The Fiji Times and the Good Citizen: Constructing Modernity and Nationhood in Fiji

Abstract

Constructing national identity has proved difficult in the Pacific, especially in Fiji where there are significant ethnic divisions. The "People" column in the Fiji Times has provided a populist focus on "good citizens" who have become successful, often in commerce. Such people have demonstrated values and directions such as hard work, training, education, initiative, and cooperation outside the nuclear family. Religious values have assisted, but "tradition" plays no role. Good citizens have achieved social mobility and often transgressed gender, geographical, and ethnic constraints. They constitute part of a new, modern, moral economy and social space that provides the basis for a modern nation where history and ethnicity have limited place.

Rethinking journalism for supporting social cohesion and democracy: case study of media performance in Fiji

“…This outcome contradicts studies that claim that the national media place a distinct emphasis on indigenous Fijian customs, rituals and way of life, side-lining other cultures (Kaplan, 1995;Norton, 2000;Rutz, 1995). While there are no specific studies on how the Fiji media cover religion, the subject has been broached indirectly by Connell (2007) and Newland (2009), who suggest that Christianity is given deferential treatment by the media. This is plausible given the relative dominance of indigenous Fijian journalists over the past decade, as established in Robie (2003a) and also in this survey.…”

“…The claimed preponderance of Christian messages is also conceivable given that the Methodist Church, the dominant denomination with close to 300,000 members, is a fairly powerful spiritual, cultural and political influence among indigenous Fijians (Connell, 2007;Fiji Islands Bureau of Statistics, 2008;Halapua, 2003;Newland, 2009). From a conflict reporting viewpoint, this issue is worth further discussion.…”

"What Now, Fishgate?": Scandal, Marae Moana, and Nation Making in the Cook Islands

“…Scandal results from the publicity of moral transgression that may have previously only existed as gossip, rumor, or news on a smaller scale (Adut 2005). In modern states, including the Cook Islands and other Pacific Island countries (see Connell 2007), news media are necessary for creating publicity at the national scale and, therefore, for creating national scandals. I suggest that processes of news making, rumor, gossip, and scandalization are carried out not only in private spaces but also in national public events and through media outlets like Cook Islands News, a national newspaper that publishes six days per week and has a circulation of about 2,500 copies in a country of approximately 15,000 (Woods 2010a).…”

Islands, idylls and the detours of development

“…The promotion of individual interest distinct from the collective good is now actively promoted through formal education, the media and popular culture. Models of those who have ‘succeeded’ are proposed, carrying with them ideologies that push individual autonomy and achievement while celebrating the ‘virtues of quaint, premodern, communal cultures’ (Brison, 2003: 337; also see Foster, 2002; Connell, 2007b). While ‘culture’ is now recognized as an influence on the structures of development and change, most institutional reports continue to see it as a brake on development rather than at least a condition of development and a means of reaching a satisfactory endpoint.…”