Marc Neil-Jones

Marc Neil-Jones (14 October 1957 – 10 March 2025) was an English-born Vanuatuan journalist. A campaigner for freedom of the press, he was assaulted several times, as well as briefly deported and imprisoned. Radio New Zealand has described him as "one of the Pacific's most significant journalistic figures".

Early life and career

A British national, He worked in advertising and as a marketing manager in Papua New Guinea from 1982, then moved to Vanuatu in 1989. He became a naturalised Vanuatuan citizen around 2003. From the late 1990s, the newspaper printed detailed reports on government corruption, written by ombudsman Marie Noelle Patterson.

Later life and death

In 2009, the Daily Post again reported on human rights abuses in prison, which led to the dismissing of a prison director. Subsequently, four men assaulted Neil-Jones at the newspaper offices. He was left with a broken nose and a black eye, as well as multiple bruises from kicks to the body. He reported that his attackers had threatened to shoot him and to slit his throat.

In February 2015, Neil-Jones announced he was going into semi-retirement from running the Daily Post, to focus on the development of a resort.