Introduction
In media and communication, information can be shared in different features that may vary in one way or another. For instance, news feature is based on timely trending content with a human interest that is widespread from one region to another. The civil war in Bougainville lies under past events feature since it covers historical aspects with human interest obliged in the matter. This paper presents notes from the civil war in Bougainville and elaborates on the feature articles and their use in the media.
Factors that Led to Bougainville Civil War
The Bougainville conflict or civil war happened from 1988-1998 in Papua New Guinea. The war was between the secessionist forces and armed groups in the region. According to the documentary titled ‘Coconut Revolution’ of (2001) by Dom Rotheroe, the conflict is described as the most terrifying after world war I and II. More than 20,000 Bougainvillea residents died as a result (Faa 2). During an interview by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), one of the survivors of the civil war by the name Brenda Kokiai said ‘After all the suffering I can now celebrate, and I am celebrating’ (Faa 2). That shows the extent of the matter where women were molested and their husbands killed during the war.
The main cause of the war was the state of unrest that was catalyzed by tensions over the Bougainville Copper Mine by Rio Tinto company of Australia. The mine that had begun in Panguna then, had 20% shares by the government and contributed to more than 45% of Papua New Guinea’s revenue from exports (Faa 2). The native people of Bougainville had significantly benefitted since the mine had recruited thousands of personnel in the country. However, there were collisions because the Australian-based company started to recruit workers from Australia and the locals felt they were being undermined and disregarded in their country.
The War Intensifies
The Papua New Guinea Defense Forces (PNGDF) initiated a move to stop the rebellion against the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA). PNGDF fought with modern arms against BRA who were using bows, arrows, stones, and sticks (Rotheroe). The war continued for a long while with many victims succumbing until there was the formation of the Bougainville Transitional Government (BTG) that called for negotiations with BRA in 1995 (Rotheroe). Afterward, the BRA senior personnel were fired by PNGDF when they returned to Bougainville. Thus, BRA decided to approve the lifting of the war against their members, an action that led to resolving to achieve peace in the country. In 2018, the Bougainville land owners attempted to vote on allowing Bougainville Copper Limited to have renewed mining permit which would see reopening of the Panguna mine but it was not possible due to potential risks (Davidson 1). An interview by ABC, President John Momis said “If we went ahead now, you could be causing a total explosion of the situation again” (Davidson 1). Therefore, it means that the country is determined to prevent any possible emergence of another civil war.
The Coconut Revolution Documentary
The documentary was made in 2001 and covers the fight of the native individuals of Bougainville Island. The piece was directed by Dom Rotheroe and produced by Michael Chamberlain in the United Kingdom. The documentary which runs in English gives exposure about BRA overcoming the marine blockade by the use of coconut oil that was used to fuel their vehicles. It was financed by Open Society Foundations and the masterpiece won Grand Prize awards in Brazil.
The documentary would differ significantly if it was sponsored by Australian-based mine company Rio Tinto. The reason is that the company would conspire with the film producer and director to conceal some information about what was happening during the civil. Perhaps the documentary would not mention the hefty killings or would rather mention few fatalities. Therefore, content in a feature can be tampered with due to the conflict of interest of different parties.
Feature Articles and their Use in the Media
Feature articles refer to pieces of media written to give more content to some topical events, issues or persons. Examples of a feature article are news feature that is based on timely news that is happening in a given field and region (Mascaro et al. 224). The other feature article is a personality sketch that covers information about popular people and their journeys. Additionally, past events feature such as Coconut Revolution are also part of feature articles. Others include human interest features, personal experience story, interpretive, and popular scientific features (Mascaro et al. 226). The main difference between feature article and news story is that feature article covers human interest story about an event, a place, or a person while news story reports facts on what happened, who made it happen, where the issue took place, why they matter and how the matter transitioned.
Conclusion
Bougainville civil war was caused by tensions that resulted from mining operations in Papua New Guinea. The war was fought between Papua New Guinea army PNGDF and BRA rebels. The immediate cause of the war happened when Rio Tinto Company started to employ foreign nationals while disregarding the indigenous people of the country. The event has been covered by a documentary named Coconut Revolution that was produced by Michael Chamberlain and directed by Dom Rotheroe. The documentary is an example of a feature article under the past events category.
References
Davidson, Helen. “Bougainville Imposes Moratorium on Panguna Mine Over Fears of Civil Unrest”. The Guardian, 2018. Web.
Faa, Marian. “‘A Lot of Hatred, A Lot of Pain’: Bougainville Survivors Find Hope with Historic Referendum”. Abc.Net.Au, 2019. Web.
Mascaro, Thomas A. et al. “Toward A Standard for The Evaluation of Documentary Journalism History”. Journalism History, vol 41, no. 4, 2016, pp. 222-228. Informa UK Limited. Web.
Rotheroe, Dom. Coconut Revolution. Stampede, 2001.