O’Neill Government Control of Television and Radio Will Allow An Effective Propaganda Machine
By T Edward
Recent news that Telikom will try to purchase EM-TV and NAU FM 100 is disturbing considering other indications that this government is moving towards creating a one party government. It would be a clear advantage to PNC and Peter O’Neill to control television and radio. His strongest opposition is developing in urban areas and television and radio penetrate the urban population better.
Controlling print media in PNG is less important to the O’Neill government. The 100% RH owned National newspaper already demonstrates that it touches the Prime Minister lightly when the going gets rough for him. The Post Courier is a shadow of what it was 10 or more years ago and largely incapable of doing anything but reporting news, including slightly editing and printing press releases given to them. Like the National, they show little talent anymore at investigating underlying hidden stories that contain the most earth shattering information. Telikom also would have a hard time convincing the rest of PNG that buying PNG print media was a logical extension to its existing operations.
However once Telikom owns EMTV and NAU FM, the Prime Minister’s press unit can feed stories directly to them and they will be used. You may remember last year about the NBC reporters being threatened over what they were reporting. This intimidation works especially well when the institution itself is owned by the government.
From the standpoint of those who watch EMTV or NAU FAM, everyone has the freedom to turn off the radio or television if you don’t like the messages. Few will do that. Most will passively listen to the news items and absorb, they will not question. Government propaganda machines take advantage of that situation to slowly but effectively change people’s minds to think more like how the government wants. Some recent articles on Bougainville described a situation where the autonomous Bougainvillean government is following advise from an Australian consulting company on how to effectively use propaganda messages to change the minds of average Bougainvilleans so that they will support the mine being reopened.
Once a propaganda machine is in place, it is normally used to wear down the remaining respectable institutions. The PNG judiciary is far from respectable but still functions good enough to be at least a temporary obstacle to the government, as recent events have shown. Propaganda can be effective at wearing down public support for the PNG judiciary and the best propaganda technique is to label the judiciary as politicised and against the government. O’Neill has already sent out these messages but would be more effective if those messages could be spread more widely and more often.
Because PNG never had to fight for its independence, the citizens of PNG have little appreciation for basic freedom of the media and of free speech. They don’t see any of these freedoms as being sacred rights. Also, the purpose of freedom of speech and freedom of the media has always been to protect minority, unusual, even offensive viewpoints from being silenced or eliminated.
Only the true intellectuals in PNG who are hit hard by the changes towards dictatorship and are most likely to rebel. These are the rare people who move societies forward anywhere in the world and are the sources of great innovation and progress. There are very few such people in PNG and most who call themselves intellectuals do not fit the definition. Nearly all the true PNG intellectuals have had at least part of their schooling overseas. Some have already left PNG in disgust at the overall national narrow-mindedness and lack of serious national debate about almost everything.
A dictatorship in PNG could easily threaten into silence, exile, control or eliminate that 1% intellectual elite of the population quite easily after it takes control the media. Political propaganda, properly structured, has and can turn a brainwashed national population against their own intellectuals. The government wins and continues to firmly establish its control over the minds of the people.
Expect the O’Neill government to make a crafty attempt to control the social media at the upcoming session of parliament by passing restrictive laws, as a first step to silencing PNG intellectuals. Blogger Martyn Namarong is an example of a true intellectual who was intimidated many months ago into closing down his blog and expect more such instances after this session of parliament.
Recent news that Telikom will try to purchase EM-TV and NAU FM 100 is disturbing considering other indications that this government is moving towards creating a one party government. It would be a clear advantage to PNC and Peter O’Neill to control television and radio. His strongest opposition is developing in urban areas and television and radio penetrate the urban population better.
Controlling print media in PNG is less important to the O’Neill government. The 100% RH owned National newspaper already demonstrates that it touches the Prime Minister lightly when the going gets rough for him. The Post Courier is a shadow of what it was 10 or more years ago and largely incapable of doing anything but reporting news, including slightly editing and printing press releases given to them. Like the National, they show little talent anymore at investigating underlying hidden stories that contain the most earth shattering information. Telikom also would have a hard time convincing the rest of PNG that buying PNG print media was a logical extension to its existing operations.
However once Telikom owns EMTV and NAU FM, the Prime Minister’s press unit can feed stories directly to them and they will be used. You may remember last year about the NBC reporters being threatened over what they were reporting. This intimidation works especially well when the institution itself is owned by the government.
From the standpoint of those who watch EMTV or NAU FAM, everyone has the freedom to turn off the radio or television if you don’t like the messages. Few will do that. Most will passively listen to the news items and absorb, they will not question. Government propaganda machines take advantage of that situation to slowly but effectively change people’s minds to think more like how the government wants. Some recent articles on Bougainville described a situation where the autonomous Bougainvillean government is following advise from an Australian consulting company on how to effectively use propaganda messages to change the minds of average Bougainvilleans so that they will support the mine being reopened.
Once a propaganda machine is in place, it is normally used to wear down the remaining respectable institutions. The PNG judiciary is far from respectable but still functions good enough to be at least a temporary obstacle to the government, as recent events have shown. Propaganda can be effective at wearing down public support for the PNG judiciary and the best propaganda technique is to label the judiciary as politicised and against the government. O’Neill has already sent out these messages but would be more effective if those messages could be spread more widely and more often.
Because PNG never had to fight for its independence, the citizens of PNG have little appreciation for basic freedom of the media and of free speech. They don’t see any of these freedoms as being sacred rights. Also, the purpose of freedom of speech and freedom of the media has always been to protect minority, unusual, even offensive viewpoints from being silenced or eliminated.
Only the true intellectuals in PNG who are hit hard by the changes towards dictatorship and are most likely to rebel. These are the rare people who move societies forward anywhere in the world and are the sources of great innovation and progress. There are very few such people in PNG and most who call themselves intellectuals do not fit the definition. Nearly all the true PNG intellectuals have had at least part of their schooling overseas. Some have already left PNG in disgust at the overall national narrow-mindedness and lack of serious national debate about almost everything.
A dictatorship in PNG could easily threaten into silence, exile, control or eliminate that 1% intellectual elite of the population quite easily after it takes control the media. Political propaganda, properly structured, has and can turn a brainwashed national population against their own intellectuals. The government wins and continues to firmly establish its control over the minds of the people.
Expect the O’Neill government to make a crafty attempt to control the social media at the upcoming session of parliament by passing restrictive laws, as a first step to silencing PNG intellectuals. Blogger Martyn Namarong is an example of a true intellectual who was intimidated many months ago into closing down his blog and expect more such instances after this session of parliament.
