Pacific Freedom Forum chair Monica Miller says there might be royalists in the TBC who acted unethically in their reporting, but shutting down the TBC was not the right way to prove the Prime Minister’s allegations.
Miller was reacting to Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s criticism of the kingdom’s national broadcaster.
As Kaniva News reported yesterday, Hon. Pohiva has declared the TBC to be “an enemy of the government.” He said the TBC’s operations would be reviewed and said its services could be provided by another broadcaster.
The ABC in Australia today reported Hon. Pohiva as saying he had no immediate plans to close the TBC, but stood by his claim that its journalists were guilty of “biased reporting” against his government.
He had earlier said the role of the state broadcaster was to support the administration.
But Miller said the job of the TBC was to represent the public.
“It is not the job of any news media to support the government of the day and they must be ethical when reporting criticism,” Miller said.
She said the Tongan government should remember its roots as a pro-democracy reform movement.
Miller said the Prime Minister should organise an independent review into allegations that commission staff were biased against his administration.
An independent review could establish what codes of ethic and conduct were in place to prevent unethical reporting and what mechanisms were in place to protect the tax-funded broadcasting commission.
Miller said the Prime Minister was famous in opposition for asserting his right to freedom of expression despite legal threats, imprisonment and censorship.
She said Hon. Pohiva needed to rediscover the spirit of free speech guaranteed under the constitution.
Clause 7 of the Tonga constitution states:
“Freedom of the press – It shall be lawful for all people to speak write and print their opinions and no law shall ever be enacted to restrict this liberty. There shall be freedom of speech and of the press for ever but nothing in this clause shall be held to outweigh the law of slander or the laws for the protection of the King and the Royal Family.”
The main points
- Pacific Freedom Forum chair Monica Miller says there might be royalists in the TBC who acted unethically in their reporting, but shutting down the TBC was not the right way to prove the Prime Minister’s allegations.
- Miller was reacting to Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva’s criticism of the kingdom’s national broadcaster.
- As Kaniva News reported yesterday, Hon. Pohiva has declared the TBC to be “an enemy of the government” and said its job was to support the administration.
- She said the Tongan government should remember its roots as a pro-democracy reform movement.
More information
Prime Minister Akilisi Pohiva defends his call to close Tonga Broadcasting Commission
Independent review for public broadcaster (Pacific Freedom Forum)
Pohiva declares war on TBC, declares it an obstacle and constraint on gov’t
