Ms. Lorraine Franz, Chief of the Bureau of Archives and Media under the Ministry of State, clarified a statement regarding the upgrade of the Palau government media radio facility and apologized to local independent media for an “unintended” misstatement on her part.
In an online article posted last year on the South Pacific Community website, Ms. Franz was quoted saying, “We are moving quickly and disseminating information faster. This is enabling us to compete with other private broadcasters.” The statement referred to improvements Palau government public radio ECO Paradise FM had received through a climate change adaptation and resilience project grant.
Speaking to Island Times, Ms. Franz said that the word “compete” she used was the wrong terminology and was not her intended meaning. She meant to say that the upgrades of their outdated equipment have improved their capacity to the same as the private media capacity.
“It is not in competition with private media. It complements the ongoing partnership between Palau Eco Paradise and the local media’s work on climate-change-related disasters and climate-change awareness radio programs.
“I apologize to local media companies for not clarifying my statement in the article. We are not competitors; we are partners with local media. That is how we see our public radio service,” expressed Franz.