PMC's David Robie critiques Fiji draft media decree

Pacific Media Centre

Pacific Scoop has featured David Robie, director of the Pacific Media Centre, talking about the controversial Media Industry Development Decree being ushered in by the military-backed regime. 95bFM’s Will Pollard interviews Dr Robie on the implications for the future in Fiji - and also around the Pacific region.

Will Pollard talks to David Robie on 95bFM

Fiji media risks ending up like Chinese press, says academic

Chinese language media in New Zealand relies heavily on free content from mainland China's media and is “importing the propaganda line to Chinese-language discourse in New Zealand”.

By Steve Chae: Pacific Media Centre

Fiji’s media is at risk of becoming like the Chinese press with an authoritarian model under the censorship regime, says a New Zealand journalism academic.

“In the West, the media’s role is mainly seen as a watchdog. In Fiji, the traditionally western-style media is now under threat from a military regime that doesn’t want to accept independent news in a country that is very diverse ethnically and religion,” says Pacific Media Centre director associate professor David Robie.

“The cultural complexities in Fiji are such that many in people in the country believe there should be nation-building media.”

While the majority of the population of 940,000 are indigenous Fijian (54 percent), there is a 37 percent Indo-Fijian minority and other races. The country’s dominant religion is Methodist, but among the Indo-Fijians, a majority is Hindu without about a third Muslim.

China has growing economic and political influence in Fiji since the December 2006 coup. Fiji imposed draconian censorship on April 10.

Ranjit Singh, former publisher of Fiji Daily Post and now chief reporter of the Indian Weekender in New Zealand, says: “Fiji never had democracy but the problem arises from pushing the Western concept of democracy”.

“It’s a first world solution to a third world country,” he says.

“That does not help to understand the complexities of the Fiji issue. The issue is not black and white. It’s got shades of grey.”

Dr Robie says the Fiji media is expected by many people to help solidify national identity.

“The Chinese media has parallels with Fiji in that their journalists are also trying to find a space within the authoritarian media,” he says.

“But the New Zealand media reacts with shock and horror at the lack of plurality of ideas in these media.”

Propaganda machines
A Press article reports how the Chinese government propaganda machines work in a two-pronged strategy aimed at Chinese people at home and also abroad.

Dr Anne-Marie Brady says Chinese people in New Zealand are affected by the Chinese propaganda focused on those living overseas.

An associate professor at the University of Canterbury’s School of Political and Social Sciences, Dr Brady gave a talk on the operations of Chinese propaganda to the US Security Commission in Washington last month.

She says the Chinese language media in New Zealand relies heavily on free content from the Chinese media and is important – “especially to new migrants to New Zealand”.

This is “importing the propaganda line to Chinese-language discourse in New Zealand”.

David Soh, publisher of the Mandarin Times, says 80 percent of his readers are native speakers who are born and raised in China.

He says new migrants to New Zealand feel a sense of belonging to China but accept they are citizens of a new country.

The paper makes subscriptions to Xinhua news agency in China but also fills its pages daily with translations of New Zealand news.

Soh says he is free to report on anything he likes and will respond with criticism on things that are happening in China.

Tibet divisive
Last year’s Tibet incident was sensitive and had “quite a divisive effect” within the Chinese community, whereas the Sichuan earthquake was emotional and reached a common feeling.

He says he does not promote things that are illegal in China such as the Falun Gong practitioners but accepts they are legal in New Zealand.

Asked about Fiji, Soh says it is “a different world where law and order is not good at the moment”.

Hewitt Wang, editor of Skykiwi.com, says the media he works for is a New Zealand media and presents the opinions of Chinese community in New Zealand.

“We accept all the opinions from worldwide media - not just the Chinese media,” he says.

Ethnic community media should be publishing all views, including the Chinese propaganda.

“Propaganda depends on how you define it. I like to think of it in a positive way,” says Wang.

Dr Robie says propaganda is “uncontested information which can be plain wrong, or disinformation calculated to achieve a manipulated mindset”.

“With competing media, the truth will emerge somewhere down the track. When government imposes news values, that single view becomes propaganda,” he says.

Language ability
Virginia Chong, vice-president of the New Zealand Chinese Association, says she does not read Chinese language media in New Zealand because she has lost the language ability having been born here.

Chong says international students can become influenced by the Chinese language media here.

“Every country puts out spin and everybody has their own impression on those things,” she says.

Dr Robie says Chinese language media in New Zealand has not yet made a transition from being a media “enclave from China to culturally based media in New Zealand”.

“It will evolve in the future when Chinese media will become a lot more integrated within New Zealand society,” he says.

He also says the New Zealand mainstream media make judgments of other media through “cultural lens” and this could also be a form of propaganda.

Singh says there is biased reporting of the Fiji issue in New Zealand in that only negative stories are played.

But within the community media in New Zealand, he says he would like to “put a positive spin on Fiji”, referring to the Indian Weekender which covers Indian diaspora news, including Fiji.

He says journalists in Fiji can be better educated on how to report for Fiji.

“The political situation now can be partially blamed on the Fiji media,” he says.

Behind the story
“As journalists we really need to see the story behind the issue and investigate these things,” says Singh.

Dr Robie says: “The harm caused to Fiji is already very great.”

He blames New Zealand foreign policies for its “short sightedness” since December 2006.

“The situation in the Pacific is now quite volatile,” he says.

“New Zealand has been like a big brother to Fiji as we pride ourselves as a being part of Pacific.

We now have to report these stories better with more depth and more comprehensively,” says Dr Robie.

Steve Chae is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student on the Asia-Pacific Journalism course at AUT University. Pictured: Pro-Chinese rally in Aotea Square, Auckland.

NZ expert tells of Chinese propaganda

Fiji regime tightens grip, plans own media

By Pippa Brown: Pacific Media Centre

Fiji continues to head into a political and economic hole as Fiji’s military regime tightens its grip and communications in the country are heavily censored.

The regime now plans to begin broadcasting its own television programme in a deal with Fiji TV, and to publish a newspaper insert in the Fiji Sun, the second-largest daily.

The unanimous decision to suspend Fiji from the Pacific Islands Forum earlier this month further compounded Fiji’s woes.

The PIF responded to Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama’s failure to return Fiji to democratic governance by May 1 and name a date for elections this year.

“A regime which displays such a total disregard for basic human rights, democracy and freedom has no place in the Pacific Islands forum,” said the Forum chairman, Niue Premier Toke Talagi.

The forum will ensure that Fiji does not benefit directly from any regional cooperation initiatives, new financial or technical assistance until it returns to democratic rule.

Amnesty International is extremely concerned about the volatility of the situation. It says the human rights situation is getting worse by the day and the civilian population is living in fear as a result of draconian measures implemented by the military regime.

“What is developing is a nature of extreme fear and intimidation.

“As well as the media clampdown, the regime is now believed to be monitoring email traffic, blogs and telephone conversations,” says Pacific researcher Apolosi Bose after a trip to Fiji last month.

‘Chilling effect’
The censorship has affected the way people work and has had a “major chilling effect” on the operations of a non-government organisation whose work is critical for standing up to human rights abuses, says Bose.

Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates thinks communications have not entirely shut down.

“Technology and communications are still available through the internet. Ten percent of citizens have internet access; mainly in urban areas as a lot of rural areas still have traditional lifestyles,” says Coates.

China has an influence on Fiji and other Pacific nations.

“The influence of New Zealand and Australia is disappearing and there is a real problem with foreign policy,” he says.

China is not condemning Fijian policies and now gaining influence in the region.

The Chinese government has been accused of propping up the military regime by supplying hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, according to a Lowry Institute analyst, Fergus Hanson.

The Australian reported that although China maintains a strong relationship with Fiji and other Pacific nations, it does not want to be seen as the new international protector filling Fiji’s international relations vacuum, or writing cheques to underpin the country’s collapsing revenues.

Foreign exchange
Foreign exchange remittances sent home by Fijian peacekeepers are said to be worth millions of dollars a year to the Fijian economy.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that the UN will continue to use Fiji police and soldiers in its current peacekeeping missions but will not increase the numbers in future deployments.

There are more Fijian police working under its peacekeeping mandate than soldiers, said the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Ly Pascoe, during a conference in New York recently.

Bruce McConchie has extensive global experience within the development area through both government aid projects and NGOs over a period of 35 years.

He says that NGOs hold a distinct advantage in aid projects.

“They are better at reaching the poorest as they operate at grassroots level and are more effective at managing micro-finance initiatives. They commit to the lengthy time frame required to make a difference,” he says.

“They are used to times of strife and operating in an environment of poor communication,” he says.

Providing the resources are still available, the lack of communication isn’t a problem. NGOs operate best on mobilising and encouraging other people.

They are not solely dependent on outside resources and work effectively with what is available in their immediate environment. Change is often not obvious for another 10 to 15 years, he says.

Squatter settlements
Oxfam’s Barry Coates says there has been an increase in squatter settlements around Suva.

Relations between New Zealand and Australia toward Fiji have cooled further after both countries snubbed an attempt by Commodore Bainimarama for a summit with Prime Ministers New Zealand John Key and Australian Kevin Rudd.

Bainimarama expressed frustration with both prime ministers and their attitude at his attempts to rid Fiji of racism and undertake electoral reform before elections in 2014.

An election this year would restore the “racist” government of former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, whom he disposed at gunpoint in 2006, according to The Australian.

Can Fiji sustain itself operating alone in this environment?

“The problems are enormously complex,” says Coates. It is partly due to the coup and partly due to a decline in Fiji’s economy. The textile industry is breaking down as more manufacturing is going to China.

There have been major disruptions in the sugar and tourism industries. The impact on tourism is due to the coup.

Tourists nervous
“It made people nervous about going there with the military running the country,” he says.
The sugar industry and international trade issues are due to European Union policies.

“They are protecting their own distributors.” The EU suspended its $170 million aid package to Fiji’s sugar industry, the second- largest after tourism, following the coup and says future help depends on democracy being restored.

Coates says it is difficult to see how this situation is going to play out in the long term.

“Without the restoration of democracy, the rights of minorities like the Indo-Fijians will suffer,” he says. He believes tension is building and the Fijians are suffering economically.

Pippa Brown is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student who is on the AUT Asia-Pacific Journalism course. Photo: Pacific Media Centre.

PJR targets Fiji censorship, cross-cultural reporting

Pacific Media Centre

Censorship and the assault on human rights and freedom of expression in Fiji are featured in the latest edition of Pacific Journalism Review.

The AUT Pacific Media Centre-based publication, New Zealand's only peer-reviewed international media research journal, publishes this week a special article by an "insider" on the military regime's political and social "reforms".

The 246-page edition, themed around "Diversity, identity and the media" issues, analyses the junta that dealt an unprecedented "mortal blow" to press freedom in the South Pacific's most crucial country for regional cooperation.

The insider article, "Fragments from a Fiji coup diary", concludes that the New Zealand government needs to have "secret contacts" with the Suva regime to help investigate corruption and to help restore the country on the road towards democracy.

In other commentaries, Dr Murray Masterton analyses "culture clash" problems facing foreign correspondents and warns against "arrogance" by Western journalists when reporting the region. Television New Zealand's Sandra Kailahi examines the Pasifika media and Scoop co-editor Selwyn Manning looks at strategic directions in Asia-Pacific geopolitical reporting.

Malcolm Evans contributes a frothy profile of global political cartooning.

Research articles include demographics and independent cross-cultural reporting, media diversity and a NZ Human Rights Commission seminar, the "Asian Angst" controversy and xenophobia over Chinese migration, a Lake Taupo air space media case study, the Clydesdale report deconstructed and New Zealand women's magazines and gossip.

Bill Rosenberg provides the second of two annual New Zealand media ownership and trends surveys compiled for PJR.

"This edition provides some challenging and fresh insights into diversity reporting in New Zealand, from Fiji to Asian stereotypes," says managing editor Associate Professor David Robie.

"But it also celebrates some important achievements."

A strong reviews section includes books about the dark side of the pro-independence movement and media in Tonga, terrorism and e-policies in the Asia-Pacific region, conflict reporting, the making of a US president, editing and design in New Zealand and an extraordinary dissident Burmese political cartoonist.

* Annual subscriptions to Pacific Journalism Review (two editions a year): www.pjreview.info/subscriptions.html

PMC on Media7's censorship in Fiji

Censorship in Fiji [April 16]
Media7 takes a look at the Easter gagging of the Fiji news media. featuring Pacific Media Centre's David Robie, TVNZ's Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and former Fiji Daily Post publisher Thakur Ranjit Singh. See previous Media7 Fiji backgrounder on PMC YouTube.

IPI deplores Fiji crackdown on media

Pacific Media Centre

Authorities in Fiji are removing articles from news websites under emergency rules imposed after a court declared the military-backed government illegal. These actions, combined with censorship of other news reports, represent a concerted effort by the government to block access to information in a time of political crisis, the International Press Institute said today.

The censorship and interference with media in Fiji follow an emergency decree imposed on April 10, a day after an appellate court declared the provisional government led by the army commander, Voreqe Bainimarama, to be illegal. In response to the ruling, President Ratu Josefa Iloilo, a Bainimarama ally, suspended the constitution and abolished the judiciary.

Journalists in Fiji told IPI that government censors have “cleaned up” newspaper websites to remove current as well as archived stories. IPI’s sources also said authorities from the Ministry of Information, backed by police officers, have gone into newsrooms and censored articles due to be published in newspapers.

Bainimarama, who took power in 2006 in a military-backed coup, told Radio New Zealand that the media are to blame for the current political turmoil. But IPI director David Dadge called the accusation a “deplorable attempt to hide the truth at a time of political uncertainty”, and called for an end to censorship and the intimidation of journalists. Dadge said:

The military regime is looking for a convenient excuse to mask its failure to restore order, stabilise the economy and allow Fijians to choose their leaders through the ballot box. Contrary to what the regime says, the media can contribute to better understanding and can ease tension in divided societies, and I fear Mr. Bainimarama’s desire for control will only exacerbate the problems in Fiji .

The Public Emergency Regulations imposed on April 10, along with other directives that impose severe restrictions on the news media, forbid journalists to report critically on politics or the government, or to publish stories perceived as inciting violence. Journalists said even stories about recent civil unrest in Thailand were pulled from newspapers for fear they may incite the local population.

Some newspapers in Fiji have run blank pages as an act of defiance after the authorities banned publication of certain articles. Several foreign journalists have been expelled or barred from entering the country.

Three foreign journalists -- Sia Aston and cameraman Matt Smith from New Zealand’s TV3, and Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Sean Dorney -- were expelled from Fiji on April 13. The government also ordered ABC to disconnect its FM transmitters in the capital Suva and in the tourist town of Nadi. This move also affects Radio New Zealand International, which rebroadcasts programmes via the ABC transmitters.

Fijian journalists have been warned not to speak to foreign media about the situation, and some have been taken into custody for questioning.

Graphic: A Malcolm Evans cartoon for PMC's Pacific Journalism Review adapted by Josephine Latu.

IPI statement
Other media reaction
PMC on Media7 [video]

Fiji regime crackdown on media but calm prevails

By Shailendra Singh in Suva: Pacific Media Centre

Fiji remains calm days after its President has abrogated the constitution, promulgated emergency regulations, and reinstated the 2006 coup leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, as the interim Prime Minister.

Bainimarama’s administration immediately began rule by decree, including a crackdown on the media.

The extraordinary developments followed Thursday’s Appeal Court ruling in the capital declaring that the appointment by President Ratu Josefa Iloilo of Bainimarama and his interim government after the 2000 coup was unlawful.

The challenge was filed by ousted elected Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase against an earlier High Court ruling that upheld the President’s appointment of the interim government.

Hours after the ruling, Bainimarama, in a national address, said he was returning to barracks to comply with the judgment and to await the President’s next move, leaving the nation without a government.

The following day, the President abrogated the constitution, promulgated emergency regulations, dismissed the judiciary and appointed himself as head of state under a new “legal order”.

On Saturday, he predictably reappointed Bainimarama as interim Prime Minister, drawing widespread international condemnation.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully described the move as a serious backward step that would “merely compound the problems faced by ordinary Fijians”.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Bainimarama’s actions had virtually turned Fiji into a military dictatorship, with the suspension of press freedoms and other actions that would undermine prosperity for the ordinary people of Fiji.

Bainimarama, characteristically, thumbed his nose at the international reaction. In his national address on Saturday, he made it clear that elections would be held in 2014 - after the completion of electoral reforms to ensure equality.

He added that the abrogation of the constitution marked a new beginning for Fiji. “We must rid ourselves of our past prejudices, our past negative influences; we must be focused on building a better Fiji,” he said.

Political tensions
Touted as a Pacific Islands tourism paradise, Fiji has suffered four coups in the past 20 years due to political tensions between indigenous Fijians and ethnic Indo-Fijians.

Indigenous Fijians make up 56.8 percent of the 837,000 population, while Indo-Fijians, descendents of cane farm labourers brought to Fiji from India under British colonial rule, make up 37.5 percent.

In 1987, a third-ranked army colonel, Sitiveni Rabuka, staged two military coups in Fiji to prevent what he claimed was an Indian-dominated government from consolidating power.

The third coup in 2000 was staged by failed businessman George Speight, also in the name of indigenous rights.

In 1986, Indo-Fijians made up 51 percent of Fiji’s population but heavy migration since the coups and lower birthrates since the 1960s have seen their numbers steadily decline.

Bainimarama dubbed his coup a “clean up campaign” against what he described as a racist and corrupt government under Qarase.

The international community, led by Australia and New Zealand, rejected this. With the allegations of corruption against Qarase unproven, they upped the pressure on the military strongman after he backed down on a pledge to hold elections in March this year.

Last week’s developments were a surprise turn of events for the two regional powers. Australia and New Zealand were working on the hope that constant pressure, and threats of exclusion from the Commonwealth and the regional political and economic grouping - the Pacific Islands Forum - would eventually cause Bainimarama to capitulate.

Strategy backfired
The strategy seems to have backfired, and Bainimarama has now not only consolidated his hold on power, but also placed further restrictions on freedoms under emergency laws.

All the mainstream news media newsrooms have had plainclothes policemen and information officials vetting the news since Saturday to stop the publication of any material that is “inciteful”.

On Sunday, the nation’s leading daily, The Fiji Times left blank spaces to mark the spots where stories would have been placed and Fiji Television did not run its normal 6pm news bulletins due to the restrictions.

Three foreign journalists - Australia's Pacific correspondent for the ABC, Sean Dorney, and New Zealand TV3's Sia Aston and Matt Smith - have been ordered out of the country.

In the face of all this, Bainimarama indicated that he was willing to work with neighbouring partners, and would contact them in due course with “a plea” for their cooperation, even while stating unequivocally that his government would stay in power until 2014.

This places Australia and New Zealand in a bit of a quandary. Having taken a tough and uncompromising position previously, they would not want to be seen as being cooperative and accommodating at a time when the regime had become even more audacious.

To many, it would seem as if Australia and New Zealand, instead of Bainimarama, had capitulated, and that Bainimarama had taken on, and won over the two regional power brokers.

Some critics have described Australia and New Zealand’s stance towards Fiji as intransigent and unhelpful.

At the Pacific Island Forum leaders meeting in January, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare said he was against moves by Australia to push for Fiji’s suspension from the group as punishment for Bainimarama’s backing down on a pledge to hold elections.

"I am of the strong view that adopting an isolationist approach would not be helpful,” Somare had written in a speech released to the 15 ministers while their meeting was in progress.

Moving ahead
The Fiji Sun daily newspaper, in an editorial on Saturday, had predicted the obvious - the return of the interim government - and said it looked set to rule until 2014: “Like it or not, this is the way it’s going to be. It’s time to start moving ahead.”

The paper called on Australia and New Zealand to rethink their attitudes, travel sanctions and advisories. “They have had minimal impact on those calling the shots here,” it said.

While New Zealand has ruled out trade sanctions against Fiji in consideration of the needs of the general population, Australia has so far refused to rule out more punitive measures.

Fiji’s situation, even before the latest developments, was dire. The Reserve Bank in its latest report had predicted that a 2.4 percent growth forecast for 2009 would not be achieved- the economy has been shaken by the effects of massive floods in January and lower tourism forecasts due to the global recession.

The sugar industry, once the mainstay of the Fiji economy, is also in deep trouble. If the European Union refuses to release the F$350 million allocation for the rehabilitation of the industry, it will mean only further trouble for the people of this poor nation stuck in coup cycle they have no control over.

Shailendra Singh is divisional head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific and a research associate of the Pacific Media Centre at AUT University.

Cafe Pacific
Croz Walsh's Fiji
Pacific Media Watch

Fiji media review calls for 'proactive' role on standards

By Josephine Latu: Pacific Media Watch

An independent review initiated by the Fiji Media Council has called for serious improvements in the council’s operations.

The review, made public in Fiji last week, challenged the council to be more “proactive” in attaining journalistic standards, promoting ethical codes, and “to be seen as a body committed equally to press freedom and press responsibility”.

Recommendations include patching up an inefficient complaints process, dealing out tougher penalties as a self-regulatory body, hiring a permanent and paid executive secretary, and doubling its funding.

The Fiji Media Council initiated the review in response to public criticism, including a controversial and damning report by Hawai’i-based academic Dr James Anthony, organised by the Fiji Human Rights Commission (FHRC) in 2007.

The military-backed interim government last year vowed to introduce a media “promulgation” law and the draft is believed to be based in part on some Anthony report recommendations widely condemned by news organisations.

Written by three nominated consultants - Australian Press Council executive secretary Jack Herman, consultant on environmental issues Suliana Siwaibatu and attorney Barrie Sweetman - the new review was conducted during February.

The review team considered 26 submissions from members of the public, NGOs, members of government as well as media representatives plus other reports and documents.
The panel also conducted its own interviews.

While commending current council chair Daryl Tarte over his efforts, the review noted a strong dissatisfaction apparent in many submissions. These held that “the Media Council has not performed to its own high ideals”, especially over media responsibility.

The review noted that this was partly because of a lack of financial support for the council, but also “largely a result of the fact that the council has not pursued more vigorously, or adequately followed up, outcomes of the complaints process”.

It called for all media organisations to be more committed to upholding journalistic and ethical standards.

Key review recommendations include:

• Improving the complaints process by:
- Appointing a paid executive secretary to deal with complaints quickly and attentively;
- Offering face-to-face mediation as an alternative dispute resolution;
- Clarifying the basis of complaints;
- Supplementing adjudication with a "series of graduated penalties", including censure; and
- Allowing public members of the council to act as media monitors.

• Cultivating relationships with government in the interest of media freedom. The Department of Information, as a member of the council, also needs to use this opportunity to foster a positive relationship with media.

• More responsibility to the general public through:
- Promoting the council by reporting regularly to the public through NGOs, website and forums;
- Actively pursuing its own objectives of improving media standards and condemning ethical breaches; and
- Encouraging public members to raise issues of concern, and even act as mediators in the complaints process.

• Better administration through:
- Appointing a paid administrator (executive secretary) on a permanent part-time - but preferably full-time - position, along with an equipped office and on a fixed salary equivalent to F$20,000-F$30,000 a year;
- Revising the role of the council chair to play no part in the adjudication process, and fixing an
honorarium of F$6000-F$10,000 for the position.

• Recommendations for funding:
- Stronger support from media organisations in order to be effective. The review “does not think
the media meet their own standard for self-regulation at this time”;
- Double income (at least) by increasing fees, but still not relying on any government funding;
- Further pressure on non-member media organisations, including online news sites such as Fiji
Village and Fijilive, to join the council and support its aims through “fees and commitment”;
- Holding an annual meeting for member media organisations to discuss budget; and
- Looking to NGOs and national and international aid agencies for sponsorship of projects such as training and forums.

• Other recommendations:
- Current Fiji Media Council membership is 19. As membership increases to an unwieldy size,
this may be reduced to five industry members (one representing journalists themselves), five public members and the chair;
- Public membership should be advertised as widely as possible and nominees undergo a screening process;
- Representation of journalist and advertising associations on the council;
- Promote more media training and address journalists’ low starting salary;
- Clarify the council’s corporate status in the constitution – it should be a company limited by
guarantee rather than a company limited by shareholding;
- Campaign for a Freedom of Information law; and
- Encourage higher media standards as part of Fiji’s nation-building process.

Full text of the Fiji Media Council review at Pacific Media Watch

Another side to the Fiji coup and media freedom

Review by Thakur Ranjit Singh, Auckland: PMC

Media7, TV New Zealand’s digital TV channel news analysis programme, convened a panel discussion on February 5 about the reporting of the ongoing saga of Fiji politics and how New Zealand is perceived as a "bully". Leading independent journalist Russell Brown was presenter and interviewer and the panel members were:

Dr David Robie - former head of the University of the South Pacific’s journalism school in Suva and now associate professor and director of AUT University's Pacific Media Centre. He also operates the Café Pacific blog.

Barbara Dreaver - Pacific affairs reporter for TVNZ who was denied entry into Fiji, detained and sent packing back to NZ by the interim regime.

Robert Khan - managing director of the Auckland-based Hindi station Radio Tarana that brings in local news about Fiji.

Russell Brown handled the discussion very ably, allowing all panelists to give their views and presented thoughts and questions that smoothly ran through the programme and maintained the momentum. There was never a dull moment.

The speakers well represented the width and breadth of media, ranging from a media educator with good exposure to Fiji and the Pacific, a practising journalist who has been in the thick of Fiji reporting and an Indo-Fijian proprietor of the leading Hindi radio station that has been the voice of Fiji in Auckland.

David Robie eloquently narrated and critically analysed Fiji in a way that other Kiwi journalists have failed to do. He displayed maturity and understanding that sadly is lacking in his peers in NZ. He was right to point out that the last coup was the result of unresolved issues and problems, but it appears NZ leadership has not been interested in listening to this. It would be nice if Prime Minister John Key’s administration pick that up because it appears his new government has failed to appreciate what David Robie had been saying. He echoed my views that NZ media had been wanting in proper reporting and analysis of Fiji issues. They are unaware why change has to come, as they fail to appreciate the situation.

Dr Robie summed up the situation well by stating that while no coups are good, the last one by Commodore Frank Bainimarama was for a better vision for Fiji, to inculcate multiracialism among other objectives, whereas the past coups were ethno-nationalist takeovers based on promoting the supremacy of one particular race.

Simplistic view
Robert Khan was correct in pointing out that his organisation, Radio Tarana, seems to understand the Fiji situation well while other mainstream media take a simplistic view of the country. There appears to be a dearth of journalist in NZ who understand Fiji well. This is because those media organisations do not have people who understand Fiji. In contrast, Tarana has Fiji-born reporters.

Robert Khan was critical of Fiji media and even went to the extent of accusing various media organisations of having a political agenda but was too cautious to give any examples. He mentioned Fiji Television and expected others to fill in the gap, instead of answering the question on political affiliation he posed the question to the panel. He appeared to have been too expedient and minced his words but Barbara Dreaver took this opportunity to praise Fiji Television journalists rather than criticise them for anything.

Barbara Dreaver’s explanation of why John Key’s accusation against the Fiji interim Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, that he should be tried was downplayed by NZ media was waffled and unconvincing. Her reason was time difference and the media had gone to sleep. She failed to tell that they did wake up the following morning, yet we failed to hear anything about this. One can be excused for saying that while NZ media takes any opportunity to slate Bainimarama, they downplayed Key’s slip up perhaps to protect him and reflect him in a better light.

Robert Khan was frank in this instance to say that Key’s statement on Sayed-Khaiyum was perceived by Indo-Fijians that Key had gone to Port Moresby for the Pacific Islands Forum meeting with a set mind and agenda and went more to tell rather than listen and understand the situation.

The flaw in NZ media was further reflected by their coverage announcing that Bainimarama had said that elections would be held in 10 years time. The translation showed that what actually was said was that it could take up to 5 to 10 years. Hence NZ media need to treat Fiji with greater respect and with a better standard of reporting than the sloppiness which has been quite evident.

Robert Khan was again on the side of caution and expediency when discussing Fairfax journalist Michael Field. While he said Field deserved a proper hearing for his deportation, he failed to mention that if Field was such an experienced reporter then how come Kiwis were so ignorant about Fiji. If somebody who claims to have virtually spent his lifetime in the Pacific and Fiji reporting, then he owes a moral obligation to use his experience curve and his contact with mainstream NZ media in better informing and analysing the Fiji situation to the ignorant Kiwis who still cannot appreciate the real situation there. He failed Fiji in that respect.

Game plan lacking
Barbara Dreaver came out as somebody who did appreciate the Fiji situation when she categorically stated that there was nothing wrong with Bainimarama’s vision on Fiji. It is very good and there is great deal of support for it in Fiji. She is perfectly right in this regard. She added that what was lacking was the game plan and how things were done. The fact that Bainimarama keeps changing his mind was identified as a problem that retards any progress in achieving that vision. One major issue identified was the constant changing of his mind by the military boss.

David Robie was bold in being critical of his government and he appears to be one of the few Kiwi analysts who are prepared to do this. He agrees that NZ is not realistic in time table. Bainimarama wishes to change the electoral process and there is a fair amount of support for this. However, this is not reflected in the NZ media. The People's Charter process involved a large number of qualified and talented people to forge a way forward and Dr Robie echoed the view of Robert Khan that there was a need to look at solutions and attempts made at resolving unresolved issues to avoid future coups. One was a change in an unfair electoral system where the race-based system favours the rural voters, who have up to twice the weighting for their votes when compared to their urban cousins.

In summing up, Robert Khan echoed the sentiments that I have been stressing in and around NZ media since December 2006. A coup is no solution. Worse than a coup is a failed coup and NZ could contribute to this failure if it maintains its non-compromising stance. Khan reiterated what has been said often that democracy in Fiji is different from that in NZ in that it has to take control of the situation and help arrive at a solution to avoid future coups. Well said, but who will tell this to John Key’s policy writers and bureaucrats in the Beehive who themselves are uninformed about Fiji.

In summary, this was a topical and pertinent subject, well presented and well covered. The only hope is that John Key gets to watch this or at least get to read this review. Such coverage of important issues fills up the vacuum that is left by the mainstream media which shows a pathetic attitude to Fiji in particular and Pacific in general.

One umbrella
If there was a prize available, I would award it to David Robie for his display of profound understanding on the Fiji issue and ability to analyse this in simple terms for everybody to understand. Nevertheless, all the panelists were great and showed their respective acumen in their area of specialty.

If Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials listened to a such panel discussion and such frank discussion and analysis on Fiji, they need not cut and paste Labour party’s foreign policy on Fiji.

John Key displayed his conciliatory temperament and humility at home with the Maori people when he brought two diametrically opposed politicians - Rodney Hide and Dr Peter Sharples - under one umbrella. Had he displayed similar skills at Port Moresby in his treatment of Fiji, then commentators like me would have no reason to accuse him of clinging on to Helen Clark’s petticoat in determining foreign policy on Fiji.

Thakur Ranjit Singh is a political commentator on Fiji issues and a former publisher of the Fiji Daily Post. Pictured: TVNZ's Barbara Dreaver.

Media7 on Fiji video - Feb 5
Media7 on YouTube
Fiji programme on YouTube
Another side of the NZ media - Fiji Times, Feb 19

PMC's director criticises NZ 'bluster' on Fiji

95bfm's Bjornar caught Pacific Media Centre's director David Robie on the hop just before the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) special leaders meeting to discuss the region's strategy over Fiji. Dr Robie gave wide-ranging views about the Pacific media and politics and was highly critical of Australia and New Zealand's regional "bluster".

>> Listen to Bjornar's interview