November 1, 2016 Indian Newslink Digital Edition

04
Homelink
NOVEMBER 1, 2016
Fiji opens doors for New Zealand Media
Bainimarama lifts ban on journalists
Venkat Raman
venkat@indiannewslink.co.nz
In a move seen as a goodwill
gesture prior to his first official
visit to New Zealand
as Prime Minister of Fiji,
Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama announced
that his country would
welcome New Zealand journalists,
including Barbara Dreaver
(TVNZ) and Michael Field
(Fairfax) who were banned
from entering Fiji earlier.
An announcement made by
him on October 16, just days before
his arrival in Auckland,
said that any journalist would
be welcome into his country,
provided they are approved by
the Information Ministry.
Mr Bainimarama said that the
bans were put in place because
his government believed that
some journalists had crossed the
line from journalism to political
advocacy and inserted themselves
into the domestic political
debate.
“Fiji has established a robust
democracy and has no fear of
honest criticism or critical reporting
of events,” he said.
No exceptions
Speaking at a Symposium
organised by Fiji Trade &
Investment at Stamford Plaza
Hotel on October 20, 2016 he extended
a similar message to the
New Zealand Media.
“Now that the bans on individual
journalists visiting Fiji
have been lifted, you are welcome
- without exception - to
visit Fiji like the journalists of
other countries. You are free to
report without restriction once
you have been accredited in the
usual way by our Department of
Information. And all we ask is
that you cover events fairly and
in a balanced manner, which is
the obligation of journalists the
world over,” he said.
“I hope that you will come
and see for yourselves the progress
we have made on the back
of seven straight years of economic
growth – the longest in
Fijian history. And to see for
yourselves that our institutions
of State are functioning properly
and we are strengthening
those institutions as we move
forward. To ensure that they are
truly independent and free from
political and personal influence,
as happened far too often in the
past,” he added.
Tough talk in Suva
As reported by this writer who
was a part of a media delegation
accompanying Prime Minister
John Key during his first official
visit to Fiji on June 9 and 10,
2016 (Indian Newslink, June 15,
2016), Mr Bainimarama had expressed
strongly about the ban
that was in existence at that
time.
“We cannot allow the wilful
propagation of false information
that damages the national
interest and undermines our
vulnerable economy. And that is
what has happened in the case
of certain New Zealand journalists
and others from Australia.
Incidentally, no journalist from
any other country has been
banned from Fiji. Certain journalists
in New Zealand and
Australia, along with certain
journalists in Fiji, think nothing
of dispensing with the facts
if they get in the way of the politically
weighted narrative they
want to tell. We are saying to
the news organisations that employ
them: ‘Send someone else.
Someone who respects the facts
and the right of people to know
the truth. Not some twisted concoction,’”
he had said.
Correcting impressions
Mr Bainimarama appeared
to keen to correct some impressions
in New Zealand.
“It is unfortunate that some of
the New Zealand media reporting
Mr Key’s visit June suggested
that I had given him a hard
time. It is true that I politely outlined
to him the reasons why we
had chosen to embark on a radical
programme in 2006 to create
a level playing field for every
Fijian. And that we had fulfilled
our promise to return Fiji to parliamentary
rule in the election
of September 2014.
“I also said that it was a shame
that New Zealand, Australia
and certain other countries had
failed to understand what we
were trying to do – which was
to introduce genuine democracy
for the first time in Fiji and
guarantee the rights of every
Fijian in the 2013 Constitution.”
No insults, please
Frank Bainimarama with John Key at Government House in Auckland on Saturday, October 22, 2016 (Photo by Sanjesh Narayan, Radio Tarana)
“Yet far from being the insult
that some members of the media
chose to cast it as, I think
John Key understood that the
speech I made was merely outlining
our position and that no
disrespect was intended. The
indignation was on the part of
some of the New Zealand media,
not the Prime Minister, and
undoubtedly because I also criticised
their unrelentingly negative
and unbalanced reporting
of events in Fiji. But away from
their gaze, the atmosphere between
John Key and I personally
was very cordial and we got on
famously.”
“He knows that I’m Frank
by name and Frank by nature
and I know that he’s a similarly
plain speaking Kiwi. Which
is undoubtedly why the New
Zealand people keep voting him
back into office. So, we are big
enough to say what we think
and then move on. And I want
to thank him for being a straight
shooter, for not taking things
too personally and especially for
giving me the opportunity to get
together with him again in New
Zealand and enjoy each other’s
company,” Mr Bainimarama
said.
Please read related reports
in Fijilink, Businesslink and
Viewlink.