Today is a very special day for The Fiji Times. We celebrate another milestone.
Today will be exactly 148 years from the day George Littleton Griffiths founded The Fiji Times in Levuka.
It goes without saying that our nation was a very different place to live in then.
Our records show that settlers at the time were still taking little steps on the path to nationhood.
The first issue of The Fiji Times was published at Levuka on September 4, 1869.
Our first office was at Albion Passage, along Beach St at the foot of Mission Hill.
A brief history prepared by former editor of the newspaper, the late Sir Len Usher, on October 15, 1962, described the early days of the newspaper and gave a glimpse of the life of the people of Levuka.
The Cyclopaedia of Fiji which he referred to, stated, “In 1869, when Mr Griffith landed in Levuka, there was no form of government whatever … considering the freedom from restraint which the settlers enjoyed, every man doing as he thought right in his own eyes, the community was an exceedingly orderly one, and comparatively few disturbances occurred. For the first two years … the press played an important part in the preservation of order.”
The Fiji Times’ first editorial comment said, “The only promise that we can make is that we shall watch the times and try to make our paper a public good; a practical, useful and honest medium for the support of honour, truth and right.”
We strive to give credibility to that statement.
Mr Griffiths said the company made no pretensions of greatness.
The editorial said, The Fiji Times gave no great promises … “but preferred the more modest as well as noble plan of saying little and doing much”.
“We shall maintain the liberty of the press and the rights to all men.”
“Many subjects of vital importance need ventilating, and for the lovers of the country, of industry, commerce, morals and humanity, there is a vast field of usefulness.”
He said there was plenty of room for everyone, for their pens, for their purses, for their efforts!
“Let us put our shoulders to the wheel and heave together for the general good.”
They were apt then, and continue to motivate us today, serving as a major challenge and guideline for the newspaper today.
It is unfortunate that we continue to be attacked for the work we do.
We are not anti-government, nor are we pro-government. We are very pro-Fiji, with a platform for Fijians to have their voices heard and concerns raised.
We are a newspaper for every Fijian regardless of status, gender, ethnicity and religion.
We will continue to strive for justice in every story we print and picture we use, and hope we are seen as a newspaper that is fair and balanced.
