Inside the intrigue at PINA 2005 [1]
Friday, November 25, 2005 - 18:35. Updated on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - 17:20.
EDITOR'S COMMENT
By Pesi Fonua
When you have over 130 journalists and media people congregated at the International Dateline Hotel for five days, what do you expect them to do?
At the end of the 2005 Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) Convention, in Nuku'alofa, Tonga, from November 17-21, journalists turned their sights on each other.
After foreign journalists frustrated themselves by trying to understand the stances of Tonga's entangled reform factions, they discovered that the internal politics of PINA and the goings on of various television companies in the region produced better copy than Tongan politics.
The two year-old marriage between PINA (print media) and PIBA (broadcasting media) appeared to be holding, and Lady PIBA has already got used to her new name PINA.
But the logistics of the PINA operation continued to be an issue. How could an organization registered in Samoa, with a president living in Apia, and having its office in Suva, ever hope to effectively manage its operation with members in more than 14 Pacific Island countries?
This kind of problem is not new for PINA. Before the Samoan Lance Upolu took over as president in 2003, Johnson Honamae, was president, living in Honiara, and with the secretarial office in Suva it was even more difficult. So the managing of PINA's affairs has always been a problem.
SkyTV
At the 2005 convention the push by Suva-based heavy weights such as the Fiji Times, Fiji Television, and Island Business, to dominate the board of PINA could be excused if the main reason was for an efficient management of PINA.
But that was not the belief of some Samoan, Tongan, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu journalists who, following the election of the new PINA Board, called a Press Conference and expressed their dismay with the domination by Fijians of the new board.
It was to no avail, because Fiji Television's Ken Clark with eight unchecked proxy votes up his sleeve decided who should be the new president and vice president.
In the eyes of its critics the new PINA board is dominated by people who have strong business affiliations with Fiji Television and SkyTV, which is rapidly eating up the territories of local islands television providers.
The most affected in the latest joint venture by Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) and Fiji Television to introduce into Tonga 12-channels of the SkyTV network was Tonfon television.
Overnight all international rugby fixtures that used to be an exclusive for Tonfon's pay-TV network was transferred over to TBC, at the same time TBC has started selling a 12-channels SkyTV pay service direct from satellite to homes in Tonga, which is threatening the existence of Tonfon Television.
The newly elected president of PINA Ken Clark denied the allegations when confronted by angry Tongan and Samoan journalists who accused him of trying to use his position in PINA to advance the interests of SkyTV in the region. Ken insisted that their accusations were far away from the truth, and he said that the Board was to serve the interests of PINA.
The new PINA board members are:
President, Ken Clark, CEO of Fiji Television;
Vice president, 'Elenoa 'Amanaki, General Manager TBC; Representative radio broadcasting, Matai 'Akau'ola, Radio Fiji; Representative television stations, Richard Broadbridge, a foreign consultant with the TBC;
Representative print media, Mark Neil-Jones from Vanuatu, and Representative of all national media organizations, Pesi Fonua, Media Council Inc. of Tonga.
Despite all the goings on, if we look at the positive site of things there is a belief that the new PINA board has the capability to put the combined PINA back on its feet with a very efficient and functioning operation.