Four Informed Views on Fiji before the 2014 Election, and RNZ Cancels my planned talks

Peni Moore pn265

What four informed people had to say on Bryan Crump's RNZ Nights' Symposium Fiji programme in 2010.  The four were Nik Naidu of the NZ Coalition for Democracy in Fiji, Richard Pamatatau RNZ Pacific Issues Correspondent, Fiji citizen and NGO Women's Action for Change co-founder the late Peni Moore who passed away in 2016, and myself. 

 I thought Bryan did an excellent job  convening.

Nik Naidu

The main issues raised were coups and democracy, media freedom, poverty and the economy, and where Fiji was heading.  Nik thought the situation was a mix of good and bad, Richard that it was all bad, Peni that a process was in place and things were moving forward, and I largely agreed with Peni.  Click here to listen.  It's rather long, 40 minutes, so you may care to take a coffee break half way through.


My further interviews cancelled

Earlier, I had two interviews on Nights, which I will publish some other time. Further planned interviews were halted because Bryan said,  "It's not what a lot of my colleagues want to hear." 

 This action was criticized by AUT Prof of Journalism David Robbie and, perhaps surprisingly, by Cameron Slater in WhaleOil in an article "Fiji and Censorship."

This is some of what David wrote:

WHAT ON earth has happened to Radio New Zealand? Or rather, Nights host Bryan Crump? He has apparently dumped professor adjunct Crosbie Walsh, the most informed New Zealand-based blogger and commentator on Fiji affairs (naturally you would expect this calibre as former and founding director of the development studies programme at the University of the South Pacific). Walsh is such a tonic after the plethora of one-eyed and sensationalist anti-Fiji blogs that clutter cyberspace. 

According to Walsh, Crump rang him last night, saying he didn't want the blogger/commentator on any more on Nights programmes. Why? Apparently because Walsh "feels too strongly" on Fiji issues (why not? ... he lived there for more than eight years) and he "borders on the emotional" for this programme.
Crump added: "It's not what a lot of my colleagues want to hear." Take this as you wish.

Three more planned programmes on nights for Walsh for June, September and November have been canned. 

Crump (pictured right - Radio NZ image) reckons the Nights spot works best with "commentators" and Crosbie is seen as an "advocate".

In fact, Walsh goes to great lengths to get some sort of balance in his blog commentaries, something sorely missing with many media commentators on Fiji. To be fair to Crump, he did invite Walsh to a symposium on Fiji later this year and, according to Walsh, was keen to interview him early next year. (Next year never happened. Ed.)

From all reports, Walsh had an enthusiastic response to previous Nights programmes. This has got Café Pacific wondering, especially when it is considered how unbalanced both Radio New Zealand and Radio Australia frequently are on Fiji commentaries. Opponents of the regime regularly have a field day, but many commentators who try to provide a bit more depth into explaining the Fiji "revolution", as Auckland University's Centre for Pacific Studies political sociologist Dr Steven Ratuva described it last week, or are not sufficiently PC or are too "soft" on the regime, are sidelined............