Pacific Media Watch

6 April 2015

FIJI: Consortium of journalists buys out Islands Business

Hero image
Islands Business editor Samisoni Pareti ... now one of the new owners. Image: IsBus
PMW ID
9195

SUVA (Radio Australia/Pacnews/The Fiji Times/Pacific Media Watch):  News magazine Island Business has been bought by a consortium comprising leading Fiji journalists and communications consultants.

Latest edition of Islands Business.The magazine's editor Samisoni Pareti, former Fiji Times and Fiji TV editor Netani Rika, former radio and print journalist Dennis Rounds and communications specialist Ana Laqeretabua have sealed the deal in a private sale for an undisclosed sum.

Their company, Front Page Ltd, takes over the assets of Islands Business International, including contracts to produce the Solomon Islands Airlines in-flight magazine and Discover Fiji.

In an interview with Radio Australia's Jemima Garrett, Front Page managing director Netani Rika said that it had taken him and his colleagues six months of negotiations.

Rika said the group planned to continue the "legacy of [late Fiji publisher and journalist] Robert Keith-Reid" and to "provide quality journalism for the region".

Short-term plans included expanding the regional coverage with "big issues' such as climate change, West Papua, Kanaky and Maohi Nui.

The Radio Australia interview

Creative Commons Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.

Pacific Media Watch

PMC's media monitoring service

Pacific Media Watch is compiled for the Pacific Media Centre as a regional media freedom and educational resource by a network of journalists, students, stringers and commentators. (cc) Creative Commons

Terms