Fiji, May 25 -- Fiji Media Association (FMA) General Secretary Stanley Simpson has accused Australia of failing to properly support Pacific media, saying funding has focused more on Australian organisations than helping local newsrooms survive and grow.

Responding to an article published in The Conversation titled Why Australia's cuts to news services in the Indo-Pacific are a failure of soft diplomacy, Simpson said Pacific media organisations had spent years asking for practical support but were repeatedly ignored.

"Too much 'lets help ourselves and give more money to ourselves so we can help the Pacific' and not enough 'let's work with Pacific media so they can help themselves and be our partner.'"

Simpson said he had raised the issu...