(PINA/IFEX) – On 13 March 1999, PINA president William Parkinson condemned a ban on prominent Television New Zealand journalist David Lomas entering the Fiji Islands. He called for the Fiji Islands Government to sort out once and for all the “blacklist” of journalists imposed by an interim government that ruled before the country returned to […]
(PINA/IFEX) – On 13 March 1999, PINA president William Parkinson
condemned a
ban on prominent Television New Zealand journalist David Lomas entering
the
Fiji Islands. He called for the Fiji Islands Government to sort out once
and
for all the “blacklist” of journalists imposed by an interim government
that
ruled before the country returned to elected government in 1992. Lomas
was
refused entry when he arrived at Suva’s Nausori Airport on 12 March on a
flight from Auckland, New Zealand. Police and immigration officers
escorted
him back on to the return flight to Auckland.
“If this is a bureaucratic error then it should be sorted out quickly,”
Parkinson said. “If it is a policy contrary to assurances given to PINA
in
the past that a blacklist no longer existed, it makes a mockery of
freedom
of expression and media freedom as guaranteed by the new constitution.”
Parkinson said that with the general election approaching in May the
world
is watching Fiji and looking forward to a free and fair election under
the
new constitution. This constitution replaces one imposed after two 1987
military coups. But banning of selected foreign journalists will not
help
Fiji’s image as a democratic nation, Parkinson added.
Lomas is the award-winning deputy executive producer of the top-rating
New
Zealand news and current affairs programme 60 Minutes. Lomas said he was
very surprised when immigration officers told him he is banned as the
current government had said this “blacklist” of journalists no longer
existed. It had repeated this assurance when Agence France-Presse
journalist
Mike Field had been temporarily stopped from entering Fiji in similar
circumstances and had apologised to Field.
The “blacklist” was introduced by the post-coup interim government,
which
severely restricted the entry of foreign journalists.
Lomas said his report which upset the interim government and led to him
being put on its “blacklist” was a 1991 interview with Fiji’s current
prime
minister Sitiveni Rabuka. The interview followed Rabuka quitting the
interim
government and returning to the army as military forces commander. The
report had also included an inside look at the Fiji army which had been
made
with the cooperation of Rabuka and the army. Rabuka had led the 1987
coups.
Lomas grew up in the Fiji Islands and still has family there. He said
Fiji
is one of his favourite countries.
