Power to the press (blogs and all)

Today the world marks Media Freedom Day and in Fiji, now more than ever, we must reflect on the basics of a free press and what it means in a country in a perpetual state of “emergency”.

Intelligentsiya was born after journalists became too intimidated because of direct or indirect threats against them or their organisations by the military who seized power on December 5, 2006. We continue to aim to be an outlet for level-headed opinion, report events that don’t get mainstream coverage and express “intelligent resistance” to the military junta that is in power – all rights guaranteed to us in the Constitution.

This year, blogs have thrust themselves into Fiji and the world’s media spotlight as a free, anonymous way to express views and news, not all of them palatable or true. Still, it shows the media landscape during this coup has dramatically changed, with the mainstream media often picking up items from blogs and broadcasting widely.

In all our reporting we did make about two mistakes – notably the one about a death in Vanua Levu at the hands of soldiers. A man was indeed beaten badly, a fact that the military did not expressly deny. The only denial was that the man did not die. We are not making excuses for the mistake but it does illustrate the difficulties in reporting in a country with a climate of fear – trying to obtain basic information is hard because people are afraid of the consequences of speaking out.

If Fiji's media was truly uninitimidated, they would have travelled to Vanua Levu (we have a name and village of the man in question which was passed on to some journalists) and tried to find out exactly what happened to the man, who was apparently missing from his village after the beating. But, this did not happen, and the military succeeded in putting more fear into journalists.

Today we hail all the brave journalists of our region among them the late Robert Keith-Reid, who was never afraid to tell it like it is, and Michael Field, who kindly allowed a special feature he wrote to be published on Intelligentsiya, pointing to the likelihood of another coup.

In the argument for a free media, the military is always suggesting that the media has been “irresponsible” at times deliberately. But on the whole, reporters face an uphill battle trying to get “official” comment from the powers that be and often have to deal with aggressive military-types while reporting.

To all journalists in Fiji and abroad, facing such intimidation, remember it is a battle of the minds. Do not be intimidated by the threats, direct or indirect. And while this may be easy to say, we realise the reality is not always pretty. So ultimately it comes down to the individual journalists, and whether they have the heart, passion and courage to face down military oppression.

Stay safe and freedom for all.