A French caning

for the Australian press

The Vila weekly Nabanga, published in French and Bislama, carried in its December 22 issue a sting ing attack on Australian press treatment of recent events in the New Heb rides.

Nabanga’s director, Jean Massias, leads off by saying; ‘New Hebridean news appears only rarely in the Australian press. For the mass of Australians the New Hebrides archipelago is a distant group of islands far removed from the centre of their concerns.

Only the monthly RIM car ries in each issue an article, or several articles, devoted to this country. ‘However, on the occas ion of the elections of November 14, 1979, sev eral newspapers sent to the spot reporters who, each in his fashion, reported on events. ‘We have received The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Canberra Times, The Australian, The Herald, The National Times, The Financial Re view, as well as a number of despatches from the Australian Associated Press agency. The various reports cover the period November 15-December 1. ‘Reading these articles leaves one dumbfounded at the low level of these dailies with one excep tion. Generally speaking the articles examined seem to have been written by people who are either ill informed or who have gath ered their information from one source only (which amounts to the same thing). All the cliches, all the tired old repetitions, are ponderously present to re mind us of with whom we are dealing. The develop

ment of the political life of the New Hebrides has been highly complicated in the period since 1975, full of turn-arounds, marked by subtle light and shade, re plete with official talks, cor ridor discussions and conversations held in strict privacy. But it appears in these publications as an affair reduced to the crud est of pictures in which the roles are played by English men who are content to let everything go to pot, colonialist Frenchmen who maintain bands of planters who are armed to the teeth, and ready at any moment to impose their rule, French speaking Melanesians who are a bit stupid because they speak French (really, I ask you . . .) and good

English-speaking Melan

esians (good because they speak English and worship a God who replies to them in the same language).

Australia is rarely men tioned, despite the various untoward initiatives of its brilliant representative in Vila who appears some times to overstep a little the bounds laid down by the Vienna Convention [gov erning the behaviour of diplomatic representa tives]. ‘An example of this sim plification of things? In all the 20 articles we have read we have found not a single reference to Gerard Leymang, despite the capi tal and vital role he has played as statesman, nego tiator and conciliator in resolving the crisis!’

With that off his chest, Mr Massias proceeds to a sav age dissection of the artic les of Sydney Morning Herald correspondent Mark Baker (’our old mate’, as he calls him, with heavy sar casm), and AAP’s Tony White.

His ire is particularly and understandably aroused by Baker’s suggestion that the new Vanuaaku Party govern ment is likely to permit the establishment in the New Hebrides of a government in-exile of the Kanak liber ation party in New Caledonia, Palika.

Mr Massias comments; ‘Nowhere is there any ref erence to the formal denial issued by Walter Uni of this false claim which has been widely publicised in the Australian press (see Nabanga 134 of November 21 1979, pi 1): ‘Fr Lini has not promised to support the creation of a government in-exile in the New Heb rides, and he has on several occasions told journalists that he is not convinced that this would be the best or most appro priate way of promoting the interests of the indepen dence movements con cerned.’

There is no doubt that Mr Massias has a point when he comments on the gen eral indifference of the Aus tralian public to New Hebridean affairs (one wonders however if the situation is much different in France). And he has cer tainly uncovered a good number of examples of less-than-responsible jour nalism in the course of his onslaught on the Australian press. So far so good.

But he is on much less secure ground when he widens the attack in pass ages like the following: There is an old law in the world of information which claims that a country gets the press it deserves. If ever that theory began to be proven, we would be most concerned for our neigh bours to the south-west be cause it could mean that Australia is suffering from an inferiority complex. We are not able to discuss further how well-founded such a complex would be.’

And, further on, a little more of the same . . .

Malcolm Salmon