News Corp is not supporting a boycott of Nauru’s Pacific Islands Forum despite the ABC being banned from covering the event.
The Nauru government banned ABC from attending and covering the forum, citing the broadcaster’s ‘bias and false reporting’ as its motivation.
The ban would impact the pool of journalists, cameraman and photographers slated to attend the event.
A tweet from the press gallery president David Crowe on Wednesday addressed the boycott, which stated, “The decision by the Government of Nauru to pick and choose the journalists who cover the Pacific Islands Forum is an appaling restriction on press freedom.”
A further statement from the Press Gallery on the Nauru ban on the ABC.
If the ABC is banned, the pool should not go. pic.twitter.com/gRLQloweE4
— David Crowe (@CroweDM) July 4, 2018
Despite the support of Fairfax Media and the Australian Associated Press, The Australian managing editor Helen Trinka as well as The Daily Telegraph political editor Sharri Markson have both come out against the boycott.
“There will be a camera operator, an AAP reporter and an AAP photographer. We believe it is essential that any trips by our prime minister should be covered by Australian journalists so we do not support a boycott,” Trinka said.
Meanwhile, Markson posted this a tweet calling the boycott “ludicrous”.
News Corp does not support this ludicrous ban by the press gallery on covering a PM's trip to Nauru simply because an ABC cameraman cannot go. So, you can read all the news from the trip in News Corp papers, like @dailytelegraph and @australian but no where else. pic.twitter.com/WObnyW6oE0
— Sharri Markson (@SharriMarkson) July 4, 2018
Speaking on the ban and boycott, ABC news director Gaven Morris said, “The ABC does not intend to vacate our position in the media pool covering the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru.
“The Nauruan government should not be allowed to dictate who fills the positions in an Australian media pool.
“It can hardly claim it is ‘welcoming the media’ if it dictates who that media will be and bans Australia’s public broadcaster.”
The Republic of Nauru shared a statement on the ban on Twitter, which stated, “The Australian media do not decide who enters Nauru.”
Statement Re: Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and ABChttps://t.co/8tL7VMo4Uf
— Republic of Nauru (@Republic_Nauru) July 3, 2018
