06 October 2009

Journalists call for travel writers to reconsider Fiji invitation

SYDNEY - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is urging the Australian Society of Travel Writers (ASTW) not to accept a bid for its annual general meeting to be hosted in Fiji next year, in view of the Fiji military regimeââ¬â¢s strict censorship and hardline in controlling news reporting.

The IFJ wrote to the ASTW on September 23 calling for it to reconsider any meeting in Fiji while restrictions continue against local media.

The IFJ said that ASTW members would be compromising their integrity to accept the hospitality of the regime in the current circumstances.

The letter from IFJ Asia-Pacific Steering Committee member Christopher Warren, who is also federal secretary of the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, noted that while ASTW ââ¬Åâœmembers may be encouraged by Fijiââ¬â¢s regime to visit and report favourably on Fiji, other foreign journalists risk being banned from entry while local journalists must daily bow to the demands of the newsroom censorsââ¬~.

The ASTW was reminded of its code of ethics, which states that members will ââ¬Åâœencourage responsible professional standards of reportingââ¬~ and ââ¬Åâœsafeguard the professional independence of travel writersââ¬~.

The societyââ¬â¢s stated mandate is to promote ââ¬Åâœunbiased reporting of information on travel topicsââ¬~.

ââ¬ÅâœThe IFJ believes that the staging of the AGM in Fiji would risk compromising the ASTW,ââ¬~ Warren said in the letter.

ââ¬ÅâœWhile ASTW members may seek to present a realistic picture of Fijiââ¬â¢s current circumstances in their professional work as travel writers, they would be denied this right within Fiji, and any critical commentary in their journalistic or other work would be blocked from circulation within Fiji.

ââ¬ÅâœFiji is therefore not a suitable venue in which the ASTW can reasonably promote professional travel writing in keeping with the ASTWââ¬â¢s code of ethics and international journalistic standards that support freedom of the media, expression and association.ââ¬~

The ASTW has told the IFJ it will circulate the letter to its members, some of whom are also members of the Alliance, an IFJ affiliate, after the completion of an online survey of members about whether to accept a bid to hold the AGM in Fiji.

The IFJââ¬â¢s concerns follow a considerable worsening of the media situation in Fiji over the past 18 months, with police raids on media offices, deportations of publishers and editors, calls by military officers for media houses to be shut down, a ââ¬Åâœwatch listââ¬~ and bans on foreign journalists, and contempt of court rulings carrying hefty punishments.

In April 2009, the regime imposed emergency regulations with orders that journalists and media outlets submit ââ¬Åâœsensitiveââ¬~ news reports to officials. Full-time censors have been placed in newsrooms, says the IFJ.

A copy of the IFJ letter to the ASTW is available at: http://www.ifj.org/assets/docs/252/131/6da56fc-c099183.pdf

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• Meaningless vote
  
  

  Asking ASTW members to vote without publishing the IFJ's viewpoint is meaningless at best. The vote counter is accompanied by a letter from a senior member of the Fiji regime pointing out what a warm and welcoming place Fiji is. Well, as Mandy Rice Davies so famously told the judge when Lord Astor denied having an affair with her: "Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?" We now have an immensely strong argument against going to Fiji for the AGM, written by the world's largest organisation for journalists, yet this is not going to be revealed to members until after they have voted. This seems suspiciously like a chapter from the Fiji textbook on how to rig an election. Of course the Fiji government would regard it as a wonderful coup - pun intended - to have the ASTW accept their hospitality but it is going to take more than a few mugs of kava to blind anyone to the fact that the Fiji government is illegal, corrupt and is notoriously hostile to the press. And without free press there is no free anything. Certainly not a free AGM.

  By paul edwards, Tuesday, October 6, 2009