Dreaver ‘thrilled’ to report in Fiji again

New Zealand journalist Barbara Dreaver was given special permission earlier this year to land in Fiji for just one hour to change planes for a reporting trip to Kiribati. Image: TVNZ

By TJ Aumua in Auckland

TVNZ’s Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver says she is ‘thrilled’ to be able to report in Fiji again, after being blacklisted from the country for eight-years.

She told Asia Pacific Report that it is a “promising move” by the Fiji government and said an open and free media is a corner stone of democracy.

This comes after the announcement made by the Fiji government this week, that it had lifted the ban on foreign journalists reporting in the country as long as they have been accredited in the usual manner by the Department of Information.

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is currently in New Zealand on his first state visit to the country.

Listen to the interview with TVNZ’s Barbara Dreaver: