The military-led government in Fiji which was sworn back into office yesterday is unhappy with how the News Limited-owned Fiji Times informed its readers about how its Sunday edition was censored.

The second page of Fiji's Sunday Times was blank apart from an advertisement and a notice in bold black type in the middle of the page saying: "The stories on this page could not be published because of Government restrictions".

Page Three of the paper has six blank spots with similar messages while the cartoon was also censored - so its spot was blank too.

The man who has been given the powers of chief censor under the new Emergency Regulations in Fiji, military officer and Secretary for Information, Major Neumi Leweni, summoned the publisher of the Fiji Times, Anne Fussel, the editor, Netani Rika, and the paper's lawyer, Richard Naidu, to express his displeasure.

Under the regulations, Major Leweni has the power to vet all stories in the local media before broadcast or publication.

And sources in Fiji have told Radio Australia the Fiji Times has been warned that if it continues to publish blank pages, the newspaer will be shut down and publisher Anne Fussell will be deported. RA Online/Pacific Media Watch, 13/04/09.