The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes an offer made by Pacific journalists to visit Fiji to discuss fair and balanced reporting and media freedoms with the country’s military regime.

IFJ project associate the Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF) made the offer in the wake of a May 31 statement by Fiji’s Information secretary Sharon Smith-Johns calling on all journalists there to “Think Fiji first” and report in a “fair and balanced way”.

“Fair and balanced reporting can only come when journalists and media workers have the freedom to report, which is impossible at present under the terms of Fiji’s Media Decree,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“The IFJ welcomes this initiative by Pacific journalists to engage with Fiji’s regime and fellow journalists working there, in an open discussion of these significant issues that affect the country’s media industry.

“We hope Fijian authorities will accept the invitation and constructively engage with the journalists who have put forward this suggestion.”

The “Think Fiji first” call came in the wake of reporting over the May defection to Tonga by former regime and military insider Ratu Tevita Mara, son of the nation’s founding Prime Minister.

Other developments in recent weeks have shown how the Media Industry Development Decree is taking its toll. The Fiji Times website, averaging three quarters of a million hits a month, went offline without explanation on April 18 before coming back online on May 30.

Managing Editor Fred Wesley confirmed that the need to meet the requirements of the decree had forced the site’s suspension, Pacific Scoop reported. Under the decree, stories of more than 50 words must have a “byline” naming the writer of the story, and pictures must be captioned and identify the source of the image. The website now includes these features.

Meanwhile, decree clauses on cross-media ownership have also made uncertain times for jobs in the industry. Employees for Mai Life magazine are anxiously awaiting a looming deadline, believed to be at the end of June, when Judith Ragg must relinquish her founding stake in the magazine, because her husband Richard Broadbridge heads broadcast channel Mai TV.

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +61 2 9333 0919

The IFJ represents more than 600,000 journalists in 131 countries

Find the IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific

Find the IFJ on Facebook here