Journalists in Samoa and the Pacific will have a new toolkit to work with when reporting and investigating corruption.

The Pacific Journalists Reporting on Corruption toolkint was launched last week at the Marshall Islands Summit on Democracy: Public Engagement, Communications and the Media, the Pacific Anti-Corruption Journalists Network (PACJN)..

The toolkit is part of PACJN’s efforts to support Pacific journalists to strengthen their investigative journalism and anti-corruption reporting through more effective engagement with the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) and the Pacific regional anti-corruption roadmap, the Teieniwa Vision.

PACJN is supporting four experienced investigative journalists to participate in the Summit and a four-day pre-summit training for North Pacific journalists along with a session on Teieniwa Vision and using the new toolkit as part of PACJN’s media strengthening programme, implemented by the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) with support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and New Zealand Aid Programme.

“PACJN is delighted to be working with the Pacific Media Institute’s Summit on Democracy in Majuro this week and share the expertise of our anti-corruption journalists who have worked with the toolkit author, Kiribati journalist Rimon Rimon, to strengthen Pacific investigative reporting,” said Solomon Islands journalist and PACJN coordinator Gina Kekea.

Kekea said PACJN is looking forward to sharing the toolkit with other journalists in the Pacific as well as their experiences from the Summit.  

“PACJN members, veteran Tongan Journalist Kalafi Moala and Fiji investigative journalist, Anish Chand are here in Majuro also sharing their experiences in reporting on corruption in the Pacific, particularly from their home countries’ perspectives,” said Ms Kekea.

PINA also welcomed the initiative of North Pacific journalists to connect the media’s communication work to the strengthening of democracy.

“PINA has seen a marked increase in the quantity and quality of significant anti-corruption reporting and investigations being carried out since we helped establish PACJN, with journalists also broadening their work to report on the need for freedom of information, whistleblower protection and democratic engagement of the whole community,” said Makereta Komai, Managing Editor of PINA.

“This toolkit and the ongoing capacity building of PACJN through the Building the Capacity of Pacific Media to Report on Anti-Corruption project helps put the work of individual Pacific journalists into the regional push to counter corruption in all its forms,” said Marie Pegie Cauchois, UNODC Pacific Anti-Corruption Adviser.

The Building the Capacity of Pacific Media to Report on Anti-Corruption project grant to PINA is administered by UNODC through the UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project (UN-PRAC), supported by the New Zealand Aid Programme.