Asia-Pacific Network: 18 June 1999
MEDIA: TESTING TIMES DOG FIJI'S NEW LABOUR GOVERNMENT
Fiji's new Labour government has pledged an "open and free" press and a more transparent administration. But the early signs from Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry's government are mixed and there are questions over the former Rabuka admininistration's proposed media legislation.
By DAVID ROBIE
THE LAST few months have been testing times for the news media in the Fiji Islands
and the historic ousting of the post-coup Rabuka government by the Fiji Labour
Party-led coalition hasn't changed that.
Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, the country's first Indo-Fijian national leader,
has pledged an "open and free press" but his government has also sent out
conflicting signals. Time will tell.
The outgoing regime led by the 1987 military coup leader, Sitiveni Rabuka, had
been accused of paranoia and blatant attempts at manipulating the media on the eve
of the election campaign when the government bought a controlling 44 per cent
shareholding in the ailing Daily Post newspaper during February.
It was argued by critics that taking over the Daily Post was breaching the "spirit
and the letter" of section 30 of the 1997 Constitution which guarantees freedom of
the media and expression.
The Rabuka government had been angered by some trenchant articles in the Post,
particularly by its outspoken political columnist Mesake Koroi, provoking an
extraordinary full page government advertisement, at public expense, attacking the
"false allegations" in Koroi's popular weekly Opinion column.
A clash over a television interview with a rival politician, former military
commander Ratu Epeli Ganilau, along with the refusal to allow a "blacklisted" New
Zealand journalist into the country, did nothing to allay concerns about the
government's commitment to a free media.
The barring of the TV journalist was dismissed as a bureaucratic bungle by
Assistant Minister Ratu Josefa Dimuri, who called for a review of the so-called
blacklist. But critics remained unconvinced.
Senator Jokapeci Koroi, president of the Fiji Labour Party, asked: "What has
happened to the freedom of the press which this government supposedly respects? Or
is it still in the modus operandi that existed immediately after the coup."
As it turned out, the Daily Post brushed aside the criticisms over its sale and,
under the leadership of editor Jale Moala, turned in arguably the best print media
coverage of the elections.
It has proved a rather gutsy newspaper in spite of its limited resources and staff
when competing with the established Fiji Times, a Murdoch paper.
But promises by the Labour-led government, swept into power in a landslide victory
in May, have looked rather empty given several incidents since the election,
including a "freeing up" of reporting on the traditional and secretive Great
Council of Chiefs which was not free at all, and the roughing up of a television
reporter by an over-zealous security policeman "minding" Prime Minister Chaudhry.
Fiji Television lodged an official complaint with the Information Ministry over
the incident.
Both a former Information Minister, Filipe Bole, and Assistant Information
Minister Dimuri were dumped by Fijian voters in the election.
Chaudhry, a trade unionist, now has the information portfolio in his hands.
Assistant Minister Lekh Ram Vayeshnoi has warned that the media will not be
allowed to "abuse this enormous power" being promised under a draft Freedom of
Information Bill.
The Bill is a positive spin-off from a comprehensive study of Fiji's news media
undertaken on behalf of the Rabuka government by the Thomson Foundation in 1996.
However, questions hang over proposed legislation under the previous government
for a code of ethics and broadcasting standards and a statutory body to replace
the successful self-regulating Fiji Media Council.
"Some media organisations, to some extent, have been seriously lacking in carrying
out their duties. They have shown that the public's right to accurate and factual
information appears the least of their concerns," Vayeshnoi said.
"They have shown that they have seriously eroded their credibility and their very
important position in a free functioning democracy."
In fact, all the Fiji news media performed credibly and fairly in reporting the
election, which involved a new preferential voting system and was covered for the
first time by national television. It is also hoped that journalism education and
training will help to beef up reporting in depth.