15. Clueless; 'Great' chiefs and reporters

Speight of Violence 24

In two years I wrote around 200,000 words on the coup but I was best remembered for just 1200, written on a slow news day. Suva people became fascinated with the foreign media whose reporters were treated as stars. In a piece I wrote for the Fiji Times, I exposed the life inside the Centra. It appeared on a Saturday and many of my fellow reporters were outraged. My one regret was that I did not dream up the headline: 'Clueless in Coup Coup Land'.

Forget the poor sods being held at Parliament, the real scandal in Fiji can be found among the celebrated 'inter­national media' trapped in the Centra Hotel.

No Red Cross parcels for these guys . . . and no Geneva Convention on civilised treatment either. They are suffering the worst indignity of the lot - the world is losing interest in their story.

It has, since May 19 when George misheard the quote about 'five minutes of fame' and thought it meant five months, been a tough assignment, but the payback has been in the charming way in which we of the international media have been given a glorious status . . .

Back at our various homes we're just the same run-of­ the-mill reporters the folks here are. Come to Fiji though, add in a coup and a bit of shooting, and suddenly we're something different. Lots of photos in the newspapers to start with. Reporter A looking stupid with umbrella; Reporter B sleeping; Reporter C and D sitting close together. C and D close together again. And again. Lots of reporters playing touch outside Iloilo's house. Back home no one would notice. Just another bunch of hacks, but here we are 'international media'. We're special. Not that it saves us from parking tickets.