There has been widespread criticism of the Fiji interim government’s draft media decree which appears to enshrine censorship in law, put journalists at risk of jail terms and fines and could force the Fiji Times newspaper out of Australian hands.

The decree is due to replace emergency regulations placed on the media organisations last year when the president scrapped the constitution and placed Frank Bainimarama in charge of the country.

Public consultations are being held this week on the new decree, but those taking part are being given just two-and-a-half hours to read the documents before discussions with the draft are to be returned at the finish and no copying allowed.

Sources in Fiji have provided a copy of the draft to the ABC.

The documents’ preamble says the decree will ensure: “The content of any media service must not include material which is against public interest or order, against national interest, offends good taste or decency, or creates communal discord.”

The decree goes on to say that the content of any print media must include a byline and, wherever practical, the content of any other media service must include a byline.

Those rules will be enforced by a media development authority and a media tribunal with the power to address complaints, demand documents, search news organisations and also the homes and property of their staff.

Those the authority finds guilty of a breach “shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding $500,000 [Fiji] or in the case of a publisher or editor or journalist, a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both.”

Journalists not happy

The International Federation of Journalists’ (IFJ) Deb Muir says she is unimpressed.

“The IFJ is extremely worried that the decree allows the authority and tribunal that it would set up to have the power to call for any documentation, to enter media offices, to seize materials and equipment,” she said.

“But even in doing this, the decree itself would directly contravene the regime’s own code of media conduct which said that confidential sources should be protected.

“It’s extremely worrying that the decree allows for fines of up to about $A300,000 and or prison of up to five years for a range of offences.”

Former Fiji Sun newspaper executive editor Russell Hunter, who was expelled from Fiji, is now working in Samoa for its national newspaper, the Samoa Observer.

Mr Hunter says the draft decree is disappointing.

“It delivers control of the media into the hands of the junta,” Mr Hunter said.

“This media authority does not have to wait for an individual to file a complaint. It can act on its own.

“And this is one of the many worrying aspects in this piece of so-called legislation. It becomes a dictatorship, if you like, of the media by the state.”

The censorship in Fiji not only regulates local media but also those organisations based there, including the Pacific Island News Association and its wire service, Pacnews.