Last month, the then-Fiji Times publisher, Evan Hannah, was deported, with the interim government saying that his actions were endangering national security.
In 1987, Gardiner was the publisher of the Fiji Times during Fiji’s first two coups, when the paper was closed down at gunpoint.
He has spent the past 14 years as the managing director of the Hobart Mercury newspaper, in Tasmania. Gardiner said he intends to run the Fiji Times just like any other newspaper.
“Our job, of course, is to print and publish everything, but do it fairly, make sure they’re accurate reports,” he said. “That’s a challenge — and we needn’t take sides. I guess if the editor sees a wrong he’s going to point it out, because that’s the job of the media — we’re not here to make lots of friends all around the place, we’re here to inform the readership.”
