Fiji editor walk outs at Pacific media meet
Created: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:05:53 GMT+1200
Sean Dorney, Australia Network correspondent
Last Updated: 7 hours 26 minutes ago
The Editor-in-Chief of the Fiji Times has walked out of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) conference in Vanuatu, in protest at having to share a panel with the Fiji interim government's censor.
The editor, Netani Rika said he could not sit with the people who were showing the Fiji media "no respect back at home" and excused himself from the panel.
Earlier, Mr Rika delivered an address to a conference session called "Shooting the messenger: Intimidation and violence against Pacific Media practitioners".
Mr. Rika had detailed instances of intimidation and harassment his journalists had faced from the military-led government.
The representative from the Fiji Ministry of Information, Lance Corporal Talei Tora defended the country's severe censorship saying the Fiji media were irresponsible.
Media delegates from other island countries questioned the presence of the lance corporal.
Other delegates suggested Fiji's Information Ministry should be expelled from PINA membership because of its role in enforcing the military-led government's censorship of the news in Fiji.
Sean Dorney moderated the panel involving Netani Rika.
- INTELLIGENT RESISTANCE -
Free. Fair. Fearless. Intelligentsiya is made up of Fiji Islanders who are libertarians in their own way and who cherish the free flow of news, ideas and information and will peacefully resist any attempts by the country's military rulers to stifle free speech. intelligentsiya will also bear witness, report and discuss human rights abuses by the authorities.
July 28, 2009
Egg on your face MUCH Lance Corporal Talei Tora?
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1 comment:
Good on you Netani! Stand up for your rights as a journalist and all your fellow gagged journos. How can one speak when you're gagged???
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