DEAR EDITOR, a recent statement from the Prime Minister’s Office called on journalists to uphold media ethics and to always ensure balanced and accurate reporting rather than making speculative assertions.

I fully support the need for truthful reporting and can say that in the past, especially at the time of the onset of the tragic events we have come to know as the ‘ethnic tension,’ many untruthful, racially slanted and border line defamatory reports were filed by two foreign journalist in particular which fell far below the standards expected of their profession.

In my forthcoming autobiography, ‘Cometh the Hour’, I have mentioned these individuals and the damage to the Solomon Islands national security interests their untruthful reports occasioned

The Solomon Islands enjoys a free press, unlike some countries, and the privilege of speaking and writing freely should not be abused.

Yours sincerely

FRANK SHORT