Asia-Pacific Network (PMW/Media Nius): 12 July 1997
MEDIA: JOURNALISTS DENY SINGIROK CLAIM
Claims by sacked PNG military commander Jerry Singirok before the recent mercenary Commission of Inquiry that Sandline planned to hire a journalist for A$250,000 to "positively report on Sandline" have been angrily denied by journalists named.
By PETER CRONAU in Sydney
THE JOURNALIST named during the mercenary affair Commission of Inquiry as the one who Sandline planned to hire for A$250,000 to "positively report on Sandline", has denied the claims.
Michael Ashworth, a 29-year-old former British paratrooper and now freelance journalist, says while he is sympathetic towards Sandline's operations, the claim that he was a paid propagandist for them is incorrect.
The claims that Sandline had planned to hire an international journalist to "positively report on Sandline to capture worldwide attention" were made on April 9 by sacked Defence Force Commander Brigadier-General Jerry Singirok and were published in the National the next day. The National misspelled the journalist's name as "Mike Asward".
"I was paid a quarter of a million dollars? Oh my God, that is absolute bullshit, absolute bullshit," says Ashworth.
Ashworth said he wrote three articles on the mercenaries while in PNG, but not for Sandline.
He said he visited PNG on behalf of the Independent newspaper in London, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age to report on the mercenary operation, on the basis of his close contact with Sandline International head Tim Spicer.
"If anyone wants to call me up to find out how much I was paid , well I wasn't. I'm still trying to get paid, still trying to get payments from the Sydney Morning Herald, from South African newspapers, and I'm absolutely stone broke," said Ashworth.
Last year, Ashworth reported for the Independent (UK) on the Sandline operations in Sierra Leone, a report he said Spicer liked.
Ashworth admits to being fascinated by mercenaries, by the "privatisation of violence, the privatisation of war".
Former military commander Brigadier-General Singirok also named another journalist in his evidence to the inquiry.
"In particular, he (Ashworth) was a house guest to Sean Dorney from ABC," Singirok told the inquiry, according to the National.
Sean Dorney, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's long-serving Port Moresby correspondent, denies the accusations of Singirok.
"To have Singirok come out and accuse me of harbouring a Sandline spy is an amusing twist on the fact that other people are accusing me of being the agent of the PNGDF," said Dorney.
Dorney first met Ashworth one morning in a group of four journalists trying to fly to Wewak to see the mercenary training.
After being refused access to Moem Barracks over several days, Ashworth told Dorney he had run short of money so Dorney said he offered Ashworth a room to stay for several nights.
"In terms of what Singirok was suggesting, that he was some highly paid infiltrator for the media, Mike was not the man. He knew very little about the media, and was seeking advice from me all the time as to what he should do," said Dorney, who interviewed Ashworth for the ABC as an expert on Sandline and Executive Outcomes.
"Spicer told Singirok at one stage that they were going to spend $240,000 on a media operation. Then all of a sudden this English journalist pops up who they knew nothing about, who came into the country with the help of Sandline, and he just assumed that this was the great media manipulator, but he never got to me, Ashworth," said Dorney.
Dorney said the Agence France-Presse news agency also incorrectly reported that Sandline head Tim Spicer was staying in his house, although this was later retracted after Dorney complained.
Brig-Gen Singirok declined to discuss the claim he made in the commission about Sandline's plans to hire Ashworth to prepare positive reports on the mercenary operation.
"The information that I gave to the inquiry is still subjudice for the commission, and it would be totally unfair if I comment about the evidence that I've given," he said. But he added Spicer was aware of the potential of a media leak and it was vital to get positive publicity - "and you can understand why". - Pacific Media Watch.
Peter Cronau. of Bushfire Media, is co-director of Pacific Media Watch and an Australian-based journalist specialising in Pacific affairs. The article was originally carried by PMW and this abridged version was published in the June issue of Media Nius
