(PINA/IFEX) – A consultant from Britain’s Thomson Foundation is due to start work in Suva, 9 June on helping develop codes of conduct for the Fiji news media. Veteran journalist Ken Morgan will work to terms of reference drawn up by the industry’s self-regulatory Fiji News Council. Morgan is a former director of Britain’s Press […]
(PINA/IFEX) – A consultant from Britain’s Thomson Foundation is due to start
work in Suva, 9 June on helping develop codes of conduct for the Fiji news
media. Veteran journalist Ken Morgan will work to terms of reference drawn
up by the industry’s self-regulatory Fiji News Council. Morgan is a former
director of Britain’s Press Council and Press Complaints Commission.
**Updates IFEX alerts dated 30 January 1998 and 9 December 1997**
It will be the third visit to Fiji by Morgan through support provided by the
British Embassy in Suva. The embassy in 1996 offered the Fiji Government
help from the Thomson Foundation, an independent British news media training
and development organisation specialising in helping developing nations.
This came after the government announced a review of all media legislation
and set up a Cabinet sub-committee to do this.
Morgan will help the Fiji News Council prepare standard codes for editorial,
programme content, and advertising standards. The council was set up and is
funded by the news media and consists of representatives of all Fiji’s main
news organisations and an equal number of public representatives. It has an
independent chairperson.
Background Information
Following a report done in late 1996 by The Thomson Foundation, the Fiji
Government approved the drawing up of new media laws which include an
independent media regulatory council but exclude licensing newspapers and
magazines. The Press Correction Act, introduced in the British colonial era,
is to be scrapped. The Cabinet (government ministers) accepted most of the
recommendations of the report. This includes the suggestion of expanding the
Fiji News Council into the independent Fiji Media Council. The Ministry of
Information and the State Law Office are working on drawing up appropriate
legislation to be introduced to Parliament for approval. On 27 May 1998
Assistant Minister for Information Ratu Jo Dimuri said the proposed
legislation is unlikely to be ready in time for the July sitting of the
House of Representatives (see IFEX alerts).
