10 Dec 2009

Pacific media specialist calls for solidarity in Fiji media to resist regime

3:08 pm on 10 December 2009

There's been a call for more solidarity among Fiji's media outlets to defy censorship imposed by the interim government.

Dr Mark Hayes, a specialist in Pacific media and Journalism at the University of Queensland, is urging non-violent direct action against the Fiji military regime's dominance.

Dr Hayes says steady resistance to the interim regime, including shunning communication with its media censors and strict compliance with legal institutions, will erode its power.

He says Fiji's media should form a phalanx of solidarity.

"Complete solidarity; so that an attack on one outlet or an attack on one or a small number of journalists from one outlet becomes an attack on all of them. They will come for you and you need to prepare for revenge attacks, for what we call backfire. You come near us, you're going to get stung... and in ways that you are not really being able to predict."

Dr Mark Hayes adds that there are many techniques for media outlets to get around the regime's internet censorhip.