(Picture: Solomon Islands Opposition MP Hon. Peter Kenilorea Jnr at the first plenary session at the PNIA SUmmit in Honiara-Photo Source- PINA)
By Douglas Saefoa
Senior media professionals in the Pacific region have gathered in Honiara this week for the sixth Pacific Media Summit chaired by the Pacific Islands News Association PINA.
The meetings kicked off on Monday 26 September with two pre-summit workshops. The Summit proper then started on Wednesday 28 September and concluded with a Retreat on 30 September.
Key presentations and discussions were centered on the theme, the digital revolution-turning threat into opportunities for the pacific media.
The discussions that were echoed in the summit gave clear indication that the digital revolution has slowly but critically transformed traditional media norms into new modes of content creation and distribution.
Traditional media channels such as print, radio broadcast and television are slowly becoming obsolete as consumers are switching to more effective, accessible and cheaper means of consuming information on the digital space.
The summit recognized that despite the threats of loosing business or being run over by the endless possibilities in the digital space, a transformative approach in upskilling the current media and communication profession is a necessity.
Grant Sherlock Head of the Australian state-owned media company, ABC’s digital bureau, said the digital revolution has already infiltrated all aspects of information and content distribution across the entire media Industry regionally and globally.
This has forced major brands such as the ABC to upskill its workforce to meet the demands on the digital front.
“Understanding what our audience wants and how they want it is important. In today’s digital age, the demand for content has shifted to the digital space hence, operating in that space needs unprecedented attention and skill, and requires media companies to take the leap and find their footing on that space,” said Grant.
Grant further elaborated at a parallel session on ways in which media houses can improve Digital Content - using mobile website, news app & desktop website'.
Pacific Tenders Managing Director Mr. Rodney Ropukets, also participated as a speaker during a plenary session on the topic ‘expanding content to reach new digital age’.
Mr. Rupokets in his presentation noted that moving into the digital space is a huge challenge especially with the acquisition of new audience.
“Pacific Tenders as an online service understands that Building an online community or audience is prime to understanding what content to deliver: therefore, we have identified a niche market and designed our inbound and outbound marketing plans to best suit our consumers.”
“It is also important to note that Opportunities lies with the growth of Internet Penetration: More Towers we have in the provinces will enable growth of new digital Audiences,” said Rodney.
The meetings concluded on Friday 30 September with the PINA Retreat and Annual General Meeting. More than 70 participants both regionally and locally attended the week, long event in Honiara.
PINA Members whom are media houses and broadcasters include: Broadcasting and Publications Authority (Kiribati), Cook Islands News, Cook Islands TV, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Fiji TV, Fiji Times, Islands Business, Mai TV, Post Courier and Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation.
The Next PINA Summer in 2024 will be hosted in Niue.
More on the recent Summit will be published on the upcoming PT Magazine Issue 11.
Solomon Islands 
Papua New Guinea 
