THE Pacific Islands News Association Media Freedom Award for 2005 was awarded to two people Pesi Fonua of the Vava'u Press, Tonga, and John Lamani of the Solomon Star, Solomon Islands.

The award is in recognition of the work by individuals in the region to uphold and promote media freedom. In announcing the award at the PINA Awards Night at the International Dateline Hotel, Nuku'alofa, on Monday, November 21, Ken Clark, the newly elected President of PINA, said that both John Lamani and Pesi Fonua had been unselfish in their strive to uphold media freedom in their own countries.

Solomon Star

John Lamani and his daily newspaper, the Solomon Star, despite the ethnic uprising in the Solomons, which brought the Solomon Islands to the brink of a Civil War, continued to publish the Solomon Star, the most reliable source of news for the Solomon Islands, in difficult financial conditions and despite life threatening messages for himself and Solomon Star staff.

John Lamani was not present at the awards night, and his award was accepted on his behalf by a fellow Solomon Islander, Johnson Honimae. John and his wife were in Tonga for the convention but had left early to return home.

Matangi Tonga

Pesi Fonua of the Vava'u Press Ltd, the publisher of the Matangi Tonga news magazine, had his publishing license suspended when the Tonga government amended the Clause 7 of the Tongan Constitution in 2003. When the 18 year old Matangi Tonga magazine ceased publication under the restrictive media laws, it went online and since then has become the major source of news for Tongans throughout the world and in Tonga. Pesi was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Media Council Inc. (Tonga), and the Media Complaints Committee that was set up to regulate the Tongan media, a move which offered a free alternative to the media laws.

Pesi Fonua in accepting his award thanked PINA and the Thomson Foundation, of the United Kingdom, the sponsor of this year's Media Freedom Award. He said that the award was an honour not only for him and the staff of the Matangi Tonga Online, but also for all the members of the Media Council Inc. (Tonga), who had made personal sacrifices in order to uphold media freedom and freedom of speech in Tonga during the 10 months when suppressive media legislation was enforced. Their efforts had continued to revive their media operations after the Supreme Court declared the amendment to clause 7 constitution and the new media legislation illegal and invalid.

This year's award, in the form of PINA Media Freedom stone trophies, were presented by John Ryan of the Thompson Foundation.

Besides the Media Freedom Award, no other awards were presented, and the reasons given were either that there were no nominations or that those who were nominated were not up to the standard required.

The recipients of the last PINA Media Freedom Award for 2003 were Peter and Nina Lomas, both former executives of PINA.