Ellen Stolz
SUVA (Fiji Sun / Pacific Media Watch): Cabinet has approved the Television (Amendment) Decree 2012, which aims to ensure all television licences are to uphold and comply with the Media Code of Ethics and Practice under the Television Decree 1992.
Cabinet based its decision on a submission by the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
With the introduction of the Media Code of Ethics and Practice under the Media Industry Development Decree 2010, Sayed-Khaiyum said it was necessary to amend the Television Decree 1992.
He said this would ensure all television licensees under the decree were obligated to uphold and comply with the code, since the code also applies to all media outlets engaged in television broadcast.
Sayed-Khaiyum said failure of any licensee to comply with the code may result in the licence being revoked or varied.
Fiji has three television stations - FBC TV, Mai TV and Fiji TV - and all compete in the free-to-air market with Pacific Broadcasting Services (PBS TV) controlling the pay TV market.
Fiji TV, which last week spoke out through the South Pacific Stock Exchange over claims the company’s licence would not be renewed, said it would ensure it complied with the code.
Fiji TV operates its free-to-air station in Fiji and its pay TV service Sky Pacific in Fiji and 10 other Pacific Island countries and also owns the free-to-air commercial station EMTV in Papua New Guinea. It has approval to launch a station in the Solomon Islands.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
