Media

There is considerable diversity within Vanuatu’s media landscape and reporting is not dominated by any political perspective. Commercial media frequently publishes corruption related stories, although reporting tends to be superficial. Media is also active in relaying government press releases, which serves to inform the public on governance issues and activities. However, media faces a number of challenges in being able to fulfil its “watchdog” role within the national integrity system. There are a limited number of qualified and experienced journalists. Intimidation of journalists occurs regularly. Cultural factors hinder the criticism of leaders. There is no freedom of information law. Licensing laws potentially allow for the Minister in charge to impose restrictive conditions on broadcast activities. All of these factors contribute to an environment which discourages investigative journalists. Internal governance is also weak. Whilst there is a voluntary code of media ethics there is no media regulatory body that can enforce ethical standards and practices. As a result there is no way to ensure that transparency, accountability and integrity mechanisms contained within this code affect media practices