The owners of Mai Life Magazine are now contemplating the future of their investment as the restrictions on cross media ownership in the new Media Industry Development Decree will have serious implications on the monthly magazine.
Under the Media Decree, Cross Media Ownership is where a person of a certain medium is limited in the amount of shares they can hold in other mediums or of the same medium.
This applies to the ownership of Mai Life Magazine which is owned and operated by Richard Boardbridge and his wife Judith Ragg as Broadbridge is also the founder and the director of MaiTv.
Section 39 sub section 4 of the decree states that no person may act as a director in more than one media organisation and they have been given 12 months to comply with the cross ownership requirements in the Media Decree.
Speaking to Fijivillage news, Richard Broadbridge said they have to study the decree before deciding their next step.
However he said it would be a shame if MaiLife magazine is forced to close down.
Section 43 of the Media Decree on Cross Media ownership states that any media organisation or person that breaches the provisions will be fined not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.
The Decree also states that any media organisation in breach of this provision may have their registration cancelled and the media organisation cease to operate.
Meanwhile, when asked as to why twelve months has been given to ensure that cross media ownership issues were dealt with and only three months given for media organisations to ensure that were 90 percent locally owned, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said it is sufficient time for those who are affected to comply.
The only exemption in this section of the Media Decree extends to the State and any State owned entity or any media organisation in which the State owns majority shares.
Story by: Roneel Lal
