955 signatures, the ball is in MIDA's court

Continuing Public Outcry Against Fiji Sun Demands a Response From Ashwin Raj and Media Authority The continuing community backlash against Fiji Sun’s headline “RAPED MERE BURIED” demands a response from the Fiji Media Industry Development Authority(MIDA) and Director of the Fiji Human Rights and Anti Discrimination Commission, Mr Ashwin Raj. Fijians continue to speak out against the Fiji Sun’s sensationalist and profiteering headlines, and they continue to sign the Petition against the media rag, almost 1000 have signed the petition by March 29th. The Media Decree 2010 which established MIDA and under which Mr. Raj is appointed as MIDA Chairman, authorises the Authority to even investigate without a complaint being made. Yet here almost 1000 Fijians have put their name to the Online Petition hosted on www.change.org, an online petition site with over 100million users which hosts petitions for organisations like Amnesty International and the Humane Society. How the Online Petition Against the Fiji Sun Works Each online “signature” ie name of the person signing their name to the petition results in an email to the MIDA FIJI email address info@mida.org.fj - which has been operational since MIDA was established and which we hope forwards emails to the MIDA Chairman Mr. Ashwin Raj. So in theory, each signature results in a “complaint” being lodged with MIDA, and which MIDA should investigate, as required in Section 53 of the Media Decree 2010: PART 9 - COMPLAINTS TO THE AUTHORITY Complaints to the Authority 53.-(1) Any person or entity may make a complaint against any media organisation to the Authority regarding the failure on the part of any media organisation to comply with the provisions of this Decree, including non-compliance with any media codes. (2) A complaint under subsection (1) may be made to the Authority orally or in writing. (3) A complaint under subsection (1) may be made against the media organisation or any employee, officer, agent or servant of that media organisation. Yet MIDA has the authority in article 54 of the Media Decree 2010, to launch its own investigation into the Fiji Sun, even without complaints being lodged formally to Mr. Ashwin Raj. Authority may investigate without a complaint 54. The Authority may carry out an investigation against any media organisation for failure on the part of any media organisation to comply with the provisions of this Decree, including non-compliance with any media codes, even though no complaint has been made or lodged by any person or entity. So we place our hope in MIDA to investigate not only of its own accord, but if it cannot investigate of its own accord in this instance, then can MIDA acknowledge that it has received complaints via info@mida.org.fj? All petition signatures were also directed to info@fhrc.org.fj since Mr. Raj is also the new Director of the Fiji Human Rights and Anti Discrimination Commission. We are also informed that individuals exercising their rights under the Media Decree 2010, have of their own accord, lodged their own complaint letters directly to MIDA in relation to this deplorable Fiji Sun headline of 20 March 2016. So the ‘ball’ so the speak, is in MIDA’s court. Individual complaints have been lodged, 955 online supporters complaints have been sent to info@mida.org.fj and info@fhrc.org.fj and even if there were no complaints, given the uproar over the Fiji Sun 20 March headline, MIDA has its own powers to investigate the Fiji Sun. At the same time, the petition calls for the Government and specifically the Ministry of Information to reconsider the continuing practice of placing all government and statutory bodies and government commercial entities advertising and public notices exclusively in the Fiji Sun, which we are sure keeps this media rag in business. Supporters of the petition do not want their taxpayer dollars supporting the Fiji Sun. In the meantime, petition supporters refuse to buy the Fiji Sun.