Is freedom of the Pacific press really free?

Abstract

The sale of the Daily Post and the draconian decision by a Samoan court to gag the Observer are worrying developments for the Pacific news media. Even if the Fiji Government upholds its promise to stay out of the Daily Post's day to day activities, as appears to be the case so far, the public can no longer have the same confidence in the impartiality of the newspaper after the state buy out. When it comes to "independence" two issues usually arise together: the need for independence and the need to be seen to be independent.

Keywords

• Fiji Daily Post
• The Fiji Times
• media council
• independent media
• media freedom
• draconian