UQ hosts Pacific media freedom fighter

UQ's School of Journalism and Communication will be visited by the award winning Editor in Chief of the Fiji Times on Wednesday, August 26.

Mr Netani Rika leads the News Corporation-owned Suva-based newspaper’s newsroom, the Pacific’s largest.

Mr Rika received the 2009 Tavake Fusmalohi Pacific Media Freedom Award at the recent Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) conference in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

"I'm really looking forward to visiting the UQ Journalism School," Mr Rika said from Suva, Fiji.

The visit has been organised by SJC lecturer and Pacific media and journalism specialist Dr Mark Hayes, who along with postgraduate student Marie M’Balla-Nidi took part in the PINA conference earlier this month.

“This year’s Pacific Media Freedom Award was well and truly earned, and Netani accepted it on behalf of not only his Fiji Times journalists, but all Fiji journalists who've had military backed censors in their newsrooms since Easter this year,” Dr Hayes said.

“Since the military coup in December 2006, Netani’s had some of his journalists harassed, detained, he's been personally threatened by the Fiji military, and since Easter, the military regime has had censors in his and every other Fiji newsroom.”

Dr Hayes said that on Easter Sunday this year, three pages of the Fiji Times were heavily censored by the Fiji regime.

"Even the cartoon that day was censored," he said.

SJC Head Professor Michael Bromley said the school had joined with international organisations such as UNESCO and the International Federation of Journalists to criticise the media freedom issues in Fiji and educate students about the situation.

ABC reporter Sean Dorney spoke to students soon after his deportation from Fiji in Easter, and Dr Hayes is an active member of the Pacific Freedom Forum, a regional NGO which regularly issues statements
criticizing the media situation in Fiji.

"Welcoming the Editor in Chief of the Fiji Times to the School of Journalism and Communication, and hearing from him directly about what's happening in Fiji is a very rare opportunity indeed, and continues and extends our active engagement with the Pacific,” Professor Bromley said.

"I also hope our inviting Netani Rika to visit us here in Brisbane, and share his experiences with academic staff and students, sends clear messages about how serious we are about involving the school in the Pacific, and where we stand on media freedom."

Mr Rika will be speaking at 4.00pm on Wednesday, August 26, in the Meeting Room, Level Two, Joyce Ackroyd Building (Building 37), at UQ’s St Lucia Campus. All are welcome.

Media: Dr Hayes (07 3346 8255, mahayes@uqconnect.net)