The Attorney General said there is no confirmation at this stage on whether changes will be made to the draft Media Industry Development Decree.
Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said a number of issues have been raised in relation to the penalties if there is a breach of the codes stated in the draft decree and ownership issues.
However he said comments have been made in favour of the sections in question or against the issues.
Sayed-Khaiyum said the stakeholders who have asked for or recommended changes would have to wait and see on whether changes would be made.
He said cabinet will make the final decision on whether any amendments would be made.
The draft Media Decree clearly states that every media organisation in Fiji should have 90 percent local ownership which means that 90 percent of shares of any media organisation in Fiji should be owned by citizens of Fiji permanently residing in Fiji.
Ten percent of the media ownership can be foreign.
It also states that in the case of a company, all directors and in the case of any legal entity, partnership, joint venture and of any individual shall respectively be citizens of Fiji permanently residing in Fiji.
The Fiji Times has proposed in the consultations for majority of the board and management to be local, and that there should be no changes which would result in the Fiji Times selling its shares locally.
However the draft Media Decree states that any person who does not fall within the class of persons described must resign or divest themselves of any directorship or ownership interest within three months from the commencement of the decree.
This means that current Fiji Times owners would have to sell off 90 percent of their shares to locals.
Meanwhile a breach of any of the provisions under the section Content Regulation by a media organisation shall constitute an offence and the media organisation shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 500 thousand dollars or in the case of a publisher or editor or journalist a fine not exceeding 100 thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or both.
Several offences in relation to breach of the Media Code of Ethics, and offences under the draft Media Decree carry maximum fines for media organisations of 500 thousand dollars and maximum prison sentences of 5 years.
For the offending journalist, editor or publisher, the maximum fines for many offences are 100 thousand dollars and the maximum prison sentence is five years.
Media organisations want the penalties reduced.
However certain individuals have said in the consultations that the penalties should remain as it would serve as a deterrent.
No confirmation yet on changes to Draft Media Decree-AG
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