British Council, Director Ingrid Leary

Media freedom and fairness is a challenge for media houses around the world including Fiji.

British Council, Director Ingrid Leary claims this is due to the tension between every government and the media.

Leary says this can be addressed if frequent dialogues are undertaken to help media with accurate reporting.

“Tension between the media and government is a good and natural thing because the challenge is always finding the right balance around open and transparent reporting and also responsible reporting.so I think it’s a really good sign for Fiji that this kind of dialogue happening, I would encourage people to get involved to express their views.”

Leary says people should discuss different ideas and opinions and how the diversity of voice looks like in a robust democratic country like Fiji.

An open forum dialogue was organized for media and the social and youth groups last week to get recommendations on the way forward towards democracy.