Politics
Tito Presses On Despite Criticisms To Media Bill
But he says bill targets fly-by-night operators
Running a newspaper in Kiribati could become a very expensive affair once the island nation's parliament passes as law its tough media bill. Inaccuracies could close a newspaper down under the proposed legislation.
Defy the close-down order and the newspaper gets a fine of $500 each time its copies land on the streets of Tarawa, its capital. Run a story on a ni-Kiribati and that person's comments must also be carried in the same story. Otherwise, the Registrar of Newspapers, a government lawyer, can order the closure of the newspaper.
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The proposed amendments to Kiribati's newspaper registration legislation naturally sent shockwaves around the Pacific region. The Pacific Islands News Association expressed deep concern about the proposed changes. The amendments even attracted the attention of the New York-based Reporters Without Borders, which says Kiribati's new media bill contradicts the freedom of expression provision in the island republic's constitution.
Pressing on: Kiribati's president, Teburoro Tito is undeterred by such criticisms. The first reading of the amendment was passed by "an overwhelming majority" in the national maneaba (parliament) he says, and "a large majority of the people in Kiribati" is supporting tougher media legislation.
Besides, western concepts like freedom of expression and other basic human rights are not imported wholesale into Kiribati. Such concepts, Tito believes, must be modified and assimilated into the culture of his people, a process which he loves to term as "cultural human-centred approach to democracy and development."
Amusingly enough, Tito and his government insist the proposed law is not aimed at existing newspapers in Kiribati, specifically the Kiribati Newstar, owned by Tito's predecessor and now his political rival, Ieremaia Tabai.
Operations targeted by the proposed law are fly-by-night operators who print and distribute fliers around Tarawa, operations the bill terms as "abnormal" newspapers. They are newspapers because they are registered as such under the country's Newspaper Registration Act, but abnormal because they do not produce daily editions.
"They are normally a two-page newsletter," Tito told Islands Business. "The people writing articles in these two-page newsletters are not trained journalists but practicing politicians or people aspiring to be politicians.
"They have no proper office with an address or a telephone/fax number, and they are circulated free to the public."
The Kiribati Government gives the impression that it is not disturbed by the presence of Tabai's independent newspaper.
"There have been no major complaints about reporting in this paper," a government offical statement stated recently.
"Concern is more focused on newsletters which are not sold, but are randomly distributed without any indication of who is writing or who owns the paper."
Interestingly, when asked to cite examples of false and bias reporting the new law is trying to curb, Tito listed among these are Michael Field's description of Tarawa's sewage problem. That report irked Tito so much that he banned Field, of the French news agency, AFP, from covering the Pacific Islands Forum summit in Kiribati in 2000. How Field and other visiting journalists will be affected by the new law, Tito didn't say.
But the man who should be worrying sick about the implications of the bill on his newspaper business is confused himself on the purpose of the tough media law.
"I don't know what this government is thinking," Tabai told Islands Business from Tarawa.
"It said the bill is aimed at all papers, but I see it as very political. They have a political interest in moving this bill, as it will be very easy to close newspapers down.
"Government wants to monopolize the media industry to ensure that there is no competition for the newspaper and the radio station it operates."
Tabai should know. While he has got his Kiribati Newstar up and running, he is still fighting to get a licence for his radio station to go on air. He has been waiting for the past four years.
For now, the first reading of the tough media law has been passed. Consultations with the people of Kiribati on the bill are currently in progress before it goes into the committee stage and its second reading in the upcoming sitting of parliament. It will become law once it is endorsed by the legislature, and assented to by Tito.
Ethics committee: Responding to written questions from Islands Business, Tito said the amendment to the newspaper act is not as draconian as it is made out to be by critics.
Whilst the Registrar of Newspapers will be a lawyer in the office of the Solicitor General, he will be assisted by a media ethics committee, comprising "respectable people from the community including a representative of professional journalists.
"The committee will advise the registrar whether the newspaper should be deregistered or not," Tito says.
"It is anticipated that in most cases the committee will be able to resolve the conflict between the aggrieved person and the newspaper."
The committee's decision can be appealed in the courts.
Coming so close to the country's general election, which should be held before January 12, 2003, such tough media legislation, could be a liability for many politicians. But may be not for those in Kiribati. Tabai is very much aware of this, admitting that the concept of free press is still foreign to most of his people, a situation that will make it easier for Tito and his government to turn their controversial media bill into law.
