3 Jun 2008

Fiji Times wants regime to clarify media stance

1:37 pm on 3 June 2008

The editor of the Fiji Times says the time has come for the interim government to decide if it wants a free media, or one that's regulated, because it can't have both.

The interim Prime Minister told the newspaper that a way has to be found to regulate the press instead of it regulating itself, to make sure it is pro-Fiji.

The editor of the Fiji Times, Netani Rika, says he has the power to do that, so if he's going to do it, he should get on with it.

"If he goes down the path of regulation, we'd have to have a look at what that's going to mean. What I am trying to say is that he keeps talking about regulation and this kind of media and pro-Fiji media, and whatever it is, it's time that he got on. It's just almost like the election. No charter, no election, no quorum, no great Council of Chiefs, just get on with the matter at hand."

Netani Rika says the media is not anti-Fiji, and publishing stories about what is going on in the country doesn't mean it is.