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PACIFICLEAKS: Fijileaks Editor-in-Chief is holding discussions with some of the Pacific Island nations leading journalists to publish a sister news site Pacificleaks to protect free speech and to beat State censorship! 

17/10/2015

7 Comments

 
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FIJI SUN BOLTS OUT OF THE BLUE IN UNPROVOKED ATTACK ON VICTOR LAL, Fijileaks Editor-in-Chief:

'LABELLING VICTOR LAL AN IDIOT IS AN INSULT TO "IDIOTS"';
Fiji Sun, 14 October 2015, "UNWANTED BY IDIOTS"

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"BLOGGING Resistance to Military Dictatorship and Holding Power to Account in Fiji: The Case Study of Fijileaks and other anti-military rule Fijian blogs as underground press, 2006 -2014"


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Unfortunately, Victor Lal and Russell Hunter had to pull out of the conference but Lal's Fijileaks and the planned Pacificleaks is modelled on "Watergate" - and Victor Lal's role models have always been Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Watergate fame!

Lal and Hunter win Fiji's
top journalism award

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"We are the best: Fiji Sun"

9/22/2008


The Fiji Sun was the receiver of the Robert Keith-Reid Award for outstanding journalism


Below is the citation.


“This year’s Robert Keith-Reid Award for Outstanding Journalism is multi-faceted. It goes to two people who are not present tonight, and involves more than one publication.

The main recipients are Russell Hunter, former editor-in-chief and publisher of the Fiji Sun, and Victor Lal, the newspaper’s UK-based investigative reporter.


“To them and the Fiji Sun goes a joint and well-earned accolade. They receive this for reportage on highly controversial taxation, and other matters associated with overseas bank accounts of the former interim finance minister Mahendra Chaudhry.

Mr Hunter’s leadership and support for Mr Lal and the Sun’s editorial team provided the professional context for what is arguably the best example of investigative journalism in the history of the Fiji media.

“Mr Hunter knew that in the current climate he was putting himself at risk. But this did not deter him from pursuing the great cause of the public’s right to know,

“Along with Mr Lal, he acted in the best traditions of crusading journalism. Mr Hunter and his newspaper paid a heavy price when he was virtually abducted from his home at night and summarily deported.

“Victor Lal displayed extraordinary persistence and skill in developing and uncovering the story in a series of articles over several months. His was a fine example of research and analysis based on documentation made available to him by sources who were also prepared to take a risk. The topic was complex requiring meticulous attention to detail in accomplishing and presenting the facts.

“To the Fiji Times and its editor Netani Rika, the judges give a special commendation for first publication of the name of the person at the centre of the controversy. It was not long after that the Fiji Times’ publisher Evan Hannah was also deported.

“The judges wish to acknowledge the work of all journalists who have been threatened or intimidated during a perilous time for the media and yet have continued to stand by the principles of their craft in defending media freedom and the people’s right to be informed.”

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Fijileaks: You can follow the link below and NOMINATE individuals or organisations for Freedom of Expression Awards 2016; the closing date is less than a week away: 10.00 (GMT) on Tuesday 20th October
Nominate now by clicking below:
https://awards.indexoncensorship.org/#nominate-now

Hi Victor,
 
This is your final chance to nominate brave and inspiring artists, journalists and activists for our Freedom of Expression Awards. Can you help us to defy censorship and share this opportunity with people and organisations doing such important work?

Winners will be celebrated at our gala in London on 13th April 2016 and join the Index Awards Fellowship - a dedicated programme of training and support for free expression heroes. Nominations can come from anywhere. They are open to anybody - individuals or organisations. And nominations are completely free.

The closing date is less than a week away: 10.00 (GMT) on Tuesday 20th October.


Thank you for your help. 
David Heinemann 
Head of Events, Index on Censorship

7 Comments
rajend naidu
17/10/2015 09:42:21 am

Excellent idea. There most definitely is a need for such a watchdog and whistleblower Pacific Leaks media to protect free speech and to circumvent State censorship in the island nations and to give the people the voice they would otherwise not have. Go for it. The faster you can get it going the better - for the People of the Pacific islands. And, that is the higher order value for Pacific journalists to pursue. Not act as the mouthpiece of the State under the pretext of " positive" reporting and as a "partner" in national development etc. the job of the journalist, first and foremost, is to speak truth to power and to keep the bastards honest by holding them to account.

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Aaraam Se link
17/10/2015 11:08:37 am

Looking forward,Victor.Media freedom is everybody's freedom and every individual ought to exercise his/her right.Gandhi believed that to close your eyes to the truth of injustice in front of you,meant that you collaborated with and supported the injustice.It is time our youngsters take interest in the running of the nation with sense of responsibility,factual and balanced reporting is what we need to disseminate and have the courage to condemn misleading reports.I am surely for this initiative,Count me in.

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Welcome Home
17/10/2015 11:12:14 am

Absolutely what is now essential to secure a free and an equitable future in an entire region under multiple risks and threats. It has been for two decades or more. Yet No One was At Home when it really mattered: 2000 coups in Solomon Is and Fiji. In the build up to both, ample signs, information and raw data aplenty. Look where we are now 15 years later. Time to wake up and to jettison "foolish drift".

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Welcome Home
17/10/2015 03:21:18 pm

Let American author Robert Ruark who died in 1965 have a word from his novel 'Honey Badger' published just after his premature passing aged 49 in London. He writes of an African country immersed in a brutal war: the Congo. "One of the things you don't want to do is get yourself killed foolishly. And this is a foolish country, with a foolish war, run by foolish people. Nobody knows who's on first base from one day to the other'. Fatherly advice to a newly-arrived investigative and foreign correspondent from home. Odd that The March of Folly was being written by Barbara Tuchman about the same time?

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Chiku
17/10/2015 07:00:55 pm

In the case of Fiji the March of Folly is led by the pseudo intellectual Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum who pretends he has the panacea for all that has ailed the country - the blueprint for a " new " and " better " Fiji. What we see is an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression in the country with draconian media laws put in place and the country turned into a State surveillance society with State operatives keeping a tab and intimidating trade unionists, pro- democracy activists and critics and opponents of the Bainimarama- Khaiyum regime.
This is why Fijileaks is so critically important to expose what is the true nature of the regime and it is also why the need for a PacificLeaks site is indicated.

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Mike
18/10/2015 05:30:46 am

About time we have a Pacific Voice ,

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Bahuki
19/10/2015 08:01:40 am

Its definitely music to the ears hearing about a potential Pacific Voice in the works.

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