First story titled "We Were Denied Media Freedom" was paraphrased from Fiji TV's lawyer appears in an article by Fiji Times and covers the recent arrest of Fiji TV crew for disobeying a lawful order. "Freedom of the Press is limited to those who own one", a quote from A.J Liebling, which Cafe Pacific writer David Robies corrected me on in a sterling post.
The excerpt:
We were denied media freedom'
ERNEST HEATLEY
Thursday, January 24, 2008
POLICE detained and interrogated a television crew for five hours yesterday for allegedly "disobeying a police order" while covering a school dispute in Nasinu.
Reporter Emily Moli and cameraman Shalendra Datt were ordered into a police van and removed from Rishikul Sanatan College where they were assigned to cover the dispute between the school management and the principal.
Their arrest follows claims by Superintendent Waisea Tabakau of the Valelevu Police Station claimed that the two had failed to abide by a lawful order.
He had told the crew that they were interfering in police business by filming the goings-on at the school yesterday morning.
The pair said they were at the school property at the invitation of Rishikul College management.
SP Tabakau and about 20 officers of the Police Tactical Response Unit arrived at the college, escorting ousted principal Mahendra Pal.
Mr Pal was locked out of the college on Monday by an angry management who refused to acknowledge him as principal.
Ministry of Education officials and the police attempted to have Mr Pal reinstated.
As the officers escorted Mr Pal into the college, SP Tabakau ordered the TV crew to leave.
When they continued filming the event, the senior officer told the journalists they were "disobeying a police order."
Fiji TV Legal Manager Tanya Waqanika described the detention as "totally baseless and totally unjustifiable." "We were denied media freedom," she said.
"Our journalists were shooting inside the private premises on the invitation of the school management." Two more Fiji TV employees were detained at noon after they shot footage from outside the school compound on a public walkway.
Reporter Edwin Nand and cameraman Trevuz Chung were told to get into a police van. They were also told by SP Tabakau that they had disobeyed a lawful order.
They were released a short while later along with the equipment that police had seized.
Ms Waqanika said they would lodge a complaint with the Police Commissioner and the Fiji Media Council on the treatment.
The other story in another article from Fiji Times titled "Media Owners Distort Electoral Process: Barr", covers the gate keeping role of the media during elections.
Media owners distort electoral process: Barr
Saturday, January 26, 2008
MEDIA ownership by a few rich elite has been cause for specific distortion of the democratic electoral process, poverty activist Father Kevin Barr claims.
In his book Thinking About Democracy Today, which was launched earlier this week, he said the media was used to protect the interests of its own class and suppress any criticism of the status quo.
"Their particular influence can affect the outcome of an election," he said.
If "big money" is needed for democratic elections, then democracy can never be truly inclusive of the people, Father Barr writes.
The issue of media freedom has been under the spotlight for some time particularly since talks of a legislation to govern the industry was introduced by previous governments, he said.
"The internal policies of those who own media networks seriously curtail the news which filters down to us. They decide what we should see and hear and what we should not see and hear.
"The media moguls mostly come from families of the extravagantly wealthy who have a particular perspective on the world. Consequently much of what is reported to us is far from neutral," Father Barr said.
He said those who reported the news were not free to report the news and were subject to certain fear because of inbuilt policies and prejudices of those they serve.
The Fiji Times Editor-in-Chief Netani Rika who has served the company for 15 years said while the company was owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Limited, he had never once received a call from him or the publisher dictating how the newspaper should be run or what news to cover.
"Our newsroom is an independent operation within The Fiji Times and we attempt to report all the news, fairly and truthfully. We report without fear or favour. We welcome all views that help broaden our news coverage and our doors are open to everyone.
"If Fr Barr takes issue with the news we do or do not cover, he is welcome to bring the matter to us," Mr Rika said.
Communications Fiji Limited's Managing Director William Parkinson said it was a shame Fr Barr did not take the time to meet with media organisations to research these issues fully.
"Instead it would seem he has stuck to the usual sweeping generalisations thrown around by the misinformed. If he conducted real research he would find a very different story actually exists," he said.
Questions sent to Fiji Television Limited remained unanswered.
The usual defense by the Fiji Times and Communications Ltd. Perhaps consumers of Fiji news should look into Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting(FAIR) website and the contents, reinforces Barr's views on the matter.
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