Thursday, April 6, 2023, will go down in our history as a defining moment for absolute freedom of the media in our beloved nation for the first time since December 5, 2006, when the then military commander overthrew a democratically-elected multi-party government at gunpoint.
Two laws, both highly regressive and draconian, were repealed on the same day — the Media Industry Development Act 2010 and the i Taukei Land Trust (Budget Amendment) Act 2021 (famously known as Bill No. 17). These were at the top of the pile of laws heaped on the people without any consultation.
The Coalition Government of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka had vowed to repeal these laws. And a packed parliamentary gallery and many others online witnessed Parliament delivering on those promises.
For media organisations and journalists, the nightmare of MIDA – our “Sword of Damocles” – is now well and truly over.
Muzzling the media
The Public Emergency Regulations came into force on April 10, 2009, after the abrogation of the 1997 Constitution.
Then came the Media Industry Development Decree under which media organisations and journalists who dared to stand up to the military regime and highlight the truth, became targets of government hatred. The Public Emergency Regulations brought about censorship.
Only news favourable to the then Bainimarama regime could be broadcasted and printed. The noose around the necks of the media were loosened ever so slightly a few months before the regime embarked on its Constitution review process and appointed the Yash Ghai led Commission under Decrees 57 and 58.
Unsurprisingly, this slight relaxation proved to be a façade. It was concocted to show the international community that Fiji was on a path to restore its constitutional legitimacy, democracy and fundamental freedoms. The regime tried to show that the constitutional process was free and fair.
But the very opposite was the truth. The Ghai draft constitution ended up being literally burnt and the whole constitutional review process trashed.
Ghai draft and MOG
The Ghai draft constitution had proposed for a media industry free of any control by Government. In fact its recommendations were quite pertinent. But not so the 2013 Constitution that followed. The gag on the media continued.
It became the new normality right up to the September 2014 general elections. Only one point of view prevailed. That of the FijiFirst, a party born out of the coup and the regime whose major players had promised not to enter politics.
Even the Multinational Observer Group (MOG) that monitored the 2014 elections pointed out the need to make the media truly free. The MOG Report noted that harsh penalties in the Media Industry Development Decree prevented most media outlets from effectively reporting on election issues.
The contents of the report on Media Environment, Media Industry Development Decree and Media Industry Development Authority (MIDA), showed the ineffectiveness of MIDA. The MOG rightly recommended the need for an independent institution to prevent and adjudicate on media bias, thus ensuring a level-playing field amongst election participants, as well as a review of penalties in the Media Decree.
The fact that MOG recommended for an independent institution to adjudicate media organisations proves MIDA’s lack of neutrality because it has been a body appointed by Government.
A free, fair, credible and unfettered media industry in Fiji would be rendered meaningless if MIDA continued to exist.
Media freedom and Constitution
Freedom of expression and freedom of the media has been enshrined in every Constitution of Fiji since Independence – the 1970, 1990, and the 1997 Constitution. But not so the 2013 Constitution because this freedom has been curtailed by limitations in the current Constitution.
Section 17 of the 2013 Constitution outlines freedom of speech, expression and publication in four sub-section points. But at the same-time, it outlines 13 limitations. Merely four freedoms but a whopping 13 limitations.
On Monday, April 3, the FijiFirst Opposition claimed in Parliament that the 2013 Constitution guaranteed freedom. It was the worst attempt to camouflage their inherent contempt for absolute media freedom.
It was clear from their opposition that the Opposition wants freedom FijiFirst style – not absolute freedom that the Coalition government wants the media to enjoy. The 2013 Constitution provisions on freedom of speech, expression, thought, opinion and publication have not protected the media from regulations that enforce media standards and regulate the conduct of media organisations.
This is where the Media Industry Development Decree came in like a vulture, hovering over media organisations and journalists. Let me give you an example of what was happening in the past.
If the former government launched a vitriolic and malicious attack against the Opposition, it made headlines or the news almost instantly or the next day in the newspapers.
But if the Opposition pointed out the lies and flaws in Government policy, the media would wait for 48 hours to get a comment from Government before running a news item. Why? Because of this draconian legislation whose judge, jury and executioner was the government.
Against this backdrop of adversity, it has been through the tenacity, courage and above all the will of the people that the stranglehold of FijiFirst and its twoman rule on Fiji has been broken.
When two media organisations – The Fiji Times and Communications Fiji Ltd – displayed courage and carried out their role as watchdog of government in the lead-up to the 2022 elections, they were vociferously attacked and individual journalists’ names ridiculed and shown contempt in Parliament by the former government.
Repeal
The repeal of MIDA demolishes a law that was promulgated without consultation. It is about freedom. Doesn’t the Opposition want unfettered freedom for the media? Why does it want media freedom to be conditional and restrictive?
Why can’t the mainstream media report freely, factually and ethically, without a noose around their necks? Fundamental freedoms should not come with restrictions and limitations. No government has any business whatsoever in regulating and controlling the media.
Fiji is now a land of hope and opportunity. It is no longer the North Korea of the South Pacific. The announcement of the repeal of MIDA by the Prime Minister was welcomed by the regional news organisation PINA, rightfully linking media freedom to democracy.
Without media freedom, there is no democracy. There is no amplifying of the voice of the people. Freedom should not be with limitations. Freedom comes with responsibility. And that is why there is a need to revert to the pre-Bainimarama and FijiFirst era of restoring the Fiji Media Council.
And empowering the Council to be self-regulators and adjudicators of media ethics and standards for journalists.
It is similar to governments being elected and rejected at the ballot box. Not removed through any other means where the adjudicators are not the voters, but usurpers of power, legitimate authority and rule of law.
A new dawn
The repeal of this draconian and regressive legislation comes eight years after the NFP Leader (now Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance) Professor Biman Prasad, moved a motion for Parliament to do the same in May 2015.
Eight years ago, Professor Prasad said: “Media throughout the world is generally regarded as the fourth estate – the last line of defenders of democracy, human rights, dignity and justice. “Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
This right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through the media regardless of frontiers.
“This freedom and right is reposed in the people, which the State and politicians must respect at all times”.
“Genuine democracy, equal citizenry, freedom of expression, accountability, transparency, which are ethics that every government, parliament, every country would want to promote, can only be achieved through free, fair, credible and non-regulated media.
Naturally, the then FijiFirst government rejected the motion. But what didn’t happen on Friday, May 15, 2015, became a reality on Thursday, April 6, 2023. A new dawn is shining on unfettered media freedom.
•KAMAL IYER is a member of the National Federation Party and as a former journalist subscribes to absolute media freedom. The views here are his not necessarily shared by this newspaper.
