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Pacific Islands Report Ends Its Twenty Year Run

Submitted by PIR Editor on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 11:37

After more than twenty years, the daily Pacific Islands news service provided by the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center will cease. Founded in 1997 and read by thousands across the Pacific Islands and around the world, the Pacific Islands Report ends publication with an archive of well over 100,000 articles. This valuable archive will remain accesible at http://PIReport.org for the foreseeable future. 

The Pacific Islands Report would like to thank our dedicated readers for supporting the website and five-days-a-week email brief. We also want to express our sincere appreciation for those who have partially funded our operations throughout the years including the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, the Matson Foundation, and Marriott Hotels & Resorts.

We want to express our sincere gratitude to the partner media organizations who have allowed us to repackage their content for our complilation website. Without their journalistic integrity and on-the-ground expertise PIR would not have been possible. If you are missing your daily news from across the Pacific we recommend going directly to the source at our various partners. In our view, Radio New Zealand International currently is providing the broadest coverage of the entire region.  

Finally, PIR wishes to recognize all the people who have contributed to the production of PIR over the years (our apologies if we missed anyone):

  • Al Hulsen, Creator and Founding Editor
  • Peter Wagner, Managing Editor
  • Christopher Klutz, Founding Webmaster
  • Scott Kroeker, Webmaster and Editor
  • Titilia Barbour, Production Assistant
  • Mona Nakikei, Production Assistant
  • Craig DeSilva, Assistant Editor
  • Edelene Uriarte, Assistant Editor
  • Daniel Maile, Assistant Editor
  • Cameron Lowry, Assistant Editor
  • Jerry Finin, PIDP Director
  • Sitiveni Halapua, PIDP Director
  • Alfred Tinitali, Student Assistant
  • Winis Map, Student Assistant
  • Mere Tuqiri, Student Assistant
  • Keola Diaz, Student Assisant

 

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Comments

Submitted by Jan Rensel on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 19:21
Warmest thanks to all of you who have provided this wonderful resource, which so many researchers, students, and others have found so informative and useful over the years. I am very sorry to see the end of this service.

Submitted by Richard on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 19:33
Thanks for all the great service. The world will seem like a poorer place. Best wishes to all involved.

Submitted by Matthew Barbee on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 20:37
I am sad to see this publication disappear. It has provided a link to many issues in the Pacific that I and my colleagues are close to. Many of my friendships with colleagues have begun with questions and words on topics read here. So many relationships established, topics discussed and lives enriched through the power of information, words and sharing. Thank you for running such a great service.

Submitted by Vini on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 22:13
Thank you very much for the invaluable service you provided! Thank you to all the hard-working staff who have kept us updated of the latest news in our vast ocean of islands. Your service will be missed! Malo 'aupito

Submitted by Dennis on Thu, 10/26/2017 - 22:36
Indeed it is very sad to see PIR discontinue. PIR has been a daily enjoyment and it has always been very informative. I really appreciate the work of everyone, who's been a part of this effort. Thank you!

Submitted by david abbott on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 00:14
I am very sorry to see your service end, checking on the PIR web-site was always one of my first tasks every day. Over the twenty years I have become aware of many important regional issues and policy developments through the service and it will be difficult to fill the information gap now that your coverage has ceased. I can only hope that a new funding source will appear (if that is what is needed) to reopen the service. It seems such a shame that a really valuable service used by many thousands of readers in the Pacific and elsewhere will disappear. In all my training sessions for staff in the Pacific I have always told them to be aware of, and keep up to date with developments in their neighbouring countries by reading PIR. Sad that it will be no more. Your service will be sorely missed, but thanks for everything over the last twenty years.

Submitted by Hendricus (Harr... on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 01:38
As a daily reader for many years, my thanks for helping me keep in touch with events in the Pacific — and my regrets that the service has come to an end.

Submitted by Daniel F Luckey on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 01:42
I have been following the PIR for many years and it kept me up to date on the news of the South Pacific. I guess I will just have to visit more often.

Submitted by Bill Collier on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 01:48
I served in the Peace Corps in Fiji in the late 1970's and have retained an interest in all things South Pacific since then. It's no exaggeration to say that PIR has been a fair and unbiased source for South Pacific news and that the end of such coverage creates a void that will be difficult to fill. All the best to everyone at PIR who worked so professionally to bring unbiased South Pacific news to the attention of the world, and you will be greatly missed.

Submitted by paul on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 02:00
as a reader since the start i have learned much about the pacific region & the people that live on remote area's of land. good luck to you all

Submitted by Anita Taylor on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 02:44
Having served in the South Pacific in the Peace Corps, I have enjoyed keeping in touch with the latest news from the area and will definitely miss my daily Pacific Islands Report.

Submitted by Emil Friberg on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 03:09
This is a sad day. This news feed will be missed across the Pacific Community.

Submitted by Lori on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 03:23
Very sad to see this Pacific news resource end. The Pacific island countries are so scattered and this was the only place I know where news was available from the whole region. You not only brought information but a sense of unity. Mifala i sori tumas we wok blong yufala i finis long ples ia.

Submitted by Polly K. on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 03:31
I, too, am sad to see you go. I relied on your publication to keep up on the issues across the region, and I looked forward to seeing you in my Inbox every morning. Thanks for your wonderful service.

Submitted by Rieko Hayakawa on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 07:40
I still remember the meeting with Mr Al Hulsen when he was planning this news site in mid 90s. The Sasakawa Pacific Island Nations Fund did not support PIReport financially, but I kept communication with PIReport as well as PIDP, and sometime we invited PIReporter to our journalists project. Thus, as I know the history of PIReport, this is absolutely sad news. Mahalo,

Submitted by dave conway on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 10:31
Your publication has been a valuable resource for many years and I will be sorry to see you discontinue the service. As the owner of an export company that has been shipping construction materials into Micronesia for 28+ years, your articles have been helpful in addressing issues in each specific country on a timely basis. You will be missed!! Thanks again for the service you have provided!! dave

Submitted by Richard Bedford on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 15:51
Your regular updates on Pacific affairs have been invaluable for keeping researchers informed about developments in the region. This is a sad day for all those academics, policy makers, students and members of the public who have been able to subscribe and receive PIReport over the years. You will be missed ...

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 10/27/2017 - 17:07
Dear Friends at PIF I have been Singapore's Non-resident High Commissioner to Fiji and concurrently Non-resident Ambassador to the Pacific Islands Forum since January 2012. I have read every single issue of the Pacific Islands Report and benefitted much. I shall certainly miss the Report. Abundant thanks to the many hands and many minds that helped make the PIR such a successful and useful publication. Keep well everyone. verghese mathews

Submitted by Mark Schacht on Sun, 10/29/2017 - 07:06
Obviously this was an expensive venture to maintain. Kudos to all for a job very well done. Now...let's find a way to re-invent this and bring it back in a new and better for at...

Submitted by Gene Dashiell on Sun, 10/29/2017 - 07:55
So Sorry. PIR is the USA's only link to the Pacific Islands where news is not covered nationally or internationally. The US now cedes the Pacific Islands to ANZUS and Asia.

Submitted by walter north on Sun, 10/29/2017 - 10:35
so sad to see this happen. thanks for all the great coverage and commitment to a wonderful community.

Submitted by Tony Boulter on Sun, 10/29/2017 - 17:18
I'm going to miss your daily reports, they were a great source of what was happening throughout the Pacific. So sorry to see you go. Best regards Tony Boulter Nauru Airlines.

Submitted by Tony Higgins on Sun, 10/29/2017 - 21:45
You will be missed. Thanks for your great service over the past 20 years. PIR was recommended to me by a former colleague, Michael Grey, who sadly passed on, and I have rarely missed it over the past 19 years or so, even during my 8 years in Africa. It has been such an easy reference point to stay abreast of what is happening in the Pacific. If anyone knows of an alternative feed, please let me know.

Submitted by Eldon Haines an... on Mon, 10/30/2017 - 06:33
Dear PIR... How empty the morning will be without your collection of news, politics, controversies, and stories. We will miss the occasional mention of our Island Friends and descriptions of events on our favorite Islands. Thank you for your years of service. Eldon and Linda

Submitted by Jim Hess on Mon, 10/30/2017 - 07:34
PIR has provided a vital link to news of the nations of the Pacific, rarely covered in the mainstream media. Yet the world has changed in 20 years and Internet access, once rare, is now widespread and many of the publications PIR has drawn on are available online. May I suggest that on the archive site, you add links to the media that have been your mainstay sources, both as a way of easing connection and as an aide to memory? Thank you for all that you've done.

Submitted by Stewart Firth on Mon, 10/30/2017 - 14:06
I have been an avid user of PIR since 1997 and am very sorry to learn that it is coming to end. A vital research tool,on the Pacific, it will be much missed

Submitted by Leon Siu on Mon, 10/30/2017 - 15:02
Mahalo nui loa for your many years of providing us with this service. It has been invaluable in not only knowing what's goin on in the Pacific, but in networking and building relationships. A hui hou, Malama pono...

Submitted by Otto Heim on Mon, 10/30/2017 - 20:33
Thank you so much for your invaluable daily news updates over the years! I have often marveled at the amount of time and dedication that had to go into providing this public service, which I came to depend on and look forward to in my email. Very sad to see it stop. Many thanks and all the best!

Submitted by Lorene Dykstra on Tue, 10/31/2017 - 08:16
I served in the Peace Corps in both Fiji and Tonga in the late 1970s. Since that time, I have relied on your service to stay in touch with my adopted countries. Your service will be sorely missed. Thank you for all you've provided.

Submitted by Michael Field on Wed, 11/01/2017 - 09:01
Sad to see this ... I was one of the early contributors - dozens of articles. I always appreciated the way all the significant Pacific news was there. Is this the new Trump Isolation - another example of the US walking away from the South Pacific?

Submitted by Ricky Raymond on Wed, 11/01/2017 - 20:41
We will definitely miss the news coverage of our region. I have personally enjoyed the ability to read what's happening around Oceania. PIR is a a devastating lost for all of us. Komol-tata from the RMI.

Submitted by Ward Mardfin on Fri, 11/03/2017 - 09:07
I used to teach at USP and once in Majuro. PIR is my homepage -- first to see every morning. Mahalo so much for your excellent service over the years. Aloha,

Submitted by Judy Bennett on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 13:20
This a great loss and one wonders who had pulled the plug on funding? Many thanks for all your good work and daily reading during my lunch time. This was a great service and source of general Pacific information. So very, very sad.

Submitted by Bruno Koegler on Sun, 11/12/2017 - 08:56
How come, with so many startupper, none in the Pacific who can take this over ??? Please, spread the words over your social networks ! :) I am sadly in the more "hard" hardware stuff and need either stronger funding, but we could create a few hundreds jobs etc :) Get back to me if you know some areas where jibs are needed and governments and politicians work to get something doen, instead of only talking :P

Submitted by Jeannette P Hereniko on Sat, 11/18/2017 - 23:13
Better late then never: Please accept my late, but deepest appreciation and gratitude to all who have fought for and produced PIB for over two decades. Bravo for keeping knowledge about the Pacific Islands current for thousand of faithful PIB readers. Stoping PIB is a giant step backward for the United States as it forfeits selection of news about the Pacific Islands to organizations in New Zealand, Australia, China and other places other than the USA. Most of all, it is us who depended on Pacific Island Briefs who are the losers. I am one of the thousands who is so sorry to see it stop. I am curious as to why the decision was made to end it, and if there is another American based organization who will step up to the plate and keep the lights on.

Submitted by Rosa on Sun, 11/26/2017 - 20:39
This is a very sad day for an expat Pacific Islander like me. I live in Australia and I have found it to be an invaluable source of information about what goes on around the Pacific. Thank you and best wishes.

Submitted by Grant Ismael on Thu, 02/08/2018 - 13:03
My name is Grant Ismael from Kosrae Island in the Federated States of Micronesia. I am one the few people from Kosrae who frequently reads your daily posts and truly sad to know it will end. I must admit it became an avid habit of mine to make sure I see what's going on the our beautiful Pacific every morning through PIR before I get to work. My most sincere appreciations to the founder and all who had worked hard to keep the daily report running as long as it could, it was an absolute feast to our eyes. THANK YOU

Submitted by Desmond Narain ... on Tue, 04/24/2018 - 02:15
Kommol Tata for all you've done

Submitted by Jane Resture on Wed, 05/09/2018 - 19:45
It has been a wonderful service over the years that has provided a wealth of information of our dear Pacific Island people and the many friends of Oceania... Thanks and gratitude should go to all those involved and particularly Al Alsen for the remarkable work that he did. Thank you very much!

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