There is nothing such as unrestricted freedom of press in a democracy, State Enterprise Minister, William Duma.

He made the comment in relation to the sacking of 19 news personnel by the EMTV management over standing in solidarity with their news director, Sincha Dimara.

Dimara was suspended for having run Jamie Pang’s positive contribution to the community. Pang was alleged to have committed a series of crime in the country.

“EMTV journalists were not disciplined for reporting about Pang and his alleged illegal activities. Rather the journalists were cautioned about reporting on Pang’s alleged charity and sports activities when his criminal cases were before the PNG Courts as to it would amount to undermining the judiciary process,” Minister Duma told PNG SUN.

All employees, he said, whether journalists or otherwise have a duty to respect and obey lawful and reasonable directives of their employers.

“There is no such thing as unrestricted freedom of press in a democracy. Being a journalist comes with the obligation and responsibility to report objectively and to abide by their employer’s reasonable directives. For example, journalists cannot publish defamatory articles,” he said.