Monday, May 30, 2011

[pima.nius] FIJI: 'Offline' Fiji Times makes digital upgrade to comply with media decree

11:55 AM |

Title – 7479 FIJI: 'Offline' Fiji Times makes digital upgrade to comply with media decree
Date – 29 May 2011
Byline – Kalasi Mele
Origin – Pacific Media Watch
Source – Wansolwara, 29/5/11
Copyright – W/USP
Status – Unabridged
----------------------------
* Pacific Media Watch Online - check the website for archive and links:

* Post a comment on this story at PMW Right of Reply:

* Pacific Media Centre on Twitter - http://twitter.com/pacmedcentre

'OFFLINE' FIJI TIMES MAKES DIGITAL UPGRADE TO COMPLY WITH MEDIA DECREE

By Kalasi Mele of Wansolwara

SUVA (Wansolwara/Pacific Media Watch): Fiji's daily news portal, Fiji Times Online, will remain inactive until its computer system is reprogrammed to ensure bylines are automatically attached to all stories when uploaded.
This was confirmed by Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley, who was hopeful the website would be back online before the end of the month.

Speaking to Wansolwara, the journalism training newspaper at the University of the South Pacific, Wesley said the upgrade was needed to ensure the newspaper adhered to the Fiji Media Industry Decree.

The decree sets out that stories of more than 50 words must have a byline, and all pictures must have a caption and a picture credit.

Wesley said the website, which was suspended on April 18, has an average readership of 750,000 a month. Many of its readers in Fiji and abroad expressed frustration over the absence of the website, he said.   

The scheduled upgrade is also expected to ensure greater security.

"No one will be able to change stuff, no one will be able to change captions because it will all be linked to a database and there is no room for errors," said Wesley.

System upgrade
"With the Media Decree, every story must have a byline and every photo must have a caption and a picture byline; stories that will have negative impact on the security of the country should not be run," he said.

"Basically everything that the Media Decree encompasses; whatever is in the Media Decree, our web system will be able to pick and keep them within the confinements of the Media Decree."

He said reprogramming had been delayed because the appropriate technicians could not be sourced locally. Help had been sought from Sydney, Australia, instead.

Wesley said speculation linking the inactive website to the recent fate of its chairman Mahendra Patel was baseless.

"I would like to say that there is no basis to that assumption or claim," he said.

He was responding to queries on whether the website going offline was a means of "damage control" over a controversial court case.

Owner jailed
Patel, managing director of one of Fiji's largest conglomerates, was jailed  for 12 months after being convicted on one count of abuse of office for a decision he made as chairman of Post Fiji.

 "I thought we were very fair; we ran stories that deserved to be run," said Wesley of the Fiji Times' coverage.

He said the newspaper's independence was evident as it even published the news of Patel's incarceration on its front page.

* Comment on this item pmediawa@aut.ac.nz 

+++niuswire

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH ONLINE

PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is a media and educational resource compiled by the AUT Pacific Media Centre for the Pacific region.

(c)1996-2010 Creative Commons

Items are provided solely for review purposes as a non-profit educational service. Copyright remains the property of the original  producers as indicated in the header. Recipients should seek permission 
from the copyright owner for any publishing. Copyright owners not  wishing their materials to be posted by PMW please contact us. The views expressed in material listed by PMW are not necessarily the views 
of PMW or the Pacific Media Centre.

For further information or joining the Pacific Media Watch listserve, visit:

Email:
Fax: (+649) 921 9987
SnailMail: Pacific Media Centre, School of Communication Studies, AUT 
University, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1142, Aotearoa/New Zealand

_______________________________________________
Pacific_Media_Watch nius mailing list 


_______________________________________________
Pacific_media_watch_list mailing list
Pacific_media_watch_list@aut.ac.nz
http://mailman.aut.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/pacific_media_watch_list




--
----------------------------------------
pacific islands media association
pima.nius@gmail.com
aotearoa, new zealand
----------------------------------------
The pima.nius googlegroup is a facility for discussion and distributing information regarding the Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA). Content sent by this googlegroup are forwarded from various networks and media publications to keep you informed about aspects of the media industry. 

These emails are unedited and discussions made through this googlegroup are unmoderated. Announcements made through this googlegroup do not constitute endorsement for the organisations, individuals or opinions featured. Please check the integrity of organisations and individuals before exchanging personal information with them. 

--
----------------------------------------
pacific islands media association
pima.nius@gmail.com
aotearoa, new zealand
----------------------------------------
The pima.nius googlegroup is a facility for discussion and distributing information. Content sent by this googlegroup are forwarded from various networks and media publications.
 
DISCLAIMER: These emails are unedited and discussions made through this googlegroup are unmoderated. Announcements made through this googlegroup do not constitute endorsement for the organisations, individuals or opinions featured. Please check the integrity of organisations and individuals before exchanging personal information with them.
 
- - - - - - - - -
comment here:
http://groups.google.com/group/pima-nius/topics?hl=en
 
send an email comment here:
pima-nius@googlegroups.com
 
unsubscribe:
pima-nius+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
 
more options
http://groups.google.com/group/pima-nius?hl=en?hl=en
 
- - - - - - - - -

0 comments: