More Co-operative Times: An Australian Defence and a Fijian recon soldier keep a lookout in East Timor. (Photo courtesy of Australian Defence. By WO2 Gary Ramage.)

Pacific Scoop:
Report by Thakur Ranjit Singh.

The Fiji military government has raised concerns about the standard of reporting on Fiji in the New Zealand and Australian media, which have been accused of publishing wrong, incorrect, misleading and malicious news on Fiji.

Speaking to the Fiji Sun newspaper yesterday (7 July), Military leader and Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, called on the Australian Government not to interfere with the internal affairs of Fiji. This comes in the wake of a reported comment by an Australian Foreign Affairs official whose statements were published in the News Limited owned newspaper The Australian.

News Limited also owns The Fiji Times, and has been given three months to sell 90 per cent of its shares in Fiji under its new media decree.

The report in The Australian quoted the official as saying “the people may have no choice but to stand up to him (Bainimarama) and his thugs.” Bainimarama branded this statement as inciting the people of Fiji to rise against his Government, and promoting further unrest.

In the meantime, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited (FBCL) reported that the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has filed a complaint to The Australian newspaper last Monday over that article anonymously quoting an Australian Foreign Affairs official.

In the article titled “Perfect One Day, Brutal the Next” the unnamed Australian official allegedly said that the people of Fiji may be forced to take on “Bainimarama and his thugs.”

Foreign media and their standard of reporting have also come under criticism from Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who branded the media reports as “deceit, lies, inaccurate and exaggerated which were designed to paint a false picture and harm the country.

He accused the foreign media of breaking basic rules of journalism to get back at the Fiji Government.

“All these things are reported as if they have happened but they have not, in fact they are inaccurate, they are dishonest. It would now appear that we have a situation that the media in Australia and New Zealand have decided that they will wage a campaign against Fiji and that campaign is based on deceit and lies so even though they talk about freedom of expression, of getting the right information across, the fact is they are the first ones to break those principles and values,” he told Fiji Sun.

Mr Sayed-Khaiyum picked one New Zealand reporter Michael Field and accused him of constantly writing misleading reports about the situation in Fiji.

Speaking to Fiji Sun, he also questioned Mr Field’s expertise on the Pacific, saying he has been banned from a number of Pacific island countries including Tonga, Kiribati and Fiji.

“I think Michael Field really needs to look at himself. He needs to perhaps go into some form of therapy to get over this bogey that he is trying to create. Michael Field, let me remind you, is a journalist who was also removed from other Pacific island countries. This is because he feels he has some kind of licence to go ahead and print and say whatever he likes about the Pacific and even though facts may come in the way, he is going to ignore them, yet, he is being portrayed as some expert on the Pacific,” he told Fiji Sun.

Professor Crosbie Walsh, a former USP academic and publisher of website “Fiji, the way it was, is and can be” has also been critical of misinformation being published that damages Fiji’s reputation.

He cites examples of this, noting reports in the Dominion Post, written by Michael Field, and headlined “Kiwi pair can leave Fiji with just 2 bags”, 7 July, 2010 ). In the report, the Dominion Post alleges that a Hamilton couple, Heather and Jim Sherlock, had been made prisoners in their own resort in Fiji and were being forced out of the country this week with one piece of baggage each.

The report stated that military reservists, working for a private security company, had occupied Lagoon Resort, owned by Sherlock, since May. Field quoted Sherlock’s sister, Noeleen Bernhard, as saying that her brother and his wife had been told to go this week, leaving behind three container loads of their personal possessions. Field further quoted her: “It’s been very intimidating. They are soldiers and they are forcing the couple out, no mistake.”

In the report, Michael Field said: “the Sherlocks’ ejection comes as the military regime of Voreqe Bainimarama has begun issuing decrees – which cannot be challenged in court – effectively seizing foreign private property.”

Countering this claim however, was a Radio Fiji news report of 7 July, 2010, titled “NZ resort manager clears the air”, where the former Lagoon Resort owner Jim Sherlock is reported as saying he was not in a dispute with the Fiji government over the closure of the resort in Pacific Harbour. The Resort was seized in May by the Fiji Development Bank. The FDB had filed that Sherlock had not repaid his loan.

Sherlock told Radio Fiji the disagreement was with the FDB over the repayment conditions of a $300,000 loan, and this dispute would be resolved as a corporate issue with the relevant authorities.

Meanwhile Sherlock has refuted claims in overseas media (the Dominion Post) that he has been told to leave the country with just a suitcase.

Regarding the Dominion Post report, Sherlock told Fiji Broadcasting Corporation News: “…I have only talked to Michael Field once and that was in May. He told me of a (separate) story he was going to print and I told him it was completely wrong…”

In his Dominion Post story, Field also reported on an unnamed source regarding a land grab by the government: “Another New Zealand family, who do not wish to be named, have been told to leave their farm by a military-linked ratu or village chief. “

Crosbie Walsh said that by the time he was able to clarify this story more fully, this report would have likely inflicted more damage to the credibility of Fiji as an investment destination.

Thakur Ranjit Singh is a post graduate student in journalism studies at Auckland University of Technology.

PACIFIC SCOOP EDITOR’S NOTE: Professor Walsh’s commentary rested on a premise that prior to publishing reports on Fiji, the fourth estate’s editors, particularly those of the Fairfax-owned Dominion Post, must check their facts to ensure they meet a satisfactory standard of accuracy as demanded by the journalistic code of ethics.