Vanuatu sees a press revival

Books

By Karen Mangnall

VANUATU’S birthday month in July was an occasion to run up the flag to welcome two new publications on that country. Weighing in at a hefty 280 pages, Vanuatu: 10 Years of Independence is the semi-official record of Vanuatu’s immediate history since 1980, as well as those threads from the past which continue to influence events today.

It is a handsome book of the coffee table genre. With chapters ranging from Custom and Religion to Social Policies, or from Land Tenure to Primary Industry and The Future, it succeeds as a basic introduction to Vanuatu. It also trans mits the obvious pride in the country’s achievements felt by the Government-run editorial panel. At the back is a very useful calendar of events since 1980.

However, books written by a com mittee tend to be born as piebald zebras, and Vanuatu is no exception. The book lacks that written spark, the anecdotes and personal profiles, to complement

Philippe Metois’ wonderful photographs.

The text, although well-edited from contributions by various Vanuatu ex perts, is too impersonal.

The three languages English, French and Bislama contribute to the book’s length and some of its unavoidable design faults. Reading the text, three columns each of a different language, is

like following tram tracks down the page and makes it difficult for the text and pictures to meld as they should. And a book with this amount of detail, sufficient to qualify it as a basic reference tool, needs an index.

Editorial chair woman Grace Molisa says the book was one of those last minute brainwaves. “I would have liked to do more with it but there wasn’t time.” Perhaps in future we can look forward to some

smaller, single-language versions by a name writer who can inject some of Vanuatu’s special personality.

In the meantime, Vanuatu will grace any coffee table or book shelf. It’s published for the Vanuatu Government by Other People Publications of Australia and is selling for 4000 vatu a copy.

When Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Walter Lini was bearded recently by an Australian journalist on the subject to State control of the media, he cited a new

“inde pendent” maga zine as evi dence of me dia free dom.

The label drew some wry

smiles from those who knew the maga zine, Pacific Island Profile , is edited by his sister and Vanua’aku Party MP, Hilda Lini.

It’s a welcome addition to magazine in the region. At independence, Vanuatu

boasted five weekly newspapers, three monthly and several quarterly. Two newspapers continued after 1980 and today only the Government-run Vanuatu Weekly survives. In her inaugural edi torial, Hilda Lini puts this decline down to a fear by foreigners of investing in the media and the claim by ni-Vanuatu that they lack the capital to invest in publish ing. Pacific Island Profile could be termed a “foreign-backed” magazine, with Philippe Cathonnet as publisher. But its content bears the Hilda Lini hallmark.

Written in French and English, with full colour photographs, the first issue in July features the Vanuatu National Council of Women’s 10th anniversary fair in May, the appointment of two Ni- Vanuatu bishbps and several stories on Greenpeace campaign in the Pacific. It also has three good local features: on a soap factory, the South Santo Cattle Projet and the Wan Smolbag Theatre

Company.

However, it does have the faintest whiff of pro-Government sentiments: the essay labelled ‘Economy” turns out to be a rehash of Finance Minister Sela Molisa’s speech to Parliament on appropriations for 1990. We can only hope as it becomes established, Pacific Islands Profile gains new writers with a range of expertise to dig out their own stories.

“Vanuatu needs to develop an effective media service in line with the important role it plays in the region,” notes Hilda Lini elsewhere in her editorial. “But most importantly, the magazine hopes to pro

vide an oppor tunity whereby opinions can be ex pressed ... which seem to be missing in Vanuatu’s only weekly paper”.

With a degree in journalism to her credit, Hilda Lini has the qualifi cations and per sonal clout to keep such a magazine independent. We can only hope Vanuatu’s econ omic revival prompts adver tisers to give Pacific Island Profile the support it needs. □

A shrine on the island of Santo.