Fiji's controversial media decree will not be reviewed or repealed any time soon, after an opposition motion was defeated in Parliament last week.
The leader of the Fiji National Federation Party, Biman Prasad. Photo: RNZ / Sally Round
The bill's author, National Federation Party leader Biman Prasad, told Parliament that the 2010 decree, which established the Media Industry Development Authority, had seriously undermined media freedom.
He says this, added to the widespread censorship imposed during emergency regulations after the government threw out the 1997 constitution in 2009, had meant that Fiji's media industry had been under siege.
But the Fiji Times reports that the motion was defeated when it came to the vote; with 17 MPs agreeing to the motion, 24 voting against and 9 MPs not voting.