Fiji Times gets new editor

Photo / Supplied

The outspoken Fiji Times editor stepped down from his post at the paper for "the good of the company", the man replacing him says.

In a move set to raise concerns about the newspaper's independence, Fiji Times publisher Dallas Swinstead said editor-in-chief Netani Rika had quit because of perceptions he was anti-government.

His replacement Fred Wesley stepped up to the helm of Fiji's oldest newspaper on Monday and confirmed Mr Rika's resignation was voluntary.

"I think what happened is this is something that he chose," Mr Wesley, the former editor of Fiji's Sunday Times, told AAP on Tuesday.

"I'd rather keep it at that."

Mr Rika described his departure as "something of a sacrifice" for the good of the company, Australian-born Mr Swinstead told the Fiji Times website on Tuesday.

"He acknowledged that while he was seen to be anti-government by some sections of the community, he had always tried to be an editor who put Fiji's future above everything else."

Mr Wesley told AAP he planned to pick up at the Fiji Times where his predecessor left off.

"We will continue forward but we will be mutual as much as possible in covering events that matter to people in this country.

"There won't be too many changes except that we'll have to stick straight down the line.

"If you are thinking there is a suggestion that I am pro-government, I don't think so.

"I believe the newspaper can only get better."

The Australian arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp reluctantly sold the Fiji Times to Suva-based conglomerate Motibhai Group for an undisclosed sum last month.

The newspaper, established in 1868, faced closure at the end of the month if News Ltd could not find a local buyer after Fiji's interim government passed a decree ruling that all media must be 90 per cent locally owned.

Under the new media laws journalists, editors and media outlets faced stiff fines and possible prison terms if they produced reports deemed to be against the national interest.

When asked about the laws, Mr Wesley said: "I'd rather reserve my comments on that one."

While he was surprised by Mr Rika's resignation, there were others who would have seen it coming, he said.

"I think there were sceptics who saw it coming.

"I think he felt he has made a sacrifice for the good of the company.

"He has been seen as anti-government so he probably thought for the good of the company he would step down, but he had his reasons and I wouldn't be able to offer you any insights in to his reasons."

Fiji's permanent secretary for information, Sharon Smith-Johns, said the change in editor at the newspaper was a good move.

"Netani Rika has always held this government with contempt," Ms Smith-Johns told AAP.

"How can he claim to put Fiji's future above anything else when for the past years he has refused to publish most of the government's achievements, refused to acknowledge the government, refused to acknowledge the prime minister?

"The Fiji Times consciously decided not to run government news, I hardly think this is the type of behaviour that puts Fiji's future first.

"So much has been said about media freedom, well surely the citizens of Fiji also deserve to read about progress this government is making, it's been one-sided for far too long.

"The whole issue with the Fiji Times and the government boiled down to personal agendas, and News Ltd sat back and watched this happen.

"It's not a matter of the Fiji Times being pro-government. All we want is for them to be pro-Fiji."

- AAP