FIJI: Newspaper man's family also face deportation
Updated
Fiji authorities have issued deportation orders to the family of the deported Publisher of the Fiji Sun newspaper, Russell Hunter. And a prominent member of the interim government's Peoples Charter process has resigned in protest against the government actions.
Presenter: Sam Seke
Speakers: Fiji Correspondent, Samisoni Pareti
PARETI: Well I can confirm that the family of Mr Russell Hunter, publisher of the Fiji Sun have also been given their marching orders, and they have been told that they need to the country in 14 days and that includes the wife of Mr Hunter, Mrs Hunter, who is of Papua New Guinean nationality, and also their 12 year-old daughter who was visiting from Australia, and Mr Hunter's mother. They have been ordered to leave the country in 14 days, because he's been deported I guess legally or technically that also means that his entire family needs to leave as well.
And also there has been some repercussions of Mr. Hunter's deportation. The former opposition leader who had joined the interim regime's people's charter process, a council calling itself The National Council for Building a Better Fiji, Mr Mick Beddoes, also announced overnight his resignation from the council in protest over the deportation of Mr. Hunter.
SEKE: What about the media in Fiji, how are they taking the deportation of Mr. Hunter?
PARETI: It's in uproar, it's been described the the Fiji Media Council as a severe onslaught on the freedom of the media in Fiji and of course the umbrella organisation, the Pacific Island News Association has also condemned the deportation, as well as the various news media organisations. In this country, the radio stations and television stations, the other two newspapers have all joined together in saying that there was a better way of handling the matter if he was indeed in breach of his visa. He should have been treated in a more professional way, instead of being bundled out as actually happened overnight and leaving the family worrying very much about the safety and whereabouts of their father.
SEKE: Now, the interim prime minister, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, I believe issued a statement saying that the government assures the media freedom in the country. Is that some kind of comfort for the media?
PARETI: I don't know what exactly or who exactly was being targeted in that statement by the interim prime minister, because if it was aimed at the media, it would have been of very little comfort, particularly as the deportation of Mr. Hunter came just 24 hours after the media here was a victim of a stinging attack and condemnation by the interim prime minister himself, for being biased, for being too gullible, for being to easily used by people of various agendas as the report said. So if it was aimed at the international community perhaps, because we have this week visiting the interim administration, two senior officials from the Commonwealth Secretariat in London and also one of the senior officials of the State Department of the United States Government that are in Fiji this week.
SEKE: The recent or the latest exchanges between well, media organisations and the interim government in Fiji. What kind of impact would such exchanges have on reporting by the media in Fiji, on especially government-related controversial issues?
PARETI: Well, one thing I know for sure, it's a good reminder maybe for journalists like myself to be a wake up call, I don't think it even can be called a wake up call, because I thought we've had a lot of wake up calls before, but just to be careful and make sure that what you report are facts and for most of us, we've been doing that anyway. And I guess the second other important lesson from all this is be careful of what you even write behind the scenes. What doesn't get published. Because we have shown on national television overnight pictures of the private email communications between Mr. Hunter and some of his correspondents overseas. So it's also telling us that even your rights to privacy are not being respected and for some reasons this kind of communication and information are leaking out to the wrong hands. So I guess it's a timely reminder for everybody involved.
