Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF)

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

Two members of a television camera crew were briefly detained and assaulted by police in Papua New Guinea; they had been following up on reports that police had used knives to jab and poke five male youths over land disputes.

The new media law in Timor-Leste should be vetoed by the country’s President, agrees the Pacific Freedom Forum. The new law risks returning the young country to colonial style repression, it is feared.

Opposition MPs were suspended in Nauru for criticising the government’s refugee centre and revoking visas for the country’s top judges.

PFF has noted with concern circumstances around the dismissal of broadcast news veteran Anish Chand from Fiji TV, and the confirmed resignation of Suva-based coordinator Ricardo Morris.

Journalists and editors in Samoa need to overcome their industry differences if they are to have any hope of ensuring plans for a Media Council do not suffer political interference, warns the Pacific Freedom Forum.

A statement by the Nouvelles Calédoniennes Journalists’ Association accuses the French High Commissioner of putting pressure on their editorial board, which they say has given in to his demands to publish an article he authored attacking the paper’s journalists.

Fiji’s media authority announced on 8 October that it was looking at extending registration requirements to foreign media trainers and organisations that conducted media training in Fiji, on issues including media freedom, democracy, human rights and elections.