Fiji Government wins complaint against Radio NZ
September 14th, 2008 at 4:59 pm by David FarrarThe Fijian Government complained about an interview with Michael Field on Nine to Noon on 7 March 2008. Radio NZ rejected the complaint so they went to the BSA. And they won.
They’ve sent me a copy of the decision: bsa-decision-28-8-08 (large pdf) that upholds four complaints of inaccuracy.
Now I have been a pretty strong critic of the Commodore and his Government myself. But there is no reason to make things sound worse than they really are there. The four items the BSA upheld were:
- Radio NZ were wrong to state the management of Fiji Broadcasting was military appointed (the Board is unchanged from before the coup)
- Radio NZ were wrong to broadcast that a journalist had been given just 8 days notice to leave Fiji when it was 21 days
- Radio NZ was wrong to state a Judge who got mugged had publicly criticised a report which upheld the legality of the coup. There was no evidence the Judge had done this, yet alone if it was linked
- Radio NZ were wrong to state the Judge’s house was burnt down, when it was not
Radio NZ do not have to broadcast a correction. The publication of the finding is meant to be “punishment” enough. The BSA hasn’t actually got around to putting it up on their website yet despite the decision being made on 28 August 2008.
Tags: Broadcasting Standards Authority, Fiji, Michael Field, Nine to Noon, Radio NZ
September 14th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
LabourFM making up stories to suit their political penchant and to appease their masters? Wash your mouth out!
Vote:September 14th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Feminist Radio caught having a go at a Commodore that would rather go watch rugby. Radio NZ is a pathetic sick wimpish joke.
Vote:September 14th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
The incredible thing is that the suggestion a Judge was beaten up over making a comment and had her house burnt down was uncritically accepted. Fiji is not a tidy democracy (and has not been since, at least, the first coup) but it is not completely lawless. I realise that it suits Clark to have a ready made international crisis to distract from domestic woe and give her an opportunity to sound like a world leader but the reality is that the situation in Fiji is challenging not Zimbabwe.
Vote:September 14th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I think it is disgraceful and heads should roll. How can one believe anything they broadcast. I hope the other media will report these findings.
Vote:September 14th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Well said, GPT1 – “not a tidy democracy” is the perfect way to describe present-day Fijian politics. The NZ Government has gone overboard in its attitude to Fiji, and in doing so has become diplomatically irrelevant there, disqualifying itself now from any effective advocaty role for reform and democratic stabilisation.
There was no more justification for the latest military coup in Fiji than any of the earlier editions. However, the overthrown government was not only seeking to legislate along rascist lines but was also hell-bent on releasing convicted leaders of the previous coup from prison, including Speight.
Rather than showing persuasive diplomatic leadership in an attempt dissuade Fiji’s pre-coup authorities from their unconstitutional course and resolve tensions in Fiji during their final months, Helen Clark’s government preferred condemnatory rhetoric of the Fijian government’s critics, thereby implicitly endorsing the government’s own undemocratic policies. Its actions left it with no role to play in a post-coup environement.
There are times when I think that NZ has greater problems with democratic government than Fiji. Here the motives behind the EFA, the forced passage of non-mandated legislation against overwhelming public opposition, and the smell of outright corruption (of the favours-for-payment variety) that waft around the present government, give little cause for optimism.
You have indeed “been a pretty strong critic of the Commodore and his Government”, David. Nothing wrong with criticising a military coup, but let’s at least recognise Fiji as the nearest thing there is to a “benign” military junta. Why can’t NZ use its clout in the Pacific to work creatively for a dilpomatic solution that would help return Fiji to early democracy?
Vote:September 15th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Interestingly Michael Field is considered this country’s leading media expert on the Pacific – I think with Fairfax now.
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