The newspaper took the extraordinary editorial step of running the minister's political statement over much of the front page, mostly as direct quotes and with no other balancing interviews or comments. Davis, a former Walkley Award winner, is highly regarded for his Pacific investigative reports, particularly in West Papua. The following day, February 8, all three daiily newspapers carried the Kubuabola statement as a full-page advertisement. New Zealand journalist Michael Field, Pacific affairs reporter for the French news agency Agence France-Presse, was also criticised in the Fiji Times on February 7. The permanent secretary implied that the Kiribati Government acted correctly in barring Field from the South Pacific Forum last October.
Field is regarded as one of the more perceptive journalists covering the region.
Rumours fantastic, unusual, weird and wildly wrong are a fact of Suva life. And as is the case with so many rumours in the Pacific, we did not feel it warranted any attention at all on a news service dedicated to the distribution of accurate and timely news reports. Robie criticised the coverage by some sectors of the Fiji news media before, during and after the George Speight coup. The Fiji Times publisher and chief editor met University of the South Pacific authorities and in a letter demanded the ousting of Robie as USP's journalism programme coordinator. Bitter personal attacks are characteristic of Fiji news media while issues are not well canvassed.