2000 retrospective: Coup Coup Land - the press and the putsch in Fiji

On 19 May 2000, an insurrection led by failed businessman George Speight and renegade members of the elite 1st Meridian Squadron Special Forces engulfed the Fiji Islands in turmoil for three months. Speight and his armed conspirators stormed Parliament and seized the Labour-led Mahendra Chaudhry Government, keeping members hostage for 56 days.

On Chaudhry's release from captivity, he blamed the media in part for the overthrow of his government. Some sectors of the media were accused of waging a bitter campaign against the Fiji Labour Party-led administration and its roll-back of privatisation.

In the early weeks of insurrection, the media enjoyed an unusually close relationship with Speight and the hostage-takers, raising ethical questions. Dilemmas faced by Fiji and the foreign journalists were more complex than during the 1987 military coups.

As Fiji faced a fresh general election in August 2001, this article examined the reportage of the Coalition Government's year in office, media issues over coverage of the putsch, and a controversy over the author's analysis presented at a Journalism Education Association (JEA) conference in Australia in December 2000.