Suddenly, Newspapers Abound

To be sure, the roots of the FSM's fledgling private newspaper industry remain shallow: Most of the papers are operated by part-timers, who have full-time jobs to pay their bills, whipping out their papers twice a month by working weekends and evenings. Prior to the appearance of the now-five year old Kaselehlie Press, the FSM's experience with papers was mainly talk by people threatening to launch a paper or, occasionally, a paper actually starting, only to become a past tense quicker than you can say "pass me another Bud."

In the mid-1990s, Canadian Sherry O'Sullivan put out what at that time was the longest-lived paper in Pohnpei, the FSM News. It's relentless and frequently one-sided assaults on FSM and state officials for alleged wrongdoing made for entertaining reading, but didn't do much for planting the roots of long-term transparency in government or journalism. The FSM government's answer to the "problem" was simply not renewing her visa when it expired, and her forced exit meant the end of the FSM News.

Independently published newspapers have sprouted up in the FSM in recent months like never before. Da Rohng (above left) is Pohnpei's second paper, while the Micronesian Alliance is a joint Kosrae/Chuuk publication.

The Marshall Islands Journal even tested the Pohnpei publishing waters in the early 1990s, combining FSM-focused articles in its paper and distributing in Pohnpei. But that, too, was a relatively short-lived venture.

Each issue that the Pohnpei-based and focused Kaselehlie Press publishes sets a new record for longevity. It's an every-two-week publication that isn't heavy on controversy, a reflection both of a lack of experience of the editorial team and an environment where there is little history of transparency in government operations.

But if the Press is somewhat staid in its reporting, the first issue of Da Rohng intends to compensate and then some. Its front page features a story on a local government official being impeached by his council and an audit critical of the handling of money by Micronesian Games organizers in 2002. The paper is being published and edited by local attorney Martin Jano and for good measure the inaugural issue carries a page two story about Governor Johnny David refusing Jano's request for a pardon after he was sentenced to serve three months in jail for possession of a gun without a permit. Jano prepared most of the first issue of the paper from his jail cell in Pohnpei, publishing the first issue shortly after his late-December release.

In contrast to the Press, Da Rohng includes many stories in Pohnpeian language and Jano indicated his plan to publish weekly-though since all of the other papers in the islands are every-two-week affairs, time will tell if he can sustain the pace.

Preceding Da Rohng by about four months, the Sinlaku Sun Times kicked off publication in neighboring Kosrae. It is edited by Olivier Wortel, an occasional Pacific Magazine correspondent. In recent weeks, the Sun Times has gone into "joint venture" with the Chuukago Shark, a paper that was being put out in Chuuk by George Hauk, and is now called The Micronesian Alliance. A 12-page tabloid, the Alliance on a recent front page carried news on an impeachment resolution against the Chuuk governor, plans for a constitutional convention in Kosrae, and a dance contest and basketball showdown between Xavier High School and Saramen Academy in Chuuk. The fifth paper, the second-longest currently running paper in the FSM is the Yap Networker, the only paper in the FSM published and edited by a woman, Berna Gorong, Pacific Magazine's Yap correspondent.

The papers in the FSM may be short-staffed and run by busy people with unrelated full-time jobs. But they are not short on energy-a key ingredient to making a go of private media in an environment largely untouched by non-government media.

The writer, Pacific Magazine's contributing editor, is also editor of the Marshall Islands Journal.