The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement has condemned the latest smear campaign against the outgoing Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Mereseini Vuniwaqa, in Saturday’s Fiji Sun.
FWRM Board Chair, Makereta Waqavonovono says this type of gutter level reporting should be strongly condemned by all, as indeed has been done by many on social media platforms.
She says it is unacceptable and detrimental to the great progress made by our women parliamentarians in the last decade.
Waqavonovono says it is unfortunate that our journalists are not abiding by their code of ethics when reporting news stories.
She says the Fiji Sun report, with carefully chosen photos against Vuniwaqa, is mischievous and makes suggestions about her personal life that are unsubstantiated and clearly breach the Media Code of Ethics and Practice not to mention her right to privacy.
The FWRM Chair says Mereseini Vuniwaqa’s personal life is only a matter of public or national interest if there are some breaches of law or misinformation on her part, which the report does not show.
She says none of what the Fiji Sun has reported is in the public interest or suggests that Vuniwaqa has acted unlawfully in her role as a Member of Parliament.
The FWRM says it appears from recent events that the outgoing Minister has been targeted by her political foes because of her lack of support of the recent amendment to the Itaukei Land Trust Act No 17 of 2021 popularly known as Bill 17.
Waqavonovono says women parliamentarians have to overcome more challenging obstacles than their male counterparts to enter and stay in parliament.
She says unfair public scrutiny, irrelevant comments about their dress, personal criticisms and sexual innuendos of the type seen in the report, not only damage personal and family lives but also discourage other women from standing as candidates in a male dominated institution.
Waqavonovono also says women in Fiji have made significant inroads in public and political life and have been prevented from having more elite portfolios due to sexual stereotypes that women can only “handle soft portfolios”.
She says what is most concerning is that her case will discourage women from putting themselves forward for public and/or political positions because of the fear of being unfairly scrutinised in the media and other public platforms.
Waqavonovono says they demand that the newspaper publicly apologise to Vuniwaqa.
FWRM also urges the Media Industry Development Authority as the independent media regulatory body to take action in regular monitoring of its guidelines and ethical standards of the print and broadcast media in accordance with the Media Code of Ethics and Practice.
Fiji Sun Publisher and CEO, Peter Lomas is yet to respond to the FWRM’s call.
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