HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTING MEDIA WORKSHOP IN FIJI: Strange choice to hold regional media freedom workshop in a land where human rights are heavily restricted and media freedom is banned by draconian decree

14/4/2016

"The Regional Human Rights and Media Forum has been re-scheduled to 13-15 April due to Cyclone Winston. It is to be held in Nadi and is sponsored by the Pacific Community, PACMAS, the European Union and PINA. The knowledge and insights gained by many of the journalists present will be useless to them in their daily working lives. Media freedom has been abolished in Fiji - in concept and in practice – by an all-embracing media law that in effect prohibits publication or broadcast of all and any material that might offend the regime. It is backed by massive fines and worse for those who dare to contravene it and is overseen by the strangely named Media Industry Development Authority.
So why hold such an event in Fiji?"

Hunter

By RUSSELL HUNTER

It remains to be seem how Fiji will – if at all – celebrate World Media Freedom Day next month - 3 May. For in a land where media freedom is banned by decree there would seem little reason to mark the occasion.

In fact in 2009 UNESCO pointedly held an important regional Media Freedom Day event in Samoa as opposed to the traditional venue of Fiji. There was a strong contingent of Fiji journalists present.

That was then. This is now.

Now a team of regional bodies are again supporting an important human rights and media freedom workshop – in Fiji where human rights are, to be generous, restricted and where media freedom does not exist.

The Regional Human Rights and Media Forum has been re-scheduled to 13-15 April due to Cyclone Winston. It is to be held in Nadi and is sponsored by the Pacific Community, PACMAS, the European Union and PINA
.
As is common in such regional gatherings, the host nation, in this case Fiji, provides the biggest single delegation.

Attendees will learn much about rights reporting, media freedom and associated subjects. The promotional material makes much of the importance of human rights and the meeting aims to help the media be the “voice of the voiceless”.

But the knowledge and insights gained by many of the journalists present will be useless to them in their daily working lives.

Media freedom has been abolished in Fiji - in concept and in practice – by an all-embracing media law that in effect prohibits publication or broadcast of all and any material that might offend the regime. It is backed by massive fines and worse for those who dare to contravene it and is overseen by the strangely named Media Industry Development Authority.

So why hold such an event in Fiji?

Fijileaks asked the question of the PC, EU and PACMAS. We also sent inquiries to MIDA.

Only the PC and PACMAS replied. Their replies are set out in full below but both insist that logistics was the overriding concern in that Fiji is the most convenient hub for Pacific islands personnel to gather.

And in what may be an unheralded change of heart by MIDA, neither the PC nor PACMAS was required to submit personnel and curriculum details of this meeting for MIDA approval, though MIDA has made it clear in the past that it would need to authorise both in advance.

Fijileaks invited MIDA to comment but received no reply.

Yet the Rights and Media Forum program contains the likes of:

Protecting Freedoms – Media Freedom, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Information.

Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Information.

Covering Corruption and Promoting Good Governance.

Investigative Journalism and Controversial Human Rights Issues.

All are vital elements of any rights and media conference. None can be applied in the host nation, Fiji.

Here are the responses in full from the Pacific Community and PACMAS:

Mark Atterton,
Deputy Director – Social Development Division
Head of Human Rights Programme - Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT)
The Regional Human Rights and Media Forum is being jointly convened by the Pacific Community (SPC), the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme (PACMAS), the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and the School of Journalism at the University of the South Pacific (USP).

The forum focuses on the theme ‘Enhancing a Human Rights-based Approach to News Reporting’ and has the following objectives: to explore, and deepen understanding of, the role of the media in promoting and protecting human rights in the Pacific; to strengthen knowledge of the media and the law, and how domestic and international law and human rights standards impact news reporting; and to build capacity in human rights and gender-sensitive reporting in newsrooms.

Decisions related to the location and logistics were made collectively by the co-organisers. We selected Nadi, Fiji, based on various factors, including cost effectiveness and the ease of travel access for participants from across the region. SPC, through its Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT), has chosen the speakers in partnership with PACMAS.

Fiji’s Ministry of Information has been invited to attend the forum, along with representatives of Information Ministries from other Pacific Island countries. There is no other Fiji Government involvement in this event.

SPC is a non-political organisation. We provide a range of technical support in the area of human rights to all our member countries, of which Fiji is one.

Domenic Friguglietti
Head International Development, ABC International
(On behalf of PACMAS)

I'd like to seek your on-record comments regarding the recent Human Rights Reporting Media Workshop due to be held in Nadi (and now, I think, re-scheduled following the devastating arrival of TC Winston). I understand it was co-sponsored by Pacmas.

[DF - PACMAS is a major sponsor of the Human Rights Based Journalism workshop organised by the SPC’s Regional Rights Resource Team. The SPC submitted a funding proposal to PACMAS in 2015 and support was offered on the basis that the workshop aligned closely with PACMAS’s core objective – to support the development of diverse, independent and professional media that promotes informed and meaningful public discourse.]

Why would you wish to hold a rights and media freedom workshop in a land where human rights are very heavily restricted and media freedom is banned by decree?

[DF - The decision of where to hold such an event is assessed carefully. Access for participants is often a key driver and the decision to hold it in Fiji was jointly agreed with the SPC.]

What benefit would this meeting be to journalists and rights activists in Fiji?

[DF - The PACMAS approach has always been one of support for and inclusion of Pacific media practitioners from across the region. This includes Fiji.]

Fiji's MIDA has declared it would vet all such meetings and their speakers. Were you subject to any requests, demands or guidance from MIDA or the Fiji government regarding this meeting?

[DF - We are not aware of any demand(s) from MIDA or the Fiji Government regarding this workshop.]

The meeting introductory notes spoke of the media being a "voice for the voiceless" yet the meeting was to be held in a country where the voiceless are just that and the media strictly controlled by the regime. Why the choice of venue?

[DF - As above]

The responses (for which Fijileaks is grateful) appear to indicate that the attitude of the Fiji government to media freedom and its very poor record on human rights were not considerations in selecting the venue.

Fijileaks says they – obviously – should have been.

And must be in future.

Fijileaks Editor: MIDA boss Ashwin Raj is yet to respond to us but he cannot "gnomic-ally' complain later that we did not give him THE RIGHT TO REPLY

MIDA BOSS Ashwin Raj is yet to respond to Fijileaks questions sent to him

BLOODY SILLY FELLOW:
After pressure from Hindu organizations Frank Bainimarama orders Education Minister Mahendra Reddy to reverse his [Reddy's] earlier silly decision and allow Fijian Hindu schools to celebrate religious occasion:

47 Comments

Chiku

14/4/2016 09:45:35 am

This is precisely what I thought when I spotted news of this human rights and journalism workshop in the Fiji Times . It is mind boggling that anyone should organise such a workshop in Fiji where media freedom has become a myth . It just confirms the level of hypocrisy that exists in the international arena.

Vili

14/4/2016 11:37:21 am

What hypocrisy?

Fiji needs such training and more of it.

Why deny such training in a country that needs it most?

Stop being obstructionist Chiku.

Last time I checked you were rooting for education for the masses etc.

So what now has changed Bayah?

Batao!

Chiku

14/4/2016 09:58:14 pm

No Vili, I am not " being obstructionist". I am being a realist. With my feet firmly on the ground and my head out of the cloud. I do not hide the truth will is what you seek to do. I have simply stated the truth which is that people engaged in holding a human rights and journalism workshop in Fiji are engaged in self- deception. Fiji became a dictatorship after the Bainimarama coup of 2006 with all that a dictatorship entails ( I will not waste my time elaborating here what that entailed for imbeciles). And that ground reality has not changed following the holding of a State managed phoney election conducted by the dictatorship to " return Fiji to democracy". Honest people know that and even acknowledge it in private if not in public. Dishonest people live with the convenient lie about Fiji having returned to " true democracy". That's bullshit. And you Vili peddle that bullshit for the Bai- Kai regime.

Naidu

14/4/2016 10:20:14 am

Its all about smiling and posing with the dictators. These kinds of hypocrats are in vast majority. Always i history such people have dominated. But they will change side as soon as they sense the dictators are about to go.

Jhakki

16/4/2016 12:29:51 pm

Chiku,
It is 'bullshit', to use your term, to believe in any such thing as a 'true democracy'. Not even the US is a true democracy. To use your term again, it is 'imbecelic' on your part to think that Fiji will return to full democracy (if such a thing even exists) overnight. It is downright stupid of you to suggest that all of Fiji's problems will disappear with elections and democracy.

You are not bring realitic as you claim. You are being delusional: there is a no silver bullet; get off your high horse, buckle up for a long hard ride, and even be prepared for another coup or two along the way, even bloodier ones. Rid of yourself utopian notions. There is no quick fix. Be grateful for small mercies as we in fiji are. Doesn't look like you understand democracy very much. Go, read up European history. You will find fiji is doing much better. Do you even live in the country? You don't seem to know fiji that well.

14/4/2016 11:55:17 am

Shocking! I wonder if ARS, a reputed anti-regime lawyer was invited as a participant or guest speaker! Maybe these topics are too harsh to be discussed at such a workshop but its reality nonetheless. Open your eyes, don't just give lip service...

Really?

14/4/2016 01:27:56 pm

So will the great new Commissioner of Human Rights be there too? Ummmmm why bother with this lot! They sold their souls to the devils many moons ago!

Rajend Naidu

14/4/2016 10:57:31 pm

Editor,
Attorney-General's Role in a Democracy
The Brazillian Supreme Court is currently in an extraordinary session to make a ruling regarding the calls for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff whose government has been engulfed in the corruption scandal lined to the state controlled oil company Petrobras.
Now the Brazillan Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardoso who is a
" staunch ally" of the President is attempting to block the impeachment from going ahead altogether. He has previously acted to defend the President against the impeachment.(,Aljazeera 15/04).
Makes you wonder whether the Attorney General is acting in the public interest or in the interest of his political mates.
Recall the Attorney General in Malaysia doing the same in defending the Malaysian PM Nazik Razak from corruption by sweeping the case under the carpet with the claim that the money that landed in the PM's " personal bank account" was a " donation" from the Saudi Royal family.
Yes, we have Attorney generals who seek to defend the indefensible.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Local journalist

15/4/2016 03:49:30 am

Fiji is a strange choice for the workshop only for people with an axe to grind and a political agenda. People like Russell Hunter. Fiji as a venue is not strange for us at all. Doesn't mean Russell if you want to remain stuck in the past, we have to remain stuck there with you. We want to move ahead.

Russell's article is clearly designed to discourage future workshops in Fiji. Why is he trying to torpedo opportunities for local journalists? What have we done to him? If he has a problem with Bainimarama, why take it out on us? Because we are the easy targets? Looks like in his vindictiveness and quest for revenge Russell doesn't care who gets hurt.

He is the last one to preach about media freedom. Under him and Samisoni Kakaivalu skirt journalism flourished at the Fiji Times. It is well recorded.

Fiji Times was famous for keeping salaries down and providing pittance in training compared to the millions that went into the Murdoch coffers from Fiji. No figures were given about how much was spent on training or paid in salaries. what do you have to say about that Mr Transparency Russell Hunter? You were part of of a system that was exploiting the country's workers, How dare patronise us.

When donors provide training, Russell, who has not even been in the country for many years, is quick to rise to criticism. Hypocrite. We don't need condescending colonial attitude from a long-gone expatriate whose company exploited local journalists. It's nauseating.

If media freedom is suffering in Fiji it's partly because of the conduct of the Fiji Times when it hounded Mahen Chaudhry government non-stop. A female journalist sleeping with former PM Rabuka wrote racially spiteful articles day in day out about Chaudhry, which had a role in fueling the tensions led to the coup. It is all on the record.

The journalist writing about the tea lady affair was sleeping with Rabuka. See the irony Russell? Or blind when it comes to your own follies? Where was ethics and media freedom then Mr Hunter? One rule for you and the Fiji Times, and another for the rest of us?

Anyone else question and criticise, fine, but not you. You are the last person to lecture to us because you are a disgraced journalist over the skirt journalism affair. You never understood local culture, politics or problems because too busy hobnobbing with the elites at the Fiji golf club. You were sacked from Samoa Observer because you were more busy playing golf than working.

Stop poking your simplistic, uninformed nose in our business. Enough of your, condescending, white-man saviour attitude. You have done enough harm already. You were out of touch the last time you were here, you are still very much out of touch now that you have not been in the country for years. Do not use us for your own political agenda. Please stop destroying future opportunities for us and attempts by our sponsors to empower us. you are a really negative influence. Get lost. we can deal with out issues.

BULA VICTOR, I AM AN ADMIRER OF YOUR WORK BUT NOT AN ADMIRER OF RUSSELL. I AM NOT AN ADMIRER OF BAI/KAI EITHER BUT LIFE HAS TO GO ON. EVERYONE KNOWS YOU AND RUSSELL ARE BEST BUDDIES. I WANT TO SEE IF YOU ARE THE REAL DEAL BY PUBLISHING MY RESPONSE. CRITICISE THE GOVERNMENT ALL YOU LIKE BUT DO NOT USE US AS PAWNS IN RUSSELL'S VENDETTA.

VICTOR IN THE INTEREST OF BALANCE AND FAIRNESS I HOPE YOU FIND THE STRENGTH TO PUBLISH THIS.

Why Not?

15/4/2016 10:11:25 pm

Oh…I was mistaken. I thought a female journalist hobnobbing Chodri in the PM’s chambers was the reason for the tea-lady affair…No?

Anyway, if Fiji media and HR wallas are so serious on free media discourse and training – why not invite FIJILEAKS to the forum …what’s say? They know the address!

Samjha

15/4/2016 10:58:17 pm

The language of indignation " Local journalist" uses to rebuke and castigate Russel Hunter, including language that is racist, did he or she ever use half of that against the Bainimarama regime and its bullying of the local media? I don't think so. Local journalist is making the kind of noise he or she is making only because Russel Hunter is an easy target. Local journalist don't hide behind your false indignation. Stand up and be counted as a bold journalist prepared to serve the people rather than kowtow to the power holders.

Local journalist

16/4/2016 12:45:33 pm

Nothing racist about exposing neocolonialism and exposing condescending attitude of some expats. You want racist? Go read Thakur Ranjit Singh's forensic analysis of the fiji times coverage of the Mahen chaudhry govt in 1999 under Russell hunter's watch. You will get more racism than you bargained for. Perhaps it will stop you being a Russell hunter apologist.

Samjha

16/4/2016 02:56:31 pm

Apparently your kind have no problem with the Neo colonialism of the likes of Peter Lomas at the Fiji Sun and Qorvis . Shame on a journalist like you who makes out Russel Hunter deserved to be treated the way he was by the Fijian dictatorship.

Dekho

15/4/2016 04:04:55 am

There are two kinds of activists and actism. One kind only go through with the motions and feel good about their " activism". Usually they are well funded and go to different destinations to hold their workshops and to give themselves a good time. They tend to invite government to join in a " partnership " to deliver the workshop and to take nice looking photos - in the Pacific context with colourful garlands and traditional print shirts etc.
The other kind bring real commitment to their pro- democracy activism . Governments tend to demonise them and even ban them.
It's not hard to see which category the mob organising the human rights and journalism in NADI, Fiji belong to .

Welcome Home

15/4/2016 04:51:53 am

Eye witness accounting of sexual assaults and rapes, murders over many years, perjury witnessed in court and never redressed, the vulnerable left abandoned to their fate in floods and pre- Winston hurricanes does not dissipate into the vacuum of Truth that Fiji has been permitted to assemble for itself and the morally infantilised observers. All who deny the truth of this matter will succumb in time to the Wheel of Justice which turns inexorably in favour of the violated and the dispossessed. Have faith! Fijians will triumph through adversity and the blind will see!

Madness link

15/4/2016 05:56:23 am

RRRT and co-sponsors don't have balls to invite HR lawyers/defenders like ARS or Richard Naidu to conduct these training. They've got to spend donor money [so they could ask for more next year] and wouldn't want their training activities close down by the regime. This is what we get in the Pacific, year in year out - substandard training from HR trainers who've never actually defended in courts, no wonder we are in such deep shite.

Rajend Naidu

15/4/2016 07:50:44 am

Editor,
The Challenge of the Fourth Estate.
Here is an extract from Gustav Swart's opinion piece " True lies" in the Daily Maverick 14/04 which Fijileaks followers will find illuminating.
( Gustav Swart lectures part-time in the Journalism Programme at the Cape Penisula University of Technology).
" ... We live in an Age of Misinformation, more information does not mean more knowledge, nor does more scrutiny yield more clarity. We tread a kafkaesque media scrape surrounded by conspiracy theories no longer wrapped in tinfoil and mythologies with more rhyme than reason.
... We've become used to casual lies thrown out by rote: expected falsehoods that don't even offend any more... we' ve become so inured to blatant lies that we ignore them...[But to guard against] bad governance and oppression... we need the Fourth Estate, civil society and the political class to fact-check and challenge absurd assertions more than we currently do...
Thomas Jefferson wrote that " an informed citizenry is the only true repository of the public will", so we need to call out the lies. All the lies.
Saltily if need be".
Can we do that?
Have the mainstream journalists in Fiji been doing that ?
If not, why not?
And, that might go some way in explaining why some have question the selection of Fiji to host this important journalism training workshop.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Welcome Home

15/4/2016 12:41:45 pm

Good term 'saltily'! It reminds one of the political demise of Mlle. Galant, the Belgian Transport Minister who resigned only today when she was caught out in a lie concerning the receipt by her Department of an intelligence report concerning a major perpetrator of the terror attacks upon Brussels Airport and
Metro. Dozens of innocent civilians were killed and severely injured. What kind of incompetence and illusion of professional impunity allows such conduct? Is a commitment to the Duty to Protect valued so lightly? It seems so. A high premium was placed on salt by the Roman Empire. That is how soldiers were paid often: a 'salarium'.

Also

15/4/2016 10:37:02 pm

And that reminds me of Gandhi's great salt march...

Rajend Naidu

16/4/2016 12:21:38 am

Editor,
Local journalism
Early this week I send a letter to The Fiji Times in which I wrote now that the young 22 year old Fiji born mother had confessed to killing her 15 month old baby in Melbourne after initially claiming the baby had been snatched from her by an African looking man it would provide valuable lessons- warning signs- to study the murdering mother and what drove her to do what she did.
Then in today's Fiji Times a letter is published by a local writer stating the baby was abducted...
Makes you wonder about the quality of local journalism/editing, does it?
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu
Sydney

Local journalist

16/4/2016 09:39:58 am

Yes rajen and denying our underpaid young journalist whatever little training they get will surely help the situation, don't you think? Yes, take out your politicAl frustrations on the country's journalists. They make easy scapegoats. Everything is the median fault, right?

Dekho

16/4/2016 07:25:14 pm

You are in denial. But no amount of denial from anybody can hide the fact that the mainstream media in Fiji failed to bring to public attention the questionable practices of the Bainimarama regime. It therefore failed to carry out its key responsibility of holding power to account. That role has mostly been fulfilled by Fijileaks and other blog sites.
Some of the mainstream media even stooped to arselicking the Bainimarama regime in a manner unbecoming of independent courageous journalism.There is no scapegoating here. Just plain truth, which of course is something the mediocre media find unpalatable.But the truth is the truth, buddy.

Fijileaks to LOCAL JOURNALIST

16/4/2016 09:59:56 am

You are well aware of our policy regarding a secure and contactable e-mail address.

We allowed your first posting, and also the second one but when we tried to verify the authenticity of your two e-mails, both have bounced back - meaning their are FAKE.

Please adhere to our requirements, for if you are not a LOCAL JOURNALIST it is grossly unfair on the real ones whom you seem to be impersonating re your comments

Thanks
Editor managing comments page

Fijileaks to LOCAL JOURNALIST

16/4/2016 10:02:36 am

meaning the two e-mail addresses are FAKE

Local journalist

16/4/2016 10:57:28 am

Bula Victor

Rest assuared I am a local journalist even if I am using fake email. I just want to remain anonymous and un-contactable. I have done rounds in the fiji media circuit for the last 20 years working for all the major companies including fiji times which exploited us and suppressed salaries with the help of expats like Russell Hunter. I follow Fijileaks and admire your work but I don't usually comment. I could not keep quiet in the face if Russell's hypocrisy and Rajen's stupidity. I was at the Nadi workshop. It was very useful for all. What do these armchair experts from abroad know or understand about the training? Are they on the ground like us all these years? Mostly retired people lecturing us about something they have no everyday experience of. So I responded. Most Fiji journos want the training badly even if they don't like this government. Hope this clarifies from my end.

Bright Star

16/4/2016 11:59:46 am

You seem to be grinding the same axe against Russell Hunter which you are accusing him of - at least the man redeemed himself - at great personal cost - by deciding to expose Mahendra Chaudhry's millions.

He could have easily turned a blind eye and continued to play "golf" and enjoy Fijian sunshine under Bainimarama's 2006 coup.

Like you, I am no supporter of Russell Hunter, but I would like to see more journalists and editors tell us the truth. If we are not told the truth, than what is the point of having this media workshop.

What qualification has Ashwin Raj to police the media?

Local journalist

16/4/2016 01:08:43 pm

Yes Russell did redeem himself too some extent but irreparable damage done to media freedom by naked racism shown against chaudhry government in 1999 by fiji times so in no mood to listen to hypocritical lectures. Russell had a safety net in Australia. Local journalists have no such thing. Let's also recognize their great personal sacrifice. They are trying their best under all the restrictions they face. One wrong move they are gone. They can't last parachute out of here to Australia like Russell. So give them some credit. Journalism is suffering because companies like fiji times made millions but invested little in training or retaining staff so very high turnover of staff. Russell was part of the system. Yet when external donors give us training mr hunter protests. See the hypocrisy? Enough is enough.

Ha, ha, ha to Local Journalist

16/4/2016 12:54:11 pm

Thakur my ar***e

Now, it all falls into place - a mouthpiece of Thakur Ranjit Singh

Its a pity Mahendra Chaudhry was not toppled by Hunter when on Fiji Times - for this bastard, convicted criminal Chaudhry would not have captured power and brought misery to Indo-Fijians and than hiding $2million in Australia and thousands in New Zealand bank accounts

Local journalist

16/4/2016 01:18:42 pm

Hahaha! Whoever you are my shit. My advice stands. Forget about Thakur the mouthpiece. Read what he found and exposed in an objective manner. Do not even read his views. Just read the Fiji times articles he reproduced - 'news, editorials and cartoons.' Fiji times does a great job inCrministing itself. Should be enough even if you have a shred of objectivity to spot the gross abuse of media power. If that doesn't fix your arse, don't bother wasting my time.

RFMF Spy

16/4/2016 01:12:53 pm

Local journalist, you are wrong.

Russell Hunter did not have a safety net - he was kidnapped, tortured and deported. He could have been killed for running the Chaudhry story, and guess what - who was behind all this - Mahendra Chaudhry - Thakur arsey's hero

Local journalist

16/4/2016 02:46:57 pm

Mahen chaudhry is a thug who got what deserved. Russell's treatment is a crime. Thakur may be an arsey but that does not change Fiji times' dodgy converge of chaudhry government under editorship of mr ethical standards mr Russell hunter.

Do people support no training for local journalists? Do they support low pay for journalists? Do they support skirt journalism? This conversation was about attempts to derail training local journalists for no good reason by a a former expat editor still holding grudges which he is entitled to but do not use us as pawns and lecture about media freedom when you abused that freedom in the first place and did little for training and development when in a position to do so.

Fiji Sun advert reader

16/4/2016 02:32:31 pm

Local journalist.

Do the same for Fiji Sun since Russell's deportation in 2008; blatantly pro-regime picture will emerge. You might be local but you can't be a true journalist, if you dont stand up and be counted. Case close!

Local journalist

16/4/2016 03:23:24 pm

Fiji sun is a government rag, shameful. Fiji Times is doing good job under Fred Wesley - give locals some credit. I do what I can. I welcome others to come over here and stand up and be counted like us instead of talk big from the safety of another country. My case is closed. Singapore sevens long over, grog gang have left and I am on afternoon newsroom shift today.

Time Recorder

16/4/2016 03:02:05 pm

Are you, Local Journalist, really a local journalist in Fiji!

Gosh, its 3am in Fiji - so you are up burning the night candle oil

Anyway, let us see if this media workshop will make you a fearless journalist and publish stories that might win you awards

Who are the speakers etc. I have not seen the program?

Dekho

16/4/2016 07:34:30 pm

Nothing will change after this media workshop. Shit will continue to happen on the human rights and democratic freedoms front but the media will shy away from exposing the truth as has been happening. They will continue with the arselicking journalism which has become the norm. It is only the Fijileaks and other alternative media that will reveal the truth and seek to hold power to account.

Reality

16/4/2016 07:59:55 pm

Why not come to Fiji and do some real journalism yourselfnkeyboard warrior?

Dekho

16/4/2016 09:01:59 pm

Truth hurts. I understand. That's Reality!

Samjha

16/4/2016 09:07:43 pm

It's up to the people in the profession to do the right thing. To uphold the dignity and ethics of the profession. If they don't do that or fail to do that they must hang their heads in shame. A good many media people in post coup Fiji must hang their heads in shame.

Chiku

16/4/2016 10:23:09 pm

@Reality
Shifting responsibility for honest journalism on to critics is a cheap shot . The onus is on the people in the profession to do the right thing.
If one criticises the Fijian military for not doing the right thing by the people of Fiji ( to be their protector ) it does not mean the critic should join the military to show them what they should do, does it?

Real Journalist

17/4/2016 12:04:54 am

I always thought Thakur had one follower. Maybe there's two. Whatever, Thakur can't accuse Hunter of dwelling in the past when all he ever bangs on about himself is something that happened (and has been debated to death since) in 1999. I wasn't the only real journalist opposed to Hunter's decision to publish Thakur's racist rants in the days when the Fiji Sun was a newspaper - and that was long after 1999. So if Hunter was a neo-colonialist (whatever that might be) in 1999, was he still one in 2004 when he published all that crap? Or did he just take a temporary break from being a neo-colonialist so that Thakur could have his say?

Local journalist

17/4/2016 12:18:28 am

Thakur is a red herring.

Real Journalist

17/4/2016 01:31:14 am

Very well Mr Red Herring. But can you still tell us: Was Hunter a neo colonialist at the time of the tea lady (just imagine the media in your adopted home if the PM was caught in a compromising situation in the cabinet room) and did he then stop being a neo-colonialist in order to publish your racist crap five years later?

Oh and don't expect much if any genuine debate on media freedom from the Fiji journos at Nadi. or anywhere else. We all know we're being watched. That's where we've "moved on" to "local journalist" and people like you are to blame.

Rajend Naidu

17/4/2016 01:45:58 am

Editor,
Freedom of press under threat in Banladesh
Shafik Rehman,81, a prominent magazine editor and former speech writer for main opposition leader has been arrested in Dhaka on suspicion of sedition.( BBC news 17/04).
The leader of the opposition Khaleda Azia demanded his unconditional release.
Mr Rehman is the third pro-opposition editor to be detained in recent months.
Mahfur Anam, editor of the respected English language Daily Star newspaper faces charges of treason for accusing Prime Minister Sheik Hasina of corruption in 2007 when the country was run by a military government.
BBC South Asia correspondent Justine Rowlatt reported in February that both The Daily Star and its sister publication Prothom Alo - the most widely read Bengali newspaper in the country - are being subjected to a clandestine attempt to undermine their finances and stifle their operations.
Read also ' Attempts to crush independent media in Bangladesh' 18 Feb. 2016).
Some media in Fiji will be familiar with that kind of clandestine activity in post coup Fiji, with some critics reminding us that it has not ceased with Fiji's return to democracy following the 2014 elections.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

Local journalist

17/4/2016 10:02:18 am

Are you a freaking dork, real journalist? Are you a die-hard Russell hunter apologist? Or are you the man hunter himself. Because the post about skirt journalism has cut really deep. You just won't let go.

Publish my racist crap? What have you been smoking? Have you lost your freaking marbles or what? How the F do I know why Russell published thakur's racist crap. It just shows what a crappy and confused editor he was - completely directionsless at times - a point I have been making all along. If you don't understand neocolonialism, read it up. Then apply to the Fiji times and news limited fat cats like Russell hunter and their neo-liberal background and outlook. Go back to uni like I did. I can't be expected to explain everything, can I?

If Mahen is romancing someone in his chambers, by all means report it. But at least let readers know that the reporter you have sent on that assignment was the mistress of Rabuka, mahen's nemesis. Walk the media freedom and ethics talk mr hunter...or his apologist. Do not patronize us. We understand concflict of interest. Desperate attempts to discredit Thakur and use him as a decoy for fiji times crime against journalism simply won't work. As I said before fiji times was so hell bent on its mission it has done a great job incriminating itself. The point of the whole discussion before Thakur singh was thrust into the forefront as a decoy was that mr hunter under whom skirt journalism and other unethical practices thrived at the fiji times is the last person to lecture us. Last person to spoil training and development for locals when his own company made millions every year for decades but paid journalists a pittance, reinvested very little in training or to retain experienced staff. People like hunter and fiji times very much part of the problem. Stay out please.

Same can be said of fiji sun, yes it
pays some journalists shit.

End of story for me. I have better things to do on the ground than waste time debating with a disgraced and washed out former editor and/or his friends/apologists, with a one-sided, narrow mindset and simplistic understanding the media situation in fiji. That's it from me for good.

COWARD HUNTER

17/4/2016 10:17:39 am

Local Journalist.

I have respect for this Russell Hunter (whether he was right or wrong) and not a coward like you hiding behind the skirt of a computer without us having the benefit to pass judgment on who is right or wrong - you the Local Journalist or the Real Journalist or even Russell Hunter.

Long Live Hunter for risking his life and limb to reveal Mahend's millions in Australia.

As for Thakur Ranjit Singh - who gives a shit about him. I wonder if he had contacted Hunter for comments during the writing up of his thesis?

Local journalist - please take a bowl of grog and keep hiding - you COWARD, for we thought the Media Decree in Fiji demands that every story needs the identity of the writer - BYLINE.

In your bloody case, you lamu sona - are not willing to reveal your identity, except to be claiming that you are a LOCAL JOURNALIST

Yes, bugger off - as you yourself have declared your intention - from this site.

Media Enquirer to Local Journalist

17/4/2016 11:24:55 am

Those of us who are not in the media are baffled with your ants in the sulu rantings, and would be grateful if you could tell us a bit more about your good self:

1) Are you are local journalist?

2) Did you ever work at Fiji Times?

3) If so, did you work under Russell Hunter?

4) If not, how the hell you have come to such sweeping claims?

5) Did you did Thakur Aresey Ranjit Singh's thesis?

6) You are claiming that this current media workshop is vital for local journalists?

7) Were you invited to the workshop?

8) If so, did you learn anything?

9) Did you meet your hero Thakur Arsey Ranjit Singh there?

10) Do you know that the worst editor Fiji Times ever had was Vijendra Kumar? An anti-Indo-Fijian fascist who shamelessly promoted Alliance Party and Ratu Mara until Sitiveni Rabkua ousted him?

Rajend Naidu

18/4/2016 10:27:36 pm

Editor,
State of Fiji Media
In the Fiji Times of April 19 out of the 20 letters to editor 19 were on Fiji rugby.
That apparently is the " Voice of the People" in today's Fiji.
Sincerely,
Rajend Naidu

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