Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF)

Publishers, editors and media companies should be added to law amendments lifting criminal fines from journalists. “We welcome the law amendment removing fines from journalists as a sign that Fiji is finally turning back towards a free media environment,” says PFF Chair Titi Gabi.

“Gaining power through a vote of no confidence does not give government the mandate from voters to potentially threaten their freedoms of speech,” said PFF in reference to Vanuatu’s proposed media law.

Free expression and human rights organisations have reacted to the government of Nauru’s decision to block certain services on the internet and to amend the criminal code to impose new penalties on expression.

Nauru’s Facebook ban follows government censorship of state media and a new $8,000 fee (approximately USD $6,340) for foreign media to enter the country, according to opposition critics.

Forcing social media users to reveal their identities could endanger activists and remove an essential check on abuse of power in Papua New Guinea.

Ten Pacific countries are listed in media reports as being targets of spying by New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau, which gives the NSA full access – and control – over the data.

News reports say that a bus dropping off National Broadcasting Corporation staff was taken over by a group of men in Port Moresby. The men ordered the driver and all male staff out and drove off with the three women on board.

IFEX members express concerns about the political environment in Fiji as the country holds its first election after nearly eight years of military rule.