Fiji’s prime minister Frank Bainimarama has staunchly defended his blacklisting of some New Zealand journalists.
His comments came in a speech to welcome New Zealand prime minister John Key, who is making an historic trip to the country.
The PM said, “Certain journalists in New Zealand and Australia and certain journalists in Fiji think nothing of dispensing with the facts if they get in the way of the politically-motivated narrative they want to tell and we are saying to the news organisations that employ them send someone else.”
TVNZ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and long-time Pacific reporter Michael Field are among those blacklisted and Mr Key said he planned to take this up with his Fijian counterpart.
Bainimarama said, “I think it’s an important step from their point of view to take these journalists off the banned list. I can’t force them to do that but I do think it would be the right thing to do.”
Suva pulled out all stops to welcome Mr Key, who is the first New Zealand prime minister to visit Fiji in a decade.
A 100-strong Guard of Honor, waving schoolchildren and a massive roadside billboard featuring the New Zealand leader marked the end of chilly relations since Mr Bainimarama’s coup of 2006.
