WELLINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Overseas journalists covering Fiji's political crisis were deported on Monday, the Suva-based Pacnews reported.

    Reporter Sia Aston and cameraman Matt Smith -- from New Zealand' s TV 3 network and Australian Broadcasting Corporation Television journalist Sean Dorney were taken in by the Fijian authorities in Suva at around mid-day Monday.

    All three were called up by Ministry of Information officials and told to report to the Ministry headquarters.

    When they did, they were told that Immigration officers would escort them to the Nadi International Airport for their flights home, the Pacnews said.

    New Zealand and Australian High Commissions consular officers who were allowed to see the three journalists said they were fine and have been told that they would be driven to the airport, at the island's west coast shortly.

    The Fiji Times, the main newspaper in the south Pacific island country, removed the blanks from its pages to indicate stories that have been spiked by the government censors, said the Pacnews.

    It now appears that like the Fiji Sun newspaper, the Fiji Times have also refused to publish any political stories, the Pacnews said.

    Fiji's national television, Fiji One, has reportedly done the same.

    Meanwhile, the Pacific Islands News Association has called on the new Fiji government to "leave the media alone to continue to perform its role of information dissemination to the people of Fiji and the region."

    PINA President Joseph Ealedona of Papua New Guinea said the actions are deplorable and an indication of a desperate regime that have no respect for the rule of law and democracy.

    "PINA also calls on the interim government to immediately remove its security force presence in newsrooms and to stop its censoring of news items," said Ealedona in a statement.

    A state of emergency was enforced in Fiji on April 10 after President Ratu Josefa Iloilo abrogated the 1997 Constitution and revoked all judicial appointments, assuming executive authorities head of state.

    The public emergency regulations provide for the "control of broadcast and publications".

    Section 16 of the Public Emergency Regulations stipulates that the State has the authority to stop any broadcast or publication it believes could cause "disorder", "undue demands" on security forces", "promote disaffection or public alarm" or "undermine the Government and the State of Fiji".

    The media's editors were told that in order to facilitate this, a Ministry of Information officer and a plain-clothed policeman would be stationed in every newsroom so that editors could consult them when in doubt about whether a news item was suitable for publication or broadcast.

    Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, who was reappointed as Fiji's interim prime minister on April 11, said he will ensure the general elections be held at the latest by September 2014 under an electoral system that is based on equal suffrage.