Fiji censor prompts PINA walkout
Updated
The editor-in-chief of the Fiji Times has walked out of the Pacific Islands News Association conference in Vanuatu in protest at having to share a panel with the Fiji interim government's censor.
Presenter:Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Sean Dorney, Australia Network correspondent
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DORNEY:The editor-in-chief of the Fiji Times Netani Rika had just delivered his address to a conference session called "shooting the messenger, intimidation and violence against Pacific Media practitioners" when he excused himself apologising that he could not sit on a panel with the people who were showing the Fiji media no respect back at home.
Mr. Rika had detailed instances of intimidation and harassment his journalists had faced from the military-led government. The representative from the Fiji Ministry of Information Lance Corporal Talei Tora defended Fiji's severe censorship saying the Fiji media was not responsible.
Media delegates from other island countries questioned the presence of the lance corporal and some suggested Fiji's Information Ministry should be expelled from PINA membership because of its role in enforcing the military-led government's censorship of the news in Fiji.
