MUF could have avoided the public controversy over the voting discrepancies that occurred on the night of the event if it were happy to overlook the event organizer stacking judges to ensure his client won.
To avoid such controversy, MUF could have simply ignored the voting discrepancies raised on the night and swept the vote rigging under the carpet that occurred by the event organizer to ensure his chosen Fiji Indian contestant won, the same client he manages for potential global sponsorship deals. It would have avoided such controversy.
However, it believes firmly in ethics and transparency, and if we continue as a society to turn a blind eye to vote rigging, like we see in the US Elections, and unethical behavior, then we are supporting, encouraging, and endorsing such behavior.
Somewhat like the BBC, who struggle to tell the truth about anything these days and appear happy to not only endorse the event organizers dishonest behavior but to smear others, to deflect, and hopefully distract its readers from the event organizers vote-stacking.
Media outlets should be reminded the public expects such events to be reported accurately.
Suggesting the party that appointed almost all judges, none of whom were independent, but all family, friends, associates, and business partners, and denied the one licensee vote to ensure the contestant they wanted to win was announced as the winner on the night of the event without authority, and no authority to select judges, let alone select the winner, which turns out to be his client, whom he is managing and hopes to profit from for global sponsorship deals, is somehow the innocent party, let alone appalling journalism.
To only interview non-independent judges and only take the word of the disgraced and terminated event organizers is equally questionable behavior by the BBC.
Is fact-checking banned at the BBC?
Any real journalist who took the time could easily debunk the event organizers and BBC conspiracy theory that the licensee wanted to choose the favorite in Nadine Roberts as the winner, only due to an associated company shareholder, once in a relationship with here.
This conspiracy theory is pushed by the event organizer, despite knowing full well that Nadine Roberts has been separated from her former partner for 15 months. The same event organizer who refused to disclose to MUF or the media that he is managing Manshika Prasad, for obvious reasons. Simple facts the BBC likes to ignore because it doesn’t support its conspiracy theory.
The obvious question is if the conspiracy theory had merit. then why didn’t the licensee simply select all judges as it’s fully entitled to and ensure no judge was independent, and enough judges must be persuaded to vote for their preferred contestant, just like the event organizer did? (It’s not like the event organizer can’t figure out 4 out of 7 judges is all that was needed to get his client announced as the winner and he could safely vote the other way to cover his tracks.)
Or the licensee also could have not held a contest at all, saved the immense expense and time, and simply nominated the most experienced candidate to represent Fiji at Miss Universe, which is common in many smaller countries, for large beauty pageants.
Yet it did neither. Such a conspiracy is without merit, and any serious journalistic organization would quickly identify such an anomaly and cease publishing such false narratives.
No amount of media campaigning by the event organizer to media outlets and MO will change the facts and remain the cause of the unnecessary controversy. MUF will consider seeking injunctive relief to ensure the rightful winner attends Mexico for the finals, not a contestant solely because she’s managed by an event organizer feathering his own nest, thinking vote stacking is perfectly ok, and engaging in a desperate media smear campaign with some media outlets willing to endorse and support his behavior.
Any media outlets that continue to print false narratives, such as the BBC has, about what occurred during Miss Universe Fiji, will also be held to account.
In times of fake news, the public would expect mainstream media to start considering stating the truth.
as hard as it seems for some outlets such as the BBC.
For further information, visit:
https://missuniversefiji.org/