Acting Military Commander Colonel Pita Driti has attacked Fiji's largest newspaper The Fiji Times again - and also Fiji Television. He claims both news organisatons are biased against the military. Without specifying the instances of alleged bias, the Land Force Commander Pita Driti, in a military statement issued yesterday, said both media outlets should be shut down. 29 March. Fijivillage.com/Pacific Media Watch.
Review Says Media Council Must 'Work on' Government Relations
The Fiji Media Council Review report says the council needs to take the initiative to work on the relationship between the government and the media.It says the relationship between a government and a free media is never an easy one. Titled "Free and Responsible: Towards a More Effective Media Council", the report says the adversarial nature of the relationship is worsened in Fiji where political instability has been a feature of the environment over the past 25 years.It states: "There is, as a result, a heightened sense of hostility between the government and the media, particularly when the media are seen as vocal opponents of government proposals."However, the report says it is not the job of the Media Council to be a partisan of either side in this relationship.
The report further states that the Media Council has been perceived as not projecting itself sufficiently as a credible advocate for a free and a responsible media.It is the review’s belief that the government has no place in the regulation of the media and should encourage responsibility as far as possible, through its existing membership of the Fiji Media Council.
Prepared by a three-member team led by [Australian Press Council executive secretary] Jack Herman, and comprising [civil society advocate Suliana Siwatibau and [media lawyer] Barrie Sweetman, the findings are based on submissions and oral interviews. 29 March 2009. Pacific Media Watch/Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Ltd. * See full text of the Report at www.pacmediawatch.aut.ac.nz
New Zealand Aid: Criticisms of Proposed New Focus
NZ Foreign Affairs Minister seems bent on changing NZ's Aid focus away from poverty reduction to economic development. One of his ideas for development is to subsidise certain Air New Zealand flights to Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands. His proposals have met with strong opposition from the NGO community and others. See Megan Anderson's report.
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