Fiji: Unapologetic Bainimarama Calls in the Media

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SUBJECT: Fiji: Unapologetic Bainimarama Calls in the Media

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Summary
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1. (SBU) Interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama met with
media editors and news directors yesterday to insist them that his
government would uphold media freedom but warned that the media have
to report the truth, avoid politics and exercise balance. The
meeting followed the May 2 expulsion of Australian Evan Hannah, the
publisher of Fiji's largest circulation newspaper, the Fiji Times, a
News Corporation publication. Bainimarama asked the media to
support the interim government's nation-building agenda. While News
Corporation claimed that Bainimarama openly threatened the media
with further expulsions and other reprisals if they refused to heed
his warnings, local reports from the meeting painted a less
confrontational exchange. The PM's permanent secretary said May 6
that media is exaggerating the Commodore's statement that he may
shut down Fiji's media.

Bainimarama, Good Cop-Bad Cop
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2. (SBU) A government media release quotes Bainimarama as having
told his audience that he "would like to restate the Interim
Government's unwavering commitment of its constitutional obligation
of Freedom of the Press and other media as enshrined in Section
30(b) of our Constitution." However, he reportedly went on to say
that "with any freedom also comes responsibility. Partisan agendas,
cultural insensitivity and deliberate distortions in media reporting
can do untold damage to the fabric of a nation and indeed have
unfortunate repercussions." The Fiji Times reported that editors
and publishers are henceforth expected to state their political
affiliations.


3. (SBU) Press accounts report that the PM's remarks sparked a
lively discussion between the Commodore and the editors and
managers, including some "loud and stern exchanges." Fiji Times
Editor Netani Rika, who attended the meeting, said that Bainimarama
accused the media of hating him and of being unfairly critical of
him and his government. The Times reported that Bainimarama said
the matter of Times publisher Hannah's expulsion is closed. Like
Fiji Sun publisher Russell Hunter, who was expelled in an almost
identical action in late February, Hannah will not be allowed to
return to Fiji, he said. Government officials have repeatedly
stated that the two journalists had breached the terms of their work
permits by engaging in activities that were a threat to 'national
security" and the decisions to expel them will not be reviewed.
Both Hunter and Hannah have filed legal challenges against the
actions taken against them.

News Corp Sees a Threat
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4. (SBU) According to some Australian media accounts of the Monday
meeting, Bainimarama warned that there could be more deportations.
At the same time, Interim Immigration Minister Ratu Epeli Ganilau,
who signed the orders expelling Hunter and Hannah, said "The
deportation (of Hannah) does not affect anyone else. It does not
preclude anyone else that News Limited (the newspaper operating arm
of News Corporation) would want to appoint as publisher."
Striking a positive note, the publisher of the Daily Post said the
meeting gave both sides a chance to air their views about how the
interim government and media have dealt with one another. He said
the interim government had promised to be more accessible to the
media in the future. Neither the Post nor radio outlet Legend News
reported threats from Bainimarama, but Times editor Rika is
extensively quoted in News Limited media organizations in Australia
as saying that Bainimarama threatened to shut down the media if they
did not stick to reporting "only the facts".


5. (U) News Limited issued a statement that has run on all its
Australian outlets. Campbell Reid, the director of News Limited's
editorial operations, said the personal intervention of the head of
the interim government was "deeply troubling" for Australians living
in or visiting Fiji. "The interim government of Fiji having already
dispensed with parliamentary democracy and the freedom of the press
now clearly intends to ignore the rule of law, thereby erasing the
last hope that Fiji could avoid becoming a military dictatorship
once again," Reid said. "Clearly, the assertion by Fiji officials
that the deportation of Evan Hannah should have no bearing on our
investment in Fiji is laughable in the face of Bainimarama's threat
to shut down the media and his confirmation that Evan will not be

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able to return to Fiji". Mr Parmesh Chand, Permanent Secretary in
the PM's Office responded that "Both the Government side and the
media discussed frankly what their respective concerns were. It is
unfair now that media is strategically picking up issues from that
meeting and in the process sensationalizing them."

Comment
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6. (SBU) The meeting called by Bainimarama may have been intended to
allay fears of a wider crackdown on media freedom, but it has
instead resulted in more negative headlines on the extensive News
Limited media network. Since the meeting was not a press
conference, what exactly Bainimarama told the media bosses was not
recorded. Some of the reporting and editorials keyed to the meeting
are almost conciliatory in tone. The quality of Fiji journalism is
mediocre, and every Fiji government complains about it. The
cold-blooded expulsions of two expatriate journalist/editors have
clearly focused minds. Socks will be pulled up, but it is unlikely
that the Fiji media will be cowed yet.

DINGER