Fiji Media Resists Oversight.

Following up on an earlier S.i.F.M post on Fiji Media; the proposed inquiry into Fiji's media as reported by Stuff article, was scuttled by a combination of factors which include clash of schedules for the New Zealand consultant reported by a Fiji Times article corroborated by Dominion Post and predictable belligerence by the cartel of leading media outlets in Fiji.

Kiwi pulls out of media inquiry

Friday, July 27, 2007

A New Zealand consultant approached by the Fiji Human Rights Commission to conduct an inquiry into the extent of media freedom and independence in Fiji has indicated his unavailability.

Greg Fortuin was one of the individuals approached by the commission to help the commission in identifying ways in which it could promote media freedom and independence in the interest of the public and the profession.

Commission director Doctor Shaista Shameem said Mr Fortuin had indicated he had a personal commitment in Australia during the period they needed him.

She said they needed the inquiry to get underway next month.

Mr Fortuin is only one of the people on a list. We hope to engage another person from New Zealand. The inquiry is going ahead, she said.

Fiji TV news segment had aired footage of correspondence signed by the heads of Fiji TV, Fiji Times, Fiji Sun and Communications Fiji respectively. This marks yet another entrenched turf defense by this media cartel, who have escaped any independent assessment for years. It is this cartel who control the Fiji Media Council and have always resisted outside scrutiny into their empire.

Fiji has seen the dangers of media disinformation leading up to the 2000 coup, as well as the slanted editorial opinions and selective coverage. What is really disturbing, that this media cartel has labeled this inquiry on Fiji TV, as "selective" and highlighting a hypothetical risk that, Fiji Human Rights Commission could "invoke causes of Human Rights to control the media", according to the Fiji TV report.

How can the media be in an impartial position, when elements within itself is resisting any resemblance of oversight?

Unfortunately, this media cartel have often used the fear of control to wriggle itself from any independent review of their operations. This 'Red Herring' is designed to obfuscate attention from the putrid state of affairs in the news room. Fiji deserves a free-press and holding them accountable makes the industry more dynamic and independent of gate-keeping by the media owners. Fiji will never quantify this component, if the media companies refuse to have checks and balances on their own affairs.

Sadly, the arrows of dictatorialism launched by the same media cartel at the Interim Government in Fiji, pales in significance to their own dogmatic principles.



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