(PINA/IFEX) – Plans by the Fiji Islands government to buy the biggest percentage of shares in one of the country’s two independent daily newspapers have caused anger. The move comes three months before the first general elections under a new constitution replacing one imposed after two military coups in 1987. These coups were led by […]
(PINA/IFEX) – Plans by the Fiji Islands government to buy the biggest
percentage of shares in one of the country’s two independent daily
newspapers have caused anger. The move comes three months before the
first general elections under a new constitution replacing one imposed
after two military coups in 1987. These coups were led by the indigenous
Fijian-dominated army against the first government dominated by
descendants of people who came from India.
On 9 February 1999, Finance Minister Jim Ah Koy told the other daily
newspaper, “The Fiji Times”, that the government plans to buy the forty
four percent of shares in the “Daily Post” which are now owned by the
government-owned Fiji Development Bank. He said the government wants to
buy the shares and sell them for more money because it has been
guaranteeing loans to the newspaper but has seen no return. Later in the
day, in exchanges in the House of Representatives, he said the move is
meant to eventually give members of the public the opportunity to buy
shares in the “Daily Post”.
Opposition political parties attacked the government move and the
reasons given by Ah Koy. National Federation Party leader Jai Ram Reddy
told the House of Representatives: “People will begin to suspect that
the motive for buying this newspaper is…to ensure that this newspaper
will only publish what the government likes to read.” Labour Party
leader Mahendra Chaudhry was quoted by “The Fiji Times” as saying: “How
can government on the one hand sell shares in profitable
enterprises…saying such a course of action was necessary for the
advancement of the economy, and on the other hand buy a newspaper
company which has made no profits since it began operating? Is
it to have a government mouthpiece for general elections propaganda?”
The Fijian Association Party leader Adi Kuini Speed told “The Fiji
Times” that buying the shares is a deliberate government move to control
the “Daily Post” editorial policy in the run up to the election. She
said her party would launch a court action to prevent the sale as it
breaches provisions of the new constitution which guarantee freedom of
the media and freedom of expression.
PINA president William Parkinson said: “We are very concerned about this
move. Governments should not be in the business of running independent
media organisations. In the case of Fiji’s government-owned radio
stations, we understand that control has been inherited from Fiji’s
colonial past, and we understood that the Government of Fiji intended
privatising their broadcasting operations at the earliest opportunity.”
PINA expressed concern about the timing of the “Daily Post” move. “We
note the minister’s remarks about maintaining editorial independence,”
Parkinson said. “However, the minister should understand that at this
particularly sensitive time in Fiji’s history, this move will be seen by
many, both locally and internationally, as a blatant attempt to
interfere with an independent member of the media.” PINA understands
that several organisations from the private sector have expressed an
interest in buying the “Daily Post”. PINA appealed to the Government of
Fiji to reverse its decision, and to allow the normal commercial process
of sale to private sector interests to take place.
Background Information
The Fiji Islands returned to elected government in 1992, and its news
media are again regarded as among the most free and diverse in the
Pacific Islands. The “Daily Post” began as a weekly after the coups. It
eventually became a daily, and began to help fill the void left by the
closure of “The Fiji Sun”, which did not resume publication after being
closed by the army in 1987. The “Daily Post”‘s main shareholder was its
founding publisher, Taniela Bolea. But it suffered continuing financial
problems, and control eventually passed to the Fiji Development Bank and
two other institutional investors – the Colonial insurance company and
the Unit Trust investment organisation. The “Daily Post” also publishes
one of the country’s two Fijian-language weekly newspapers. “The Fiji
Times”, Fiji’s biggest circulation daily newspaper, is part of Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corporation.
