The closure of the Fiji Live website was not due to any interference from The Ministry of Information or the Fiji Police, said the Permanent Secretary for Information, Ms Sharon Smith-Johns.
“Once again we see journalist reporting without first obtaining the facts”, she said in response to queries from the local and international media on why the Fiji Live Website owned by Webmasters Ltd was shutdown.
“I would like to further clarify and put on record that no Government agency including the Fiji Police were responsible for the closure of the Fiji Live Website as reported by some media organizations including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Website without first clarifying it through official channels.”Ms Smith-Johns said.
The Permanent Secretary for Information said Fiji Live has clarified that they themselves took down the website, and confirmed that neither the my Ministry or the Police Force had anything to do with it.
On Thursday 29th July Webmasters lodged its registration with the Media Industry Development Authority of Fiji. On Friday 30th the Attorney General announced the names of some of the Media organizations who had registered, Fiji Live's name was not mentioned.
They assumed wrongly that they had not been registered and they took down the website. Ms Smith-Johns said Fiji Live has freely admitted that they had taken down the Fiji Live website on their own accord.
The Permanent Secretary for Information said that the Media Development Authority Decree is now in place and media organizations need to comply with the provisions of the decree.
Ms Smith-Johns also clarified that the Police have the right to question the media organizations under the PER on any matters which breach penal code or any other decrees and this includes the Media decree.
“In this case the Police officers had the right to question the News Director of the Fiji Live News regarding a news item which concerned the Police as the story was based on a rumour and was inaccurate.
“We urge the media editors once again to exercise responsible reporting, we believe that the media has an important role to play in our country and its role towards nation- building is critical and important”.
The Permanent Secretary for Information has called on the media to co-operate and assist in moving the nation forward, through fair balanced and accurate reporting.