Discussions with Pacific leaders
The reaction states, it is important that our good readers be properly informed that the Hon. Prime Minister did not make a presentation at the main IUCN Conservation Congress, but rather participated in the Pacific Ocean Summit (POS) organized by IUCN as a panelist on the first session of the POS, on reducing threats to the ocean.
It says, whilst the media as the fourth estate, and by its very nature, plays the watchdog role concerning the performance of government officials, it is equally important that journalists obtain views of all parties concerned to offer a balanced perspective on issues than ignorantly putting pen to paper.
