Ukraine declining, Gaza raised, forget PNG.

International news largely becomes reality via resident press corps who write it in far off capitals. 

On the current public interest scale of conflicts the Russia-Ukraine War has declined. Ukraine is becoming a forgotten war in part because there's no win in sight, like Afghanistan before the latter's fall. Ukraine boasts a white population. But they speak a heavily accented impenetrable language, that may as well be Russian to English speakers, who live far from Ukraine. 

Ukraine has been replaced as the top international media war by Israel versus the Arab and Iranian worlds. Gaza is being "raised" or razed to the ground in terms of being flattened, by Israeli bombs. Many Israelis speak clear English. Israel's nuclear weapons make Israel a constant American responsibly in the Middle East. Israel maintenance is a thankless task for America, but neglecting Israel might “justify” an Israeli nuclear attack on Iran…The Jewish diaspora, particularly in the US, frequently highlight Israel’s problems, while on the whole, pressuring Washington to forever support Israel. Meanwhile, US Governments attempt to maintain at least a public veneer of even handedness throughout the Middle East. Long term Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was the most influential advocate for Israel during his lobbyist and diplomatic days in America in the 1970s and 80s.

In contrast to the above, goings on in obscure, Melanesian, Papua New Guinea (PNG) are a journalists backwater. PNG is far from world centres of action, although just to the north of Australia. PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, is dangerous for journalists. The small expatriate community, including a tiny press presence, are forced to live in compounds, behind razor wire, “protected” by reluctant guards and under-resourced local police. This is mostly against “Roskal” gangs. 

PNG is a misogynist society where “Big Men” rule and domestic violence is not only common, but many law enforcement officials accept drunkenness as a legal defence in domestic violence cases. Even Witch Burnings are reported. There is luxury for the few who can access government funds and poverty for most.

In all this PNG rarely attracts international media attention. It takes dedication and expertise to cover PNG happenings, influenced heavily by personalities and literally by tribal politics. For Western journalists, inexpensive or free audio-visual feeds are rare in PNG. This is unlike constant video coverage of tragically injured children in Gaza. 

Australian staff journalists might only fly into PNG for a few hours with reliance placed on part-time expatriate citizen journalists. Australia’s Government owned ABC News no longer employs  journalists resident full time in Australia's closest neighbour, PNG. Former ABC journalist Sean Dorney used to be a PNG expert correspondent. But expert journalists can be personally threatened then expelled by the Pacific island governments they are reporting on.

Where this is all going is that PNG is shaping up to be the next target of China’s expanding Pacific sphere of influence. This will be briefly examined later this week.