by Anish Chand
Media organisations in Fiji which are to tender for government printing and broadcasting services have to show examples of commitment to national unity, national identity development and nation building.
Tenders for the publication and broadcast of government notices for the financial year 2018-2019 is now open.
The Fiji Sun newspaper was awarded the publication tender last year while the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation Limited won the broadcast tender.
The tender documents that are now available online also outline a number of stringent checks that media organisations have to provide.
“Please provide details of any contempt proceedings, litigation actions of claims regarding unfair, unbalanced and inaccurate reporting, defamation or any breach of the Media Industry Development Act 2016 in the past 6 years,” reads the tender document.
Part of the contract with the publishing media company will be the requirement that “the bidder shall arrange for the publication of corrections at its own cost in the next publication”
“If the service of the bidder is unsatisfactory, government reserves the right to terminate the contract at anytime without notice at its sole discretion,” the tender document states.
As part of the tender requirement, bidding newspapers are required to provide circulation numbers for each day per division.
Radio and TV stations are required to provide details of their frequency reach and coverage.
The tender closes on 15 August 2018.
