fijivillage News by 2016 had quickly became a target, to the point where it seemed the former Attorney General could not make a statement without mentioning fijivillage in some manner, however, we were constantly looking at ways in which we could steadily push back.
This has been revealed by the Chair of Communications Fiji Limited, William Parkinson while responding to questions on fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan on the impact of the 2006 coup, the Media Industry Development Decree in 2010 and the targeting of independent media organisations.
As CFL, the parent company of fijivillage, FM96, LegendFM, VitiFM, Navtarang, Radio Sargam and PNGFM, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, Parkinson says fijivillage which started in 1997 and relaunched on May 19, 2000, was ahead of its time.
He says by 2006, it was a well-known brand, not just around Fiji, but around the world and it has now become a core brand for the organisation with one of the biggest reaches matching all of CFL’s radio stations.
While highlighting the targeting on fijivillage News by the former Attorney General, Parkinson says in the early days of media control, people were being targeted, in some cases, in very violent manner, but also in very clever and dangerous ways.
He says it was very clear that if fijivillage News was going to survive, it needed to be very cautious and very careful in the way in which it could get a message across.
Parkinson says some in the media would choose martyrdom in that situation, even if it puts them out of business but he had a duty to the shareholders and to the people of Fiji to do the best it could to stay on air.
