Fear should not be an excuse in doing your job as a journalist says Information Ministry Permanent Secretary Sharon Smith Johns.

Johns made the comments while speaking at the media and democracy symposium organised at the University of the South Pacific.

She adds that in the interests of national stability, Fiji felt it necessary to impose a period of censorship on the local media: that has now been lifted.

We are now looking to our journalists to again rise to the challenge of giving ordinary people the information they need, says Smith Johns.

Smith Johns went on to say that people will hear a lot about self censorship, the notion that journalists in Fiji are too afraid to report fully and without fear or favour.

She says the government has taken huge steps in achieving a genuine democracy.

Smith says the government is committed to the vision of a united, prosperous Fiji in which every citizen has a viable and equal stake.

She says far too many of our citizens left our country in despair of their children ever having equal opportunities in Fiji because of the racial division that has plagued the country since independence 42 years ago.