Fugitive colonel Ratu Tevita Mara ... happier days in the military before he took refuge in Tonga. Photo: Fijivillage.com

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Alex Perrottet

While Fiji and Tonga are in a diplomatic face-off over the defection of Lieutenant-Colonel Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara, Fiji journalists have been weaving in and around government control to bring the story to the world.

The reporting of the event was first picked up in New Zealand by Fairfax’s Stuff.co.nz and Pacific Scoop last Saturday.

But for a country that has draconian censorship laws, some of Fiji’s own news media have deftly overcome some tricky challenges. Read more »

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Kim Bowden

Pacific-based journalists struggle to adequately play watchdog in countries rife with public and private sector corruption, according to Fiji media stalwart Shailendra Singh.

Despite highlighting a few standout cases of well-executed investigative journalism in Fiji, Singh called for more Fourth-Estate style journalism in the country during his presentation at the Media, Investigative Journalism and Technology conference held at AUT University earlier this month.

The experienced editor and media academic said one of the key reasons investigative journalism needs to be encouraged was because good governance was a major problem in the Pacific. Read more »

Shailendra Singh (left) and Professor Biman Prasad at a Fiji media book launch. Photo: Sophie Ralulu/Fiji Sun

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Nasik Swami in Suva

A Suva-based journalism educator says overseas media reports that the Fiji media was running “dog and cat stories” and that there was a general decline in journalistic standards are “superficial”.

Shailendra Singh, head of journalism at the University of the South Pacific, was responding to an ABC Radio report.

Singh said some overseas journalists full of “idealism” but out of touch with the ground realities in Fiji were giving a misleading impression of the everyday situation in the country.
Read more »

Graphic: Staying Alive Campaign

Pacific Scoop:
Report – By Shailendra Singh in Suva

Two months after a new anti-prostitution law took effect in Fiji, taxi driver Shiu Kumar says he sees fewer sex workers along Victoria Parade, the centre of Suva’s nightlife. But while this has had a negative effect on his nighttime fares, he is nevertheless happy about the law.

“This is a good law,” he says, adding that he has been bothered by the sight of more and more young women taking to the streets. Read more »

Shonal Chand (second from left), 16, has dropped out of school to sell fruit six days a week. Photo: Shailendra Singh/IPS

Pacific Scoop:
By Shailendra Singh in Suva

Shonal Chand, 16, has ditched school to work full time to assist his financially struggling family. He sells pineapples, watermelons and other local seasonal fruit by the roadside six days a week.

Today he runs a stall at Laucala Beach Estate, a busy hub about 12 kilometres from the capital of Suva.

Chatting away while expertly skinning and slicing succulent pineapples with a dangerously sharp-looking knife, Chand said he has been doing this work since he was 14. Read more »

Pacific Press Release – Pacific Media Watch

ENVIRONMENT BIGGEST PUBLIC INTEREST CHALLENGE, SAYS USP MEDIA ACADEMIC
www.usp.ac.fj

SUVA (University of the South Pacific/Pacific Media Watch): The environment is the major public interest story today and journalists should strive to put it on top of the news agenda, says a media academic. Read more »

Co-editors Shailendra Singh (left) and Professor Biman Prasad at the media book launch. Photo: Sophie Ralulu/Fiji Sun

Pacific.Scoop
By Pacific Media Centre newsdesk

A leading Fiji economist has called on the military backed regime to lift the tough censorship curbs on news media or risk growing corruption and a major financial institution collapse.

Professor Biman Prasad of the University of the South Pacific directed his appeal to the Prime Minister, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, saying while many people appreciated and understood his desire to create a “new Fiji”, his efforts would be thwarted without a free media.
Read more »

Pacific.Scoop
By Pacific Media Watch

Fiji Islanders have a “palpable dissatisfaction” with media standards but this is overridden by a public desire to have a free press, says a new book about Fiji journalism and democracy.

The book calls for more self-reflective scrutiny of the media and its role in the nation’s development.
Read more »

Shailendra Singh ... media policy warning for Vanuatu. Photo: USP

Pacific.Scoop
By a special correspondent in Port Vila

Censorship of the media comes at a cost to the economy, says a University of the South Pacific academic.

Shailendra Singh, divisional head of journalism at USP, says governments often propose censorship on the pretext of improving media standards.
Read more »

USP journalism head Shailendra Singh and students check out the latest Wansolwara. Photo: USP

Pacific.Scoop
By a special correspondent in Suva

Wansolwara, an award-winning Pacific regional journalism training newspaper, came off the presses of a Fiji daily newspaper for the first time in its 13-year history last night.

The 16-page paper was being read today as a liftout in the Fiji Sun, Fiji’s fastest growing daily.
Read more »