REVIEW: Gaining the edge in the timber furore

Review of The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Pacific Island Affairs, Vol 9 No1. Special Issue

Abstract

Review of The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Pacific Island Affairs, Vol 9 No1. Special Issue: 'Logging the South-western Pacific: Perspectives from Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.' Edited by Kathleen Barlow and Steven Winduo. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

Too often reporters become captivated either to the logging company developers, or the non-government organisations campaigning for conservation. Whoever mounts the best public relations campaign for the moment gets the ear of the press. And too often it is the forestry industry, with its better PR resources, that has the edge. Few Pacific journalists  ask the hard questions, or dig deeper. Journalism by the press release and rhetoric is the general rule.