Cogito, ergo sum. I think, therefore I am. (René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher,1599-1650)

Wednesday 29 February 2012

News and Comment Wednesday 29 February 2012

MEDIA FREEDOM SITUATION IN FIJI.  Interviews on YouTube,

PNG CRACKS DOWN ON INTERNET  dissent.  We'd have heard of this, courtesy of RadioNZ International and other "unbiased" media, had it been Fiji.
TONGA SUPPRESSED REPORT. Click here. We'd also have heard of this!
BLOG ATTACKS MICHAEL FIELD. Click here.

NAMOSI JOINT MINING VENTURE website.
 
 THANKS TO FIJI FOR PEACEKEEPERS.  The  Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) director-general, Ambassador David Satterfield has thanked Fiji  for her endless support. “I’m delighted to be here in Fiji, to have the opportunity to formally thank the Fijian Government and the Fijian armed forces for the superb work that Fijian soldiers have done, men and women in Sinai with the MFO since we stood up almost 30 years ago this April,” Ambassador Satterfield said. He was welcomed with a 50-person Guard of Honour at Nausori International Airport and later made courtesy calls on the PM, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, and the Minister of Defence, Joketani Cokanasiga. Readers will recall that Australia and NZ have made repeated calls for Fiji to be excluded from UN peacekeeping duties.

THE FAKE PHOTO.  The Coup4.5 "apologists" (excuse the pun) have defended Coup4.5 by saying it was satire and obvious fun.  Well, it fooled almost all of its readers who commented.  They did not think it as satire or a bit of fun.  They took it at face value. Yet you'd hardly say Coup4.5 is too clever for its readers. Would you?
 

FIJI RANKED THIRD BEST TOURIST DESTINATION. Norway and the USA were ranked first and second.

CHURCH HEAD ON RAPE CHARGE. The case in relation to the Head of All Nations Church Epeli Ratabacaca will now be called before Suva High Court Judge Justice Paul Madigan.

MOI BRIEFS. 1.Ministry Responds to PM’s Call - The Ministry of Local Government, Urban Development, Housing and Environment today donated cash and kind assistance to the Ministry of Provincial Development and National Disaster Management. 2. MINISTER FOR WOMEN TO TOUR WEST - The Minister for Social Welfare, Women and Poverty Alleviation Dr Jiko Luveni will tour this western division to meet with women groups beginning tomorrow and ending on 16 February. 3. BALANCED APPROACH NEEDED: DR LUVENI - Addressing the issue of teenage pregnancy needs a balanced approach. While awareness is one side of the coin, getting youths to work together to curb this social stigma is as equally important. 4. WAF lends a hand to flood appeal - In an effort to restore the lives of those that were affected during the recent flooding, management and staff of the Water Authority of Fiji this morning contributed $3704.15 to the Prime Ministers flood appeal. 5.People’s health comes first: Seruiratu  People living in evacuation centers will not be told to return to their homes for the sake of emptying the centers. That was the assurance given the Ministry of Provincial Development permanent secretary Mr Inia Seruiratu. 6. Revocation Of The Environment Management (Waste Disposal And Recycling) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 And The Environment Management (Container Deposit) Regulations 2011 - Cabinet has approved the revocation of the Environment Management (Container Deposit) Regulations 2011 and the Environment Management (Waste Disposal and Recycling) (Amendment) Regulations 2012.  7. Cabinet Approves Drafting of Optometrist Decree - Cabinet has approved the drafting of a law to regulate the practice of optometrists. The law would be known as the Optometrist Decree. 8.Cabinet Approves Amendment To The Public Hospitals And Dispensary Act On The Board Of Visitors - Cabinet has agreed that the relevant sections of the Public Hospitals and Dispensary Act dealingwith the Board of Visitors be amended. The Public Hospitals and Dispensaries Act Cap 110 is an existing Act for the regulation of public hospitals and dispensaries and includes schedule of charges in public hospitals.

11 comments:

Get Your Facts right said...

Croz
Get your facts right. The MFO has nothing to do with the UN!!!!

Crosbie Walsh said...

Thanks. I've made the correction.

Croz 4.5 said...

Croz,
You really are getting desperate to discredit people.

1- You find a blog post from 2009 about Michael Field that has no facts in it what so ever in an attempt to discredit him. In your own words posting a story like that is worthy of C4.5 and not a highly principled blog like yours.
2- The news on PNG was a TVNZ report. Why the snide remark on radion NZ. I grant you it would be news faster if it happened in Fiji but that has more to do with the online opposition in Fiji is more organized having been in operation for 5 years.
3- As we saw from the Youtube video, the Fiji Sun will continue to publish the government stories with no questioning, whilst the Fiji Times is exploring how far it can go before it gets challenged under the media decree. That is hardly press freedom.
4- I assume your point about the Tonga story is that Tonga does not have Freedom of Information so that makes it OK for Fiji to have zero transparency in the Regiomes Decision making

Anonymous said...

So given your tone...you would claim fiji is not worth condemning because other do it too or it would be okay if they were condemned with others who appear to have a tendency to be likeminded? Like the 'it's okay for Fiji to have a coup because we had a coup before and no-one really cared then ...or perhaps fiji's measure is not western forms of liberalised and free media but against burma and russia where they are happy to be compared.Perhaps fiji should aim higher...not race to the bottom of but they do it too or they are worse than us...the fact is Aus and Nz can publish and chose to, but apparently not in fiji.

Gutter Press said...

Crosbie
Re ‘the’ photo -
Fijians are the world’s best at being able to poke fun at themselves and each other with a smile on their faces. Direct, sometimes heavy handed, humour is their forte, however satire and irony aren’t their strongest suits.

You know this. Why then are you labouring the point by asking if Coup 4.5 is too clever for its own readers, of which you are evidently one?

Gutter Press said...

Crosbie

The link you provided to the summary of Dr Pulu’s book is interesting. She says:
"After I had completed the research, the evidence gathered was to the contrary. The allegations made by government against the former administration and the construction companies working on the project were simply that - unsubstantiated allegations.”

I agree with you – it does seem biased of the ANZ press not to have publicised Dr Pulu’s report, However seeing as her allegation seems to parallel the situation in Fiji I hardly think press publication would work in this government’s favour.

Gutter Press said...

Crosbie
The PNG internet article’s byline was TVNZ (as well as Pacific Media Watch). So perhaps not all ANZ government sponsored media is biased against Fiji.
Not a good turn of events there, but for all that there’s no point in Fiji measuring itself against the lowest common denominator.

By the way, today’s Fiji Sun outdid itself with a splendid headline – “Thumbs Up”, above a picture of an American chap with both thumbs raised.

If such amusing satire is going to make a regular appearance in the Fiji Sun then I’ll definitely start supporting the paper again.

Gutter Press said...

Crosbie

Sorry to be so prolific in this post's comments, but you mentioned in your commentary on an earlier article “He said it. He said it not”, that Ratu Tevita Mara claimed to have documents that would prove Bainimarama’s plans for coups in 2000 and 2004 and 2005 - but that he, Vijay Lal and Russell Hunter have not made the documents available for inspection.

The links below are to documents posted on the website http://www.truthforfiji.com/
They purport to be genuine however it's impossible to say since signatures can be cut and pasted.
Nevertheless they might make interesting reading for you and blog readers on both sides of the divide

http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/col_tuatoko_statement-combined.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/col_g_kadavulevus_advice-opt.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/col_raduvas_report-offence_about_to_be_committed-opt.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/col_tarakinikinis_statement.jpg
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/col_waganisau-ceohome_affairs_statement_opt.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/col_waqanisau-ps_home_affairs-bais_definace_of_comdr_in_chief.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/ratu_silatolus_letter_opt.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/office_of_the_president-unprofessional_conduct_by_commander_rfmf.pdf
http://www.truthforfiji.com/uploads/8/4/2/3/8423704/rfmf_board_of_inquiry_report_opt.pdf

The Event Horizon of a Very Black Hole said...

Slowly, slowly the Truth bubbles up? Like poisonous marsh gas in a Scottish bog. The Land of the Piper and of the Lament. Hallowed Home of the Black Watch.

We have always known, have we not, that those who turn their backs to us are the Enemies of Peace. They drink to drown the betrayal of our trust, their despicable cowardice and the ever increasing Litany of Lies.

"History always punishes those who arrive late".

(Mikhail Gorbachev - The Man with whom we may do Business)

Did we exchange views on this with Mr Sergei Lavrov?

Our recollections and our memories are honed like polished steel. We shall never permit anyone to lie to us TWICE. No matter who you are, there is no escape from mendacity. Never, so long as we live to tell it how it was.

The unavenged dead shall rise from their graves with the dawning of reason and light. Not too far away - just before the event horizon of a very, very Black Hole.

"We're all getting on with our dinner" said...

Media Freedom in Fiji...?

"We're all getting on with eating our dinner". (Paul Conroy - British Journalist rescued from Homs, Syria)

Shining a light on darkness - is that what the Fiji media do? Make a judgement on it. And learn to live with the consequences.

Paul Conroy believes that witness must be born to horror and to terror. So did the late Marie Colvin. A legacy and a testament for future generations.

We appear not to have a resource of Conroys and Colvins in the South Pacific Region. No one willing to 'send up the silence', or 'shine a light on profound darkness'. This leads to despair and to death. Fifteen suicides in Fiji since January 1 2012 - with 11 attempted suicides. Are these statistics correct?

Someone should set aside their dinner to find out.

Islands in the Stream said...

Over the Edge of the Event Horizon and into the Black Hole....!

There are one or two entities from the past that deserve to be pushed ever so firmly across the event horizon to be anatomized: for the Good of Us All.

All past political parties should qualify for this fate. Every single one. None deserves to survive - unreformed, uninspirational, unaccountable and riven with conflicted interests as they all are. Political Parties in Fiji require a Makeover from Fox Studios/MGM/or Bollywood. They should be completely 'reborn', re-cast and reinvented to suit a 21st Century democratic and liberal mould. New, educated (widely and soundly educated)young leaders with fire and vision and an implementable plan with KPIs. A PPE or three? With the emphasis on the philosophy and the economics. Politics can come later. Who will come up with a Rhodes Scholarship equivalent or why not the real thing?

Let's think about it!