Wednesday 6 December 2006

Soper in Suva

Here's one reason it's difficult to know what's going on in Fiji: the quality of the reporting is dire.

Take Barry Soper's radio report this morning: after letting us know that he wasn't himself going to argue with Fiji's military -- their weapons are "intimidating," he confided -- he then revealed that "there's a split here in Suva between those who support the coup and those who don't." Who would have thought it.

Does anyone have any idea where to get some decent news on the situation in Suva?

"Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun." So far that's about the only thing that we can be sure of -- a useful reminder to us all.

UPDATE: Bernard Darnton notes that the Fiji Times have courageously refused to publish a bowdlerised newspaper today. From a statement on the Fiji Times website:

Armed soldiers came to the Victoria Parade officers at 7.30pm last night, and asked for “assistance”. After a brief discussion outside, the soldiers entered the building for a discussion in the papers newsroom...
“We were ordered to breach the Constitution and not publish any dissenting views that may be sent to us by free citizens, as well as the views of legally elected members of the Qarase government. "If we do not have the freedom to publish with responsibility, then we do not publish.”

RELATED: Politics-World

2 comments:

Kane Bunce said...

As I said on my blog, the man is a dictator for whom the right to free speech means nothing. Oh, and the late night news was canceled for the same reasons. They didn't want to broadcast at all if they couldn't do it under their terms.

Kane Bunce said...

Oh, and he isn't allowing people to protest against his actions!