(Photo: FBC)

Media organisations in Fiji have called for the country’s media law to be repealed.

The call came at a meeting in Suva on 23 March to discuss the government’s Media Industry Development Draft Bill, which would replace the Media Industry Development Act introduced by the former government in 2010.

A submission from the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation, Fiji TV and others called for the draft bill to be dropped, FBC News reports. They said they could not see the need to separately register the media, which the bill provides for.

During the recent election campaign, the new government promised to repeal the existing law. Media organisations consider the law draconian and see the proposed draft legislation as an attempt to redraft the act rather than repeal it.

The submission says all media organisations are already registered as legal entities, like most businesses, as incorporated companies.

The media representatives say any attempt to separately register media organisations opens the possibility of intimidation through potential deregistration.