Fiji

Fiji is a Pacific archipelago republic of roughly 0.93–0.94 million people, with 2024 GDP of about US$6.0 billion and GDP per capita of about US$6,400. It is one of the larger and more diversified upper-middle-income economies among the Pacific Island states, driven by tourism, remittances, services, agriculture and sugar, and mineral exports. Fiji gained independence from the United Kingdom on 10 October 1970, became a republic in 1987, and operates under the 2013 Constitution as a parliamentary democracy in which Parliament elects the President for a three-year term. English, iTaukei (Fijian) and Fiji Hindi (Fiji Hindustani) are the principal official and national languages, reflecting the country’s iTaukei and Indo-Fijian demographic composition.

Politically, Fiji has been governed since 24 December 2022 by a coalition led by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka of the People’s Alliance, in partnership with the National Federation Party and SODELPA. Rabuka’s victory in the December 2022 general election ended the 16-year tenure of former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who came to power in a 2006 military coup before winning successive elections in 2014 and 2018. Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu, formerly Speaker of Parliament, became Fiji’s seventh President on 12 November 2024, succeeding Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, who declined nomination for a second term. The Rabuka government’s media-reform agenda has been one of the defining features of the post-2022 transition.

The most significant structural change came on 6 April 2023, when Parliament repealed the Media Industry Development Act 2010, eliminating the prison-sentence provisions and the Media Industry Development Authority framework that had constrained editorial coverage under the previous administration. Fiji currently has no dedicated media-content regulator comparable to ACMA in Australia or Ofcom in the United Kingdom; broadcasters and publishers remain subject to general broadcasting, corporate, electoral, defamation, contempt and other laws.

Fiji’s improved media environment is reflected in the Reporters Without Borders 2026 World Press Freedom Index: Fiji climbed to 24th of 180 countries with a score of 76.76, up from 40th and 71.20 in 2025. RSF attributed the improvement principally to the repeal of MIDA and the easing of civil and military pressure on the media since the December 2022 election. Fiji now ranks ahead of Australia (33rd) and close to New Zealand (22nd) in the regional standings, a marked reversal from its previous position as one of the weakest Pacific performers in the index.

The State Media Monitor 2026 dataset includes one Fijian state-owned outlet: the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), classified as Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM). FBC remains wholly government-owned and governed by a four-member Board appointed by the state shareholder, but has operated with greater day-to-day editorial autonomy since the December 2022 change of government. The Rabuka administration substantially restructured FBC’s funding model. Under the revised PSB framework, FBC’s direct Public Service Broadcasting allocation was reduced to roughly FJD 6.2–7.2 million annually, depending on VAT and tender-year treatment, under a three-year arrangement effective from 1 August 2023. A separate share of PSB funding was opened to other media organisations through competitive tender, ending FBC’s previous exclusivity. According to testimony by FBC Chief Financial Officer Vimlesh Sagar to the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs in September 2025, FBC’s reliance on PSB revenue fell from approximately 64% to around 30% of total income.

The principal vulnerability of the current arrangement is structural. FBC’s improved editorial autonomy rests on the post-MIDA environment and the political goodwill of the incumbent government rather than on a statutory editorial-independence framework, an arm’s-length appointments process or a guaranteed funding settlement. The ISFM classification remains defensible for 2026, provided the state-funded component is understood as significant and structurally important rather than majority funding.

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