Over one hundred and fifty-three years ago, The Fiji Times came to life on the pages of a newspaper founded by a young businessman of Levuka, George Littleton Griffiths.
What that young man in his 20s did has left behind a legacy and brand that we celebrate each year on September 4.
I would like to say “Happy 153rd Birthday The Fiji Times!”
History tells us that Griffiths was a generous man who had a deep sense of civic duty.
He and his wife, Annie had 10 children.
They adopted more, showing that The Fiji Times was not just a company.
It was a family, and focused on families.
Likewise, this newspaper is for the whole family and the empowerment of the people.
Since 1869, The Fiji Times has been at the forefront of the fight for the rights and freedoms of the people of Fiji.
For 15 decades, our compelling content has enabled citizens of this country to understand the world around them through weddings, chiefly installations, sports, coups, politics, elections and cyclones.
We’ve covered them all.
We were around when Fiji was ceded by chiefs of this country to Britain in 1874.
We were there when Fiji gained independence in 1970.
We were there when man first walked on the moon and we were there during the two coup d’etat of 1987 and those of 2000 and 2006.
We were there when COVID-19 brought the whole world and its economies to its knees in 2020 and 2021.
Through thick and thin we were there.
Through bad times and good times, through conflicts and peace times, through times of abundance and moments of need — we were there.
God-willing, we will always be around for Fiji and provide a brand of service only this paper is able to deliver — to provide a space for the unheard and downtrodden and so that everyone gets informed and empowered.
Our mission has been seeking out the truth from day one.
It has been a beacon of light during times that are darkened by untruths and plagued by poverty, injustice and inequity.
Our world is slowly changing.
Around the globe, with the meteoric advancement of digital and electronic technology, ordinary citizens by the millions are now empowered to express themselves, debate issues and articulate opinions.
Before that power rested largely with journalists and media professionals.
While the democratisation of the media has empowered people by putting them in the “driver’s seat”, it has made controlling media content a massive challenge.
Social media have become irreplaceable and influential in our lives.
They have also created platforms for spreading fake news and hate speech.
I started my career in the media on December 4, 1995, young, full of energy and ready to learn about a world I am still trying to get my head around.
Work was different in those days, in a fun kind of way.
It was an old school era of sorts, when the internet was an alien subject, work culture was somewhat unorthodox but worked, politics was different and the media was unafraid and free.
There were no fancy gadgets, not even mobile phones; but when they invaded Fiji towards the end of the 1990s, they were heavy and cumbersome, and came with aerials and SIM cards the size of today’s ATM card.
Our photos were developed in darkrooms that reeked of chemicals.
One thing that reminds me of the “good old days” was travelling to the outer islands.
We wrote stories in our notebooks and made sure we reached the village radio telephone before it closed.
Things got tricky at peak times when people waited in a queue to make calls to different parts of Fiji.
Stories had to be read over the RT, while everyone in line listened.
Someone in the newsroom in Suva typed out what was read, on a computer.
Camera rolls were sent from the nearest airstrip or brought back to the office for developing.
There was no social media so stories gleaned from rural areas were always fresh.
The only item of luxury a journalist had in those days was a tape recorder, apart from a pen and a writing pad.
They were big and bulky and had huge cassette tapes that children liked to crack open and throw around like
streamers.
Those days have gone, never to return.
The media environment has changed but the democratic functions of the media and journalists remain the same.
In many parts of the world, in a brazen effort to halt journalists’ work in revealing hurtful and uncomfortable truths, systematic attacks have been launched to slander the media’s good work and stifle them through fear and intimidation.
Members of the public and the media fraternity have in the past expressed concern over the “excessive” punishment in the Media Industry Development Act.
There are concerns that journalists no longer operate in an environment that is truly free and fair.
Modernising our laws should be welcomed if the motives are clear and principled and if we feel they are relevant to the lives of our people and consistent with human rights and international best practices.
If our leaders truly believe the decisions they make and actions they do are made with the interest of Fijians in mind, then they should never fear being scrutinised, questioned and held accountable by the very public they have sworn under oath to protect and serve.
Today, September 4, 153 years later, The Fiji Times continues the legacy of its founder and the passion with which he started this newspaper from day one at Albion Passage, Levuka.
Griffiths was always fearless.
He vigorously protested every action by the Fiji Government which he deemed disadvantageous to Fiji.
At his death, tributes flooded in for a man who believed in the potential of Levuka and whose greatest contribution to Fiji was a newspaper that has stood by the people undaunted, throughout Fiji’s history.
For the future, there is no higher ambition than to pursue the path he once dreamed and walked.
Let me take this opportunity to wish every daddy in Fiji a Happy Father’s Day.
Without you there would be no family and no Fiji.
You have contributed immensely to society and certainly made the world a better and more meaningful place to live in.
Like this 153-year-old newspaper, may you live long and may you enjoy more days like today.
Until we meet on this same page same time next week – stay blessed, stay healthy and stay safe.