Behind the Fiji censorship: a comparative media regulatory case study as a prelude to the Easter putsch
| aut.researcher | Robie, David | |
| dc.contributor.author | Robie, D | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-10-16T05:03:30Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2011-10-16T05:03:30Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 2009-10-01 | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009-10-01 | |
| dc.description.abstract | On 10 April 2009, a military backed regime wrested total control of the Fiji Islands in what was arguably a fifth coup and imposed martial law. The then President, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, abrogated the 1997 Constitution and dismissed the judiciary in response to a Court of Appeal ruling-by a bench of three Australian judges-that the interim government of Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama established after the fourth coup in December 2006 was illegal. Bainimarama was reinstated, emergency regulations-including state censorship-were decreed and elections were deferred until 2014. Earlier, in the first five months of 2008, two expatriate publishers of the leading daily newspapers, the Murdoch-owned Fiji Times and the local Fiji Sun, were deported amid an international furore. In January 2009, a second Fiji Times publisher was expelled. Other journalists have been detained, threatened and harassed. Ironically, the military imposed censorship in the Easter putsch followed two reviews of Fiji's self-regulatory mechanisms in an attempt to strengthen the media landscape. One controversial report has since been used by the military regime as a justification for a plan to consolidate all existing media laws under a single 'Media Promulgation' law. During a parallel time frame, the New Zealand Press Council also conducted an independent review. With reference to the media accountability systems (M*A*S) model developed by the late Claude-Jean Bertrand, this article analyses the public right to know discourse in Fiji in the context of an authoritarian regime. | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Pacific Journalism Review, vol.15(2), pp.85 - 116 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1023-9499 | |
| dc.identifier.roid | 12547 | en_NZ |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10292/2314 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.publisher | Auckland University of Technology | |
| dc.relation.uri | http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=300966419566601;res=IELHSS | |
| dc.rights | Auckland University of Technology (AUT) encourages public access to AUT information and supports the legal use of copyright material in accordance with the Copyright Act 1994 (the Act) and the Privacy Act 1993. Unless otherwise stated, copyright material contained on this site may be in the intellectual property of AUT, a member of staff or third parties. Any commercial exploitation of this material is expressly prohibited without the written permission of the owner. | |
| dc.rights.accessrights | OpenAccess | |
| dc.subject | Censorship | |
| dc.subject | Press freedom | |
| dc.subject | Media accountability systems | |
| dc.title | Behind the Fiji censorship: a comparative media regulatory case study as a prelude to the Easter putsch | |
| dc.type | Journal Article | |
| pubs.organisational-data | /AUT | |
| pubs.organisational-data | /AUT/Design & Creative Technologies | |
| pubs.organisational-data | /AUT/PBRF Researchers | |
| pubs.organisational-data | /AUT/PBRF Researchers/Design & Creative Technologies PBRF Researchers | |
| pubs.organisational-data | /AUT/PBRF Researchers/Design & Creative Technologies PBRF Researchers/DCT Communications |