The Tonga government's ban on the broadcast of political news by the Tonga Broadcasting Commission may be lifted by early next year, the Minister responsible for government information told Tongan journalists on Friday.

However, Hon. Afu'alo Matato said that before the ban is lifted a new government guideline will be written on how TBC staff should present the news, because the government is dissatisfied with its reporting.

The minister, who was invited by Tonga's Media Council to speak on the role of the newly established Department of Information, said on November 16 that a top priority in the working agenda of the Department of Information was to draft the 'guidelines' for government media. He was referring to Tonga's public media including the weekly newspaper, Ko e Kalonikali, as well as the Tonga Broadcasting Commission, which broadcasts AM and FM radio stations and Television Tonga.

Hon. Afu'alo also clarified that the ban on the broadcasting of political news by TBC during the past few months was not because of the Emergency Powers Order that had been imposed since November 17, 2006, but because of dissatisfaction by government over what it perceived to be imbalanced reporting by staff of TBC on political news, he said, "for example the debate in parliament, where TV Tonga would focus on one or two members over and over again."

He was confident that once a guideline was drafted for TBC staff to work under, "they will then feel free to go about in their work."

Doubts

The news editor for TBC, Nanise Fifita, expressed her doubts that a working guideline drafted by government would enable their journalists to work freely.

The minister, however, believed it would.

Controversial ban

The ban on the broadcasting of political news by TBC has been a controversial issue for months.

At the onset the Prime Minister, Hon. Dr Feleti Sevele, who is also the chairman of the Board of TBC, told parliament that following a concern by members and Cabinet Ministers over the quality of political reporting, the General Manager of TBC was informed and she had apologised for imbalanced reporting saying that she believed that some of her news staff were influenced by their personal interests.

Commenting on the ban, Pesi Fonua, chairman of the Media Council, said today that the TBC had always been viewed as a public broadcasting service, "where even though it was funded by government it remained an independent body to make independent news and broadcasting policies to serve the best interests of the public.

"Ever since it was set up TBC has been struggling to achieve that objective and for the benefit of everyone it should continue to aim for its independence," Pesi said.



Difficulties

During Friday's meeting the Minister also said that he was trying to improve the flow of government information to the media. He has two full-time staff, "who will do nothing else but disseminate government information to media outlets." He said that each ministry would also have a media person whom the media may contact if they wanted to go direct to government ministries and not to the Department of Information.

Another concern expressed by Tongan journalists was how difficult it had been to report on the country's annual budget because the only time that the media had access to a copy of the budget was after it was passed at the end of June. Journalists did not have access to the budget document while it was being debated and therefore could not accurately report what parliamentarians were referring to when they raised questions in the House.

Likewise, journalists were not given access to bills that were tabled into the House and so the public remained uninformed before they were implemented.

Journalists were also unhappy over the cost of court decisions, pointing out that under-funded news organisations could not afford to pay $3 pa'anga a page. Even though some of these court decisions were very important and should be known by the public, the documents were beyond the budget of most Tongan newsrooms.

The Minister at the end appreciated the concerns of the Tongan media and said he would try and find solutions to all concerns.