Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF)

People are encouraged to join around 200 organisations supporting the adoption of 13 basic principles applying existing human rights law to modern digital surveillance.

IFEX members issued a joint call for amendments to a deeply-flawed draft media law in Somalia before it goes to parliament for approval in August.

Magazine publishers in West Papua, Indonesia had already distributed 2,000 copies of a magazine’s inaugural edition when police arrived and instructed them not to distribute any further copies; the issue’s cover featured the West Papua pro-independence flag.

The Samoan government is urged to halt plans for a state media council and return to the original timeframe recommended by the country’s law reform commission.

Reports that a market seller in Fiji was hospitalised after being arrested for making comments about the country’s military regime are disturbing, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

The resignation of Fiji TV’s sports commentator Satish Narain followed an ultimatum from the prime minister to the station’s management that they had to choose between keeping Narain on staff, or losing their broadcast licence.

The Samoan speaker of parliament called on media to stop interviewing members of parliament outside the house and rely solely on official records; he warned that reporters could be charged under 1960 laws that carry a maximum sentence of six months in prison, a $100 fine, or both.

The government should allow Nauru Broadcasting Service to fully report politics leading up to the 8 June 2013 general elections, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.