SOLOMONS AUTHORITIES UNDER FIRE OVER MEDIA GAG
Submitted by admin on Mon, 08/09/1999 - 00:00
(* See PMW items 2203, 2201, 2195, 2194. PIM website is at http://www.pim.com.fj)
SUVA, Fiji Islands (August 4, 1999 Â Pacific Media Watch/Pacific Islands Monthly/Pasifik Nius/Niuswire)---An international news agency reporter covering the recent Solomon Islands ethnic clashes has criticized the media gag and a "severe personality clash" among authorities as problems for journalists.
Writing in the August edition of the Suva-based Pacific Islands Monthly newsmagazine, Michael Field cited a gagging writ against the weekly Solomon Voice newspaper by police commissioner Frank Short over a critical letter.
The letter reportedly targeted the Englishman who has a background in South Africa's apartheid era police force.