21 Sep 2012

Samoa publisher criticises PACMAS

6:42 am on 21 September 2012

The former Pacific Islands Media Association president has criticized the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme or PACMAS over the disapproval of his application for assistance.

Apulu Lance Polu, publisher of Talamua online, questioned PACMAS' Programme management group on conflict of interest in the decision making process for his application.

He also says the Samoan media has been marginalized while the organisation holds this week series of trainings and workshops in Apia.

He added having a major media owner sitting in the board that decides on accepting or rejecting applications from its competitors will always be seen as a conflict of interest.

The chief executive officer of the Samoa Broadcasting Limited, Galumalemana Faiesea Lei Sam, is a member of PACMAS' Programme management group.

Galumalemana says Apulu's criticism is baseless.

"It must be remembered that I don't make those decisions by myself, the decisions that were made by PACMAS' management group, so it's a very unfair complaint, I think it's baseless."

Galumalemana says the decisions made by the group were based on merits.