World Press Freedom Day 2023 celebrated in Nuku'alofa [1]
Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 19:00. Updated on Thursday, May 4, 2023 - 23:59.
Local journalists and special guests gathered on 3 May to commemorate the 30th anniversary World Press Freedom Day hosted by the Media Association Tonga (MAT) in Nuku'alofa.
Held under a theme, “Shaping a Future of Rights: Freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights”, the event highlighted the importance of freedom of speech and of the press.
Sefita Hao’uli, a distinguished Tongan journalist and former broadcaster, residing in New Zealand, was the keynote speaker.
MAT President, Kalafi Moala said Sefita was one of the first Tongan reporters to work for a newspaper in New Zealand, and he pioneered Radio 531 PI and the Pacific Islands news coming out of Auckland.
Sefita spoke of the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of information and the global day “to share and celebrate it."
He appreciated the difficulty of making a private enterprise media organisation to run profitably but also, to make sure, that it does its job to inform and let people know what is happening and enquire to what happened.
It is important to train journalists to ensure their credibility.
He also emphasized the need to preserve our Tongan language ... “to guarantee that Tongan will never be lost,” he said. He spoke of his childhood in Ha'apai and emmigration to New Zealand.
Growth of media in Tonga
Kalafi said the organizations that makes up media in Tonga were now more diverse and explained its journey to present, with private media ownership coming into fold. He said this is also the first time two major church media in Tonga were joining MAT, they are the FWC Tohi Fanongonongo and Taumu’a Lelei’s Catholic Newspapers.
On behalf of MAT, he especially acknowledged the lifetime work of Pesi and Mary Fonua of Matangi Tonga Online.
(They came back and started writing in Tonga in 1979. The registration of the independent Vava'u Press Ltd was achieved in 1980. Their weekly "Tonga Parliamentary Bulletin” was published in the early 1980s, followed by the Matangi Tonga magazine in 1986 and it is still going today as Matangi Tonga Online.)
In Tonga media freedom is guaranteed in Clause 7 of the Constitition of 1875.