An editor from Radio Kiribati, Aneta Moote, got fired after she reported about the country’s bill on death penalty.
Radio Kiribati rebroadcasted a story from Radio New Zealand International where it stated that the president, Aneta Moote, was in favour of the bill.
Another editor of Kiribati’s independent newspaper, Taberannang Korauaba, condemned the sacking; claiming that is was an attack by the government on media freedom.
“It does not require punishment as high as that one, like sacking or firing a reporter or editor. There are a lot of incidents there, quite a number of reporters being sanctioned; it’s not the first time. Even the government is saying that it supports media freedom, but what happened on the ground is quite contrary,” commented Korauaba.
The Broadcasting and Publications Authority claims that Moote was not sacked for her reporting which negatively afftected the government, but because her report was not complete and unbalanced, adding that BPA does not place any restrictions on what its reporters can cover.
The chairman of BPA, Bootii Nauan said: “Three weeks or four weeks before that, the president gave a press release on that issue. Everything the president mentioned was not reflected in the news that was broadcast at that time.”
