Fiji, Sept. 24 -- Fiji will need time to rebuild public confidence in the media after what Fiji Times Editor Fred Wesley describes as 16 years of restricted media space and a government-controlled narrative.

Speaking at the 8th Pacific Media Summit in Savusavu, Wesley said an entire generation had grown up during a period when people were discouraged from questioning authority and journalists faced arrests, court action and other pressures.

"We have a generation that came through 16 years of a narrative being dictated for them.

"16 years of seeing authority coming from two people. 16 years of seeing things done a certain way. And 16 years of not having people standing up and speaking their mind," Wesley said.

Wesley said the impact of...