HONG KONG -- Recent hostage crises in Fiji and Sulu have been made more protracted by unprincipled journalism.
As failed businessman and terrorist George Speight is belatedly imprisoned and tried, the international press bears some of the blame for the protracted crisis in Fiji, which saw the overthrow of the elected government and the promised reduction of Fijian Indian rights.
Essentially, blame lies with the press for treating Speight as a credible source instead of shunning him as a terrorist. They thereby helped to extend the hostage-taking into a nine-week crisis.