This blog wins UNESCO/Divine Word University Award for Communication and Development

Speech by Brother Michael McManus at World Media Freedom Day at Divine Word University

I am pleased to announce the winner of this year's UNESCO/DWU award for communication and development.
The winner is Malum Nalu from The National newspaper.
Since the emphasis at today's celebration today is on digital media, we would like to especially acknowledge Malum Nalu's contribution to digital media through his blog site: Malum Nalu blogspot.
His site is updated daily with news of interest to his local and international audience.
It certainly lives up to its aim of promoting PNG and what it has to offer.
He incorporates news written by journalists and comments by visitors from around the world.
The information on his site has been through the professional and ethical filters that apply in his workplace.
One of the problems with blogs is that there are no generally accepted standards of ethical practice, so in many blogs gossip and rumours are portrayed as facts.
We certainly encourage everyone to express their opinions as citizen journalists, but the lack of journalism skills by many writers does not improve the overall quality of the online news content.
We believe that in response to the wonderful opportunities created by the digital media, there is a greater need than ever for competent professional journalists to provide context and analysis of news for
consumers.
Opinion does have its place, but we would like to think that a new professionalism is possible amongst the digital revolution.
Since Malum Nalu is not with us here today, we are happy to present this award digitally, and we now invite him to respond digitally.
Congratulations Malum Nalu.