A letter to the Fiji Sun

Dear Editor,

Your opinion article by Graham Davis "Ghai: Ruled emotion before reason" (8 January) carried the notation that the author is "an independent Fijian journalist and part-time consultant for Qorvis Communications." This statement is contradictory, fallacious and deceitful. Qorvis Communications is a public relations advisor to the Fiji government, for which Davis writes pro-government articles. Do you expect us to believe that he is an "independent journalist" the rest of the time? Davis himself admitted on his blog Grubsheet (27 December) that he has "a clear conflict of interest when it comes to commenting on political matters in Fiji" which naturally leaves him "vulnerable to charges of being a polemicist or propagandist rather than an independent commentator." By publishing opinion articles by Mr Davis on political issues you leave the Fiji Sun open, by extension, to charges of polemicism or propaganda. Claiming that he is an "independent journalist" when Mr Davis himself has admitted he is not leaves you open to charges of deception.

MARC EDGE
Vancouver, Canada