The Fiji Human Rights Commission has confirmed that it has handed Doctor James Anthony's report on the Freedom and Independence of the Media to the interim government, and it is now up to the authorities to take the necessary action.
On the allegations in the FHRC report of various companies, including the media houses being members of SDL's Duavata Initiative, Doctor Shameem said the companies have been listed because they were given the right to respond.
She also said the companies who have stressed that they were not members of Duavata Initiative have their submissions included as part of the report.
The FHRC said it has decided that the best way to deal with this aspect of the report is to employ a three-pronged approach - it has requested the interim prime minister to forward the report to the appropriate government authorities to review as they see fit, it has forwarded information in relation to lawyers to the Fiji Law Society requesting an independent review and it has included in the report any additional evidence or related information that was relevant to the responses so that members of the public have the opportunity to make up their own minds on this part of the inquiry.
Village News also questioned Doctor Shaista Shameem if she saw some comments in the report as discriminatory - especially in relation to the white man's club and oligarchy of barons when referring to the owners of the media outlets.
The report states that after the December 5th takeover, the military began to analyze the role of the media industry in the polarization of Fiji's two major races, which had deepened and widened over the years.
In the FHRC report, Doctor James Anthony writes that the power of the media was found to be in the hands of about eight whites (mostly expatriates) operating in the shadows, acting in concert as members of a private club, deciding not only what to print but also deciding what not to print. He further writes that this power not to print, the power to censor news, the power to decide what was fit to be printed, to be aired, was a power that was exercised with stealth. It said that the power was exercised in the corridors of power, away from the daylight of the common forum, away from the potlight of public attention.
Doctor Anthony writes that it was an exercise of power to protect the power of a complex web of cross owners sitting in crucial positions on wide range of Board of Directors. He goes on and said that what one local author has previously called an "oligarchy of barons" once white, now of various shades, their hands in almost every major pie in the country. The report further said that self regulation has failed and the Media Council is a white man's club and is a do nothing body.
Several allegations have also been made in the report with Doctor Anthony quoting several submissions provided by confidential sources. There is also a long list of companies, including media houses listed as members of the SDL's Duavata Initiative Company.
The list is just typed out without any reference on where the information has been received.
Editor of Fiji Times, Netani Rika has strongly condemned the contents of the Fiji Human Rights Commission report which is blaming the media for the 1987 coup.
Rika said Dr Anthony should understand that the coups have not been staged by any media organization.
Rika added that Dr Anthony's allegations are baseless and it’s his personal view that white men are running the show in the media industry.
Meanwhile, other media organizations are still going through the report and are expected to comment later today.
