Blogger Namorong scoops anti-corruption reporting award
Papua New Guinea blogger Martyn Namorong. Picture courtesy of Mangi Tari Wantok
PAPUA New Guinea blogger Martyn Namorong has been declared overall winner of the 2012 Excellence in Anti-Corruption Reporting Media Awards.
Post-Courier reporter Haiveta Kivia secured an award for the print category and EMTV’s Mickey Kavera for television.
While there were no entries for the radio category, the judging panel was extremely impressed with the calibre of entries in the other three categories and would like to congratulate all those who entered. The entries were judged on four criteria: local impact, future impact, content and journalistic merit.
“The various entries reported on corruption in the government, logging industry, health system; at the national level and the provincial and local levels. They demanded the truth from those in power, and held power to account. It was a really tough decision,” noted UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative David McLachlan-Karr.
Overall Winner, blogger Martyn Namorong, investigated the hearings of the Commission of Inquiry in Special Purpose Agriculture Business Leases (SABL) in the East Sepik Province on his blog the Namorong Report.
The awards were sponsored by the UNDP in partnership with the British High Commission, Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG), Business Against Corruption Alliance (BACA), and ABC-NBC Media for Development Initiative. The sponsors congratulated the winners of the awards.
“Martyn provided three compelling reports that put the reader at the heart of the story. He revealed corrupt practice at the community level, and raised awareness of the impacts of corruption over an extended period of time. His reports were balanced and demonstrated excellent investigative journalism and research skills,” said McLachlan-Karr.
As Overall Winner, Mr Namorong will go on a two-week study tour to Australia in February 2013. He will meet with leading investigative journalists in Sydney and Melbourne, including the patron of the awards Sean Dorney, and members of civil society organizations committed to exposing corruption. All three winners will receive brand new laptops at an awards ceremony to be held next month.
The 2012 Excellence in Anti-Corruption Reporting Media Awards support the media’s role as a watchdog by encouraging individual journalists in PNG to use their position in society to report, expose and combat corruption. The awards hope to expose stories that show how corruption negatively impacts on the achievement of the MDGs in PNG and stories that clearly show the impact of corruption at the grassroots and community levels.