NZ wants journalists off the blacklist

The foreign minister of New Zealand says he has spoken to Fiji about lifting bans on two New Zealand journalists.

Fairfax journalist Michael Field and Barbara Dreaver from TVNZ were put on a Fiji media blacklist by the regime in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Murray McCully says Fiji is going through an evolution and he is looking at the country with a “glass half full” attitude, but recently, the chairman of the Fiji Media Industry Development Authority, Ashwin Raj, said he was also considering adding an ABC journalist, Campbell Cooney, to the blacklist.

McCully says he is prepared to raise the topic officially if needs be.

“We’ve made it clear that the New Zealand public will be deeply interested in these issues.

“It’s not going to be particularly helpful to have an election campaign take place with New Zealand journalists banned from being present.

McCully said he may need to make representations on behalf of the New Zealand journalists to the Fiji government.