19 May 2015

Fiji media urged to test media law limits

6:50 am on 19 May 2015

The chairman of a body set up to implement Fiji's controversial media decree says the media industry there needs to learn to work around the law.

Ashwin Raj, chair of Fiji's media authority MIDA

Ashwin Raj, chair of Fiji's media authority MIDA Photo: RNZ / Republika

An opposition motion for the repeal of the Media Industry Development Decree was defeated in Parliament last week.

The bill's author, National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad, told Parliament the 2010 decree had seriously undermined media freedom.

But the chairman of the Media Industry Development Authority, Ashwin Raj, says the media should experiment with the decree's boundaries.

Exclusive focus on penal liabilities alone is counter-productive...we should think about other productive ways in which we can work around things that we deem regressive.

Mr Raj says the media in Fiji will always be regulated.