WHEN George Littleton Griffiths founded The Fiji Times in Levuka in 1869, he did so in a community where there was no formal legal code or universal accepted government.
Today, 146 years later, the people of Fiji continue to struggle with the concept of the supreme law by which the nation must be governed by the Constitution.
Yet the principles which governed this newspaper at its birth remain true and continue to guide our staff members.
In 1869 GL Griffith said ” The only promise we can make is this, that we shall watch the times and try to make our paper a public, useful and honest medium for the support of honour, truth and right.”
Today’s edition is a far cry from the one-page issue of September 4, 1869 which carried-among other things — advertisements for lawyers, boat-builders, butchers and druggists, bread, liquor and firearms.
In the annals of The Fiji Times, you will find documented records of World War I, World War II and the Malayan Campaign, Queen Elizabeth II’s inaugural visit to Fiji — an event which marked the arrival of the first British Royal to our shores, as well as her subsequent visits, the late Princess of Wales Diana’s stopover at Nadi, and her ex-husband’s earlier visit, Pope John Paul II’s visit, Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith’s crash landing at Albert Park and how the park was not named after him as some have been led to believe.
The heart wrenching stories of Christmas Island and the nuclear testing that involved a number of Fijians who were used as guinea pigs. 146 years later, today, as we celebrate yet another milestone achievement, The Fiji Times family continues to work hard to bring you the best in coverage, content and layout, in what has been described as the best newspaper in the country.
Beyond what you see in the newspaper, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes in the different sections of the newspaper that includes editorial, classifieds, advertising, finance, circulation and production teams.
Through the pages of our daily, along with that of our sister newspapers — Nai Lalakai, Shanti Dut and Sunday Times, you will learn of the rich history of the ever evolving times of our nation as contained in what is the country’s oldest newspaper company. Interestingly, today, Kaila! is a 12-page insert in the weekend Sunday Times newspaper.
Since its inception in 2004, Kaila! has indeed developed content wise, and graphically, in leaps and bounds.
Kaila! is also the vehicle which drives the PANPA award-winning schools Design Your Own Newspaper (DYON) project which continues to attract many secondary schools in Fiji, with great prizes such as computers, laptops, sporting equipment, cash and newsroom attachment stints for student writers.
We brought you reports of the Indentured Labour system and the Leonidas, a ship named after a warrior king of Sparta — a prominent city state in ancient Greece, known for its brave and disciplined, tough and hardy people, reports of the four coups, two in 1987, 2000 and in 2006, and various stories of people around Fiji.
Our exciting and dramatic stories range from early reports of rival chiefdoms to a nation united by a common loyalty to the British Crown, and on the threshold of assuming full control of its own affairs as part of the great Commonwealth family, to a country that has just had democratic parliamentary elections.
Our journey to date has included stories that inspire, change and most importantly touched the lives of our readers because of our driven ambition to bring you the best we can, that we respect without question the fact that there is no resting on our laurels, even after reaching whatever goals we have set to match our high standards and its ultimate delivery to you, through our daily newspaper.
