Good news, bad news, better news for Tongan media

By ANGELA GREGORY

Under framed photos of Tonga's beaming king and queen, a New Zealand newspaper veteran hands out sheets of ethical exercises to a group of attentive young journalists.

Karl du Fresne, a former editor of the Dominion in Wellington, is in Tonga to run a course financed by NZ Aid. These attending are a cross section of the local media, from the banned Taimi 'o Tonga, published in New Zealand, to the Government-owned Tongan Chronicle.

There are reporters from the newsy magazine Matangi Tonga and church newspapers and "Alfred from the PM's department".

But Alfred's presence is not suspicious - he's in charge of the communications' division.

Of the dozen in attendance only a couple have any formal journalism training.

"Whatever learning is done on the job and their experience is fairly limited," says du Fresne.

"So things we take for granted not to report, like idle gossip and hearsay ... they are not aware."

Du Fresne is hammering the basics - balance, accuracy and fairness.

"The rationale is that a media that adheres to sound professional standards is better protected from Government interference than one that invites retribution."

New media laws which required constitutional amendments were passed by the Tongan Government last year, and signed by King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV in December.

By ratifying the Media Operators Act and the Newspaper Act, the King gave the Government extensive powers over the press by requiring all newspapers and magazines to be licensed.

The Government vets editors, and papers must be at least 20 per cent Tongan-owned.

When the laws came into effect, some pro-democracy publications did not meet the criteria, some new editors had to be appointed and one part-owner had to become a Tongan citizen.

Now only one publication, Taimi 'o Tonga is without a licence. Last year the Government repeatedly banned it, but the courts ruled each ban unlawful.

The publisher of the biweekly, Aucklander Kalafi Moala - a Tongan-born citizen and United States national - is deemed a foreigner.

The Government doesn't like his Tonga-based editor, and the paper is accused of being unprofessional and inaccurate.

The accusations are sometimes valid. Tongan publications will concede their occasionally lax standards have made them easy prey for a meddlesome Government.

But they want that to change. Du Fresne finds the young journalists acknowledge their deficiencies and some lack of professional standards in themselves and their publications.

At the same time, he finds them strong committed to press freedom.

Considering the traditional hierarchal society in which they operate, du Fresne generally admires their courage.

But he also thinks the media situation in Tonga is not as repressive as it is sometimes portrayed.

"Some of the papers and magazines are still reporting some quite stroppy stuff, it is still robust."

In the classroom du Fresne puts a set of options to the reporters.

One demurs at breaking a business story that is not officially confirmed despite a reliable tip, and a pro-democracy writer thinks it is permissible to report a businessman's personal indiscretions because he has a public profile.

When du Fresne poses a scenario in which an advertiser puts pressure on a newspaper to suppress a story, Taimi 'o Times reporter Taina Enoka tells of incidents of that happening. The threats failed, she says, and the advertising went elsewhere.

She later talks to the Herald in a stuffy room crammed with computers and office equipment. It is the paper's new office in the Church of Tonga compound in Nuku'alofa.

Enoka shares the room with her editor and a sportswriter. They work long hours feeding material back to Auckland.

Enoka worked for the Government paper for nine years, and has had scholarships to Wales and the United States to study journalism.

She recognises a need to raise journalistic standards in Tonga but says the local publications can't match overseas standards because they lack resources.

Their staff can get no formal training in Tonga, though as the newly-appointed training co-ordinator for the recently formed Tongan Media Council, she hopes to do something about that.

Down the dim corridor is Po'oi Pohiva, the ousted editor of Kele'a, invariably described as a feisty pro-democracy publication.

In the offices of the Human Rights and Democracy Movement where he works as a development liaison officer, Pohiva sits under a United Nations poster. It declares: "You have a right to know how Government decisions are made".

When Pohiva applied for a Government license he was told that because of his previous reporting, officials would not grant one.

Pohiva nominated an experienced replacement editor whom he trusted and he got the licence.

Although he considers Kele'a to be more cautious now, he thinks standards have improved.

The Government's radio station, television channel, and newspaper are thought to be not telling Tongans what is really happening. Accusations fly of unbalanced, unfair reporting by "puppet" organisations.

It is said the "real" news still largely travels by word of mouth in a society where each village holds regular kava parties and information is shared.

The editor of the Tongan Chronicle, Mateaka Heimuli, is clearly irritated by such accusations, and says he is no Government lap dog.

"We're free to write what we want. Give me the information; how I write it is my job. I think they (the Government) understand."

Heimuli says he has often written anti-Government stories, including reporting the fallout over the recent repossession of the Tongan Royal Airlines 757 by Royal Brunei.

"The readers like us covering both sides ... and more people are coming to the paper with news tips."

Heimuli, with 30 years in radio and television programming and media training in Germany and New Zealand feels well equipped for his job.

"I am looking forward to being criticised by Government. I make myself clear that the editor finalises what is in the paper ... sometimes I make them buy public notices space."

He believes the Taimi would still be sold in Tonga if it had adhered to basic journalistic ethics set out by the now supplanted Tonga Media Association.

"Instead they abstained from monthly meetings and printed outrageous stories which could not be substantiated.

"They said the king has $360 million stashed somewhere overseas. It ran just before the last general election. We think it was made up."


Heimuli agrees with the new media laws: "Slowly people realise these things are the best protection for them."

The president of the Tongan Media Council, Pesi Fonua, says the effect of the law changes has has been censorship.

"The press is flat compared to what it used to be. I think the people writing and producing the stories are a bit wary."

Fonua owns a publication house and edits the respected bi-monthly Matangi Tonga magazine.

But the business got a licence only after his British-born wife and business partner, Mary, became a naturalised citizen.


Fonua believes the Government has forgotten that Tonga is a developing country which has had its own news media only since the late 1980s.

To start publishing in Tonga takes huge effort and investment within a weak economy. It is more of a commitment to social development than a business proposition. The new laws have made it harder.

"Every year you have to reapply for a licence,," says Fonua.

"Nobody is going to want to get involved in newspapers because they could lose their investment. They didn't think of that."

When the Minister of Justice, 'Aisea Taumoepeau, came to see the council on Press Freedom Day, May 3, he was told how difficult it was to get information from the Government

He invited the council to meet regularly with him.

But for Fonua the dialogue should have come before, not after, the law changes. Even the Government seemed confused by them, he said.


"It's like a communist state, Big Brother looking over your shoulder."

Already, Fonua says, the registrar of newspapers is trying to play the role of chief editor.

In April, three editors were summoned to be told what the registrar did or did not like in their papers.

Repeated Herald phone and email efforts to contact the registrar, cabinet secretary 'Eseta Fusitu'a, failed.

Fonua accepts that the local media needs to lift its game.

"There is a definite need to improve the standard of journalism, but that could have been done with more co-operative leadership, rather than the heavy handed changes to the constitution.

"The Government has done more damage than it can ever dream of."

The standoff over the Taimi has prompted a legal challenge, and hundreds of Tongans are represented in proceedings filed in the Supreme Court at Nuku'alofa.

The case is being taken by Auckland lawyer Dr Rodney Harrison QC, and the first plaintiff is Alan Taione, the Auckland mechanic arrested this year and charged with unlawfully bringing in banned copies of the Taimi.

Other plaintiffs include the Lali Media Group which publishes the paper, Po'oi Pohiva , some Tongan MPs, and various organisations and societies.

They say the Government breached the intent of clause seven in the constitution which in effect gave freedom of the press and clause 79, which bans tampering with the law of liberty.

New Zealand's High Commissioner in Tonga, Warwick Hawker, says the legal challenge will be fascinating.

"The question is how far can Parliament change the constitution given the limits of section 79. Which is paramount? Parliament or the constitution?"

* Angela Gregory's visit was sponsored by the Pacific Foundation.