Free Media is No One's Enemy

A free media is no ones enemy. Censorship of the media of the likes that we have seen in the past few days is morally indefensible and poor political judgement.

Banning the media is like bashing your wife. No matter how you try and justify it, it is just wrong and will be condemned by one and all, even by those who are guilty of the same.

But, she was cheating on me, you say! Maybe you should have paid her more attention, comes the response.

But, she was going to leave me, you plead. Maybe if you had been more sensitive to her needs, comes the reply.

No way to defend it.

Condemnation of the moves to impose censorship has been swift and widespread. From individuals to groups to Governments have condemned it. And that should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Let the media report freely and without censorship. And with the freedom to report freely comes the responsibility to report fairly.

Media freedom is about Economics folks. Media freedom is what made Rupert Murdoch a billionaire. Media freedom is what made Larry Flynt, the publisher of pornography, a billionaire.

Media freedom means money.

The Interim Government accuses the media of being selective in its reporting of employing individuals who have allegiances to political parties or are using their positions to pursue personal agendas.

Loyal Fijian will let the people decide if certain Fiji media outlets at times have been less than balanced due to the influence of certain persons with agendas to push.

But we all remember FM96 coverage of the 2000 coup when Tu-Kini Cama appointed himself as the spokesman of George Speight and used FM96 to broadcast the coup plotters message. Or Kamal Iyer who regularly uses his acquaintances in the media to publish his articles which he himself will be the first to agree is political propaganda. Or Victor Lal's articles which appear in the Fiji Sun and often divulge material which are not public information.

Can some journalists deny their involvement with blogsites which publish half truths and rumours under the cover of anonymity?

Can they?

How is it that one of blogsites which among other things published bomb making instructions, pubslished ridiculous slander about the wives of innocent people and called upon people to attack tourists had displayed an original photograph of FCYPN activists outside the Lami home of Laisa Digitaki displaying their anti-coup message?

The original photograph can only be available to the media outlet that took those photos. How did the anti-IG bloggers get it?

With freedom comes responsibility. Can Fiji's media outlets take a good look within themselves and say they are totally dispassionate in their reporting, their journalists don't have "favored" sources or driven by allegiances to political parties or traditional links?

Can they?

The best thing the Government can do is to remove the censorship and let the media go about its work.

As we here at Loyal Fijian have said all along, the people are smart enough to sense rumour and innuendo from facts .

Bloggers like WhyFijiisCrying and its clone Solivaksasama which sprung up after the 2006 are now totally discredited due to their rumour mongering and mindless slander.

But the best defence against such bias is to let them talk or write, present your own side of the story and move on .Censorship is not the solution.

The move to impose censorship is an admission that the information machinery of the Government is not doing its job as it should. Get better at the game , dont take the ball and go running home. That never made anyone any friends.

Media Desk

INDEPENDENT,BALANCED,IMPARTIAL.