(Photo: Fiji Government)

Fiji’s Attorney-General Siromi Turaga has publicly apologised to journalists for the harassment and abuse they endured during the previous government’s rule.

He was one of the panellists invited to speak following the launch of a report titled ‘Fiji Media Industry Development Act 2010: An Analysis organised by Dialogue Fiji’, RNZ reports.

Mr Turaga gave his apology after hearing accounts from senior journalists of harassment and intimidation.

“In my capacity as Attorney-General, I publicly apologise for the actions taken by the previous administrators in terms of media freedom,” he said. “A lot of people were victimised.”

Mr Turaga said he truly sympathised with what the journalists had gone through.

The coalition government has begun taking steps to keep its campaign promise of a free press by either repealing, replacing or amending the existing Media Industry Development Act.

Mt Turaga, who is also Minister for Justice, said the government held media freedom in the highest regard.