Media crisis in Fiji

A new government order in Fiji has resulted in blank newspages and blank screens.

The “public emergency regulations", will be in place for 30 days, and prohibit the broadcast or publishing or any material that “may give rise to disorder” or could create “a breach of the peace, or promote disaffection or public alarm, or undermine the Government and the State of Fiji.”

It has all arisen from a consititutional crisis which began on April 8th which has resulted in the country having three different governments.

The country's Court of Appeal ruled that the interim government of Commodore Frank Bainimarama was illegal.

Friday saw officers from the Ministry of Information and the Police Media Unit placed in the country's newspaper, radio and TV newsrooms.In response sections of Fiji's media have launched a self-imposed news blackout and are boycotting political stories, with newspapers yesterday bland in their design and reports.