(PINA/IFEX) – Fiji Islands news media have reported two more clashes involving government ministers and the news media. On 17 November 1999, Assistant Information Minister Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi lodged a complaint with police alleging that a Fiji Television reporter and cameraperson entered his office without permission. According to local media reports, the reporter and cameraperson […]
(PINA/IFEX) – Fiji Islands news media have reported two more clashes involving government ministers and the news media.
On 17 November 1999, Assistant Information Minister Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi lodged a complaint with police alleging that a Fiji Television reporter and cameraperson entered his office without permission. According to local media reports, the reporter and cameraperson were attempting to question Veyeshnoi about a news conference which he was said to have called. But it was alleged that the minister wanted this to be covered by a different reporter than the one sent by Fiji Television. Vayeshnoi was shown on television saying he had called another Fiji Television journalist but not for a news conference. In the same news bulletin, Attorney-General Anand Singh appeared to confirm that a news conference was scheduled.
On 20 December, a senior cabinet minister, Ganesh Chand, alleged that the opposition and “certain journalists” were continuing a “destabilisation” campaign against the government. This followed a front-page report in the country’s biggest daily newspaper, “The Fiji Times”, that same day. In the report, Acting Prime Minister Tupeni Baba called on Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, who is visiting China, to clear the air on a number of continuing controversies involving Chaudhry and the government, and said the government lacks transparency. Chand was quoted by “The Fiji Times” as saying: “The Fiji Times is not the proper forum to raise the issues.” Chand claimed “The Fiji Times”‘ interview with Baba was part of a well-planned media campaign to destabilise the government. In a 19 December editorial, “The Sunday Times” had praised Baba’s recent performances as acting prime minister and suggested he was beginning to look like an alternative prime minister.
Background Information
The Fiji Islands has amongst the most diverse and free news media in the Pacific Islands. They include: three seven-day-a-week English-language daily newspapers; weekly newspapers in Hindi, Fijian, and English; news, business, trade and entertainment magazines; independent commercial, community and religious radio stations; government-owned public and commercial radio stations; and commercial and community television. However, the news media have come under continuing criticism from Prime Minister Chaudhry, who is also information minister, and Assistant Minister Vayeshnoi. These events follow the election of their Fiji Labour Party-led government in May (see IFEX alerts).
On 27 October, there was widespread criticism of threats by Chaudhry to bring in a government-regulated media tribunal with powers to impose penalties on the media. One of the country’s three daily newspapers also reported on the government’s plans to introduce legislation requiring compulsory licencing of foreign-owned media (see IFEX alerts). This included setting strict conditions under which they had to report and operate or risk losing their licence. “The Fiji Times” – a winner of the PINA Pacific Freedom of Information award for its defence of the public’s right to know – is the only Fiji Islands news organisation which is not locally owned. It is part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
PINA president William Parkinson called the threats to the news media a “disgrace” and “unbecoming of a prime minister of a supposedly democratic country. We have not had this kind of threat made since the military government in 1987. Fiji is very much a beacon for the rest of the region with regards to media freedom. We have a very dynamic media industry which apart from a period around the military coups in 1987 has been able to operate freely.”
On 26 October, Chaudhry again attacked the news media and individual journalists following a series of earlier criticisms. In a lengthy address, the prime minister singled out three of Fiji’s main news organisations, “The Fiji Times”, Fiji Television and “Islands Business” magazine, for detailed criticism. He also denounced what he saw as efforts to destabilise his government.
