A Fiji academic in New Zealand says he doubts the Fiji military regime will lift the Public Emergency Regulations despite the newly promulgated Media Decree.
It had earlier stated that once that decree was in place, the Public Emergency Regulation and its censorship provisions would be lifted.
But Dr Steven Ratuva, from the University of Auckland, says the regulations cover so many more restrictions than just the media in that they are an extra layer of control.
"When they talk about lifting the emergency decree then they probably realise that if they lift it and then allow the media decree to come into effect then a lot of areas which they wanted to control are going to be opened up so thats why at the moment they basically have both and I very much doubt if they are going to lift the emergency decree quite soon."
Dr Steven Ratuva from the University of Auckland's Pacific Studies
