17 Dec 2008

Fiji Media Council says self-censorship is decreasing

4:02 pm on 17 December 2008

Fiji's Media Council says self-censorship among the country's media is becoming less frequent.

This is in contrast to a statement by one of the Fiji's human rights commissioners, Shamima Ali, who has said self-censorship among journalists is getting worse.

But the council's Daryl Tarte disagrees.

"Journalists are not being taken into the camp for questioning any more as they used to. But there's a degree of caution and self-censorship going on. But I wouldn't agree that it's getting worse. It's a lot better than it was, some 12 months ago, the media organisation didn't have journalists put their byline down anymore. But that ended some time ago."

Daryl Tarte says he's concerned about proposed legislation to regulate the media.