SUVA – Permanent secretary for Information Sharon Smith-Johns has urged journalists to take advantage of the lifting of censorship.
Speaking at the conference on Media and Democracy at the University of the South Pacific, Smith-Johns said the government is looking at journalists to again rise to the challenge of giving ordinary people information they need.
She added that one will hear a lot about censorship and journalists in Fiji are too afraid to report fully and without fear and favour.
Smith-Johns urged journalists not to use this as an excuse in not doing their jobs.
She said the government wants a vigorous media but with certain conditions that are a prerequisite in most countries.
According to Smith-Johns, these conditions are not to fuel racial division, not to threaten peace and order, and not to damage the economy and people’s jobs.
Meanwhile, according to lawyer Richard Naidu, during censorship when the public do not trust the media to come out with the information, they resort to other sources of information such as blog sites.
He further added that during censorship, those in authority would not know what people are thinking about them.
