(-+) Media Bias? Decide for Yourself: Two Reports on Development at Navai Village

Two journalists, Geraldine Panapasa from the Fiji Times and Robert Matau from Islands Business, both visited remote Navai village, close to Nadarivatu in upper Naitasiri, last week. They travelled together, listened and spoke to the same people, and wrote reports so different you'd wonder they were describing the same village. Geraldine's title "From Potatoes to Kava" dwells on landscape, social commentary and events in the 1960s and mid-1970s, with a some hints of government action and inaction in 2009. Robert's "Turning Nadarivatu into a Green Bowl" also has some "lighter" content but his main focus is on today's Government initiatives to foster green vegetables production and Navai development.

Compare also Geraldine's report of what villager Lepani Mudu had to say:

"Two years ago, the Minister for Agriculture, Jainend Kumar visited the village and told us he would provide assistance to help us with agriculture production for export ...Somewhere along the line, dirty politics prevented us from attaining a market for potato export," he claimed. "We were told our potatoes had insects and there was no market for it."

with Robert's report:

But one name they will never forget is that of the late Jainend Kumar, former interim agricultural minister, who tirelessly braved the highlands of Nadarivatu to help the farmers. It was on Kumar's insistence and foresight that a phoenix has now been resurrected from the so-called ashes in the highest plains of Viti Levu. "This is why this is our government. They have offered us an alternative in vegetable farming," said Mudu.

Geraldine wrote vaguely of "more government assistance." Robert wrote of the purpose of their journey, the Nadarivatu project: "... part of government's Import Substitution and Export Promotion Project to encourage farmers to increase production so that it does not have to spend millions to import vegetables from overseas. Government has provided capsicum, lettuce, English cabbage and tomato seeds to about 75 farmers in a bid to help them with food security as well as a source of livelihood.These farmers plant vegetables on 25 hectares of land in Navai and Nadrala and have recorded various results in harvesting but with high quality yields."We anticipate better production now that we have been promised the coolers," said Mudu.

Robert went on to describe Fiji's dependence on vegetable imports (F$218 million vegetables and vegetable products in 2008) and the importance of the Government project for the tourism industry. Geraldine wrote nothing on either. Whether her report had government-positive content edited out or whether this was just her style, there's no way of knowing, but there's no doubt which report is more informative.

I shall provide a Rotuma example of Government development initiatives and further media omission in my next post, (+) Government Helps Rotuma Development

* Thank you Son of Fiji for your comment to my post (+) Media Restrictions: Like it or Not, the Govern...": that drew my attention to these two stories. Click for the full Fiji Times and Islands Business stories.