Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka says the People’s Alliance is committed to media freedom and the free flow of information.
Rabuka highlighted this during the PINA Summit in Savusavu while responding to questions from fijivillage News on whether the People’s Alliance will go into the elections with a clear message to guard media independence and freedom.
The Prime Minister says the repeal of the media legislation was not for the Government, but for the people, to restore the free flow of communication between the people, the media and the rest of the world.
Rabuka says while the repeal appeared significant to the media, it was small compared with what happened in 1987.
He says about 10 years later, Her Majesty received him at the palace, but the authors of the media decree have not been able to speak to him face to face about it.
Rabuka says this shows the difference in their attitude towards what they do and what they bring into being.
The Prime Minister further says the Pacific should not silence its media because the free flow of information benefits the public, governments and news organisations.
He says open discussion is part of the Pacific way, adding that they talk and do not stop anybody from talking.
Rabuka says they do not want to silence the media and that the media should keep talking.
Asked about restrictions facing a newspaper in Samoa, Rabuka says Fiji’s experience showed that restricting the media was like operating in a dark house, as such restrictions deny people and governments information that benefits them both.
