Fiji slides in press freedom rankings

Last Updated: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:05:00 +1100

Fiji has dropped 73 places on the Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders.

It's ranked at 152, out of 175 countries listed.

The only other Pacific island country listed in the index is Papua New Guinea which remains in 56th position.

Fiji's interim regime has imposed strict censorship of the press, placing officers in each newsroom to sub-edit print, radio and TV stories before they are published.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, Asia program coordinator, Bob Dietz told Geraldine Coutts a decline in media freedom is usually tied to economic and political reasons.

"I understand what [Fiji is] going through but I can't help but think that eventually what drives the change is demand from the media consuming audience itself," he said.

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