TBC's censorship committee makes its mark on coming election [1]
Friday, April 11, 2008 - 14:21. Updated on Friday, July 24, 2015 - 14:13.
The one thing that the parliamentary election of 2008 will be remembered for is last week's decision by the board of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission to stop broadcasting all pre-recorded campaign speeches of candidates, and to re-record them all for free, at the tax payers expense, so that they can be edited by a newly appointed editorial committee.
The "editorial committee" consists of few public servants, including the Chief Secretary to Cabinet, a squash grower and an elderly motel owner, not one of whom has any professional news writing or editing experience in the media.
The decision, three weeks before the election on April 24 by a board that is chaired by the Prime Minister, changed the policy of the TBC on how to handle campaign speeches.
A whistle blower told us that the editing of candidates speeches is very slow, and as of yesterday, April 10, out of the eight that the committee had looked at, only three were passed. Apparently, any reference to 16/11 has to be deleted. It is understood that some of the candidates are threatening to take the board to court over the issue.
Extra member
The whistle blower also said that the Chief Secretary to Cabinet, 'Eseta Fusitu'a, was recently appointed as an extra member of the TBC Board, and she was not appointed to replace some one else.
The TBC Board headed by the Prime Minister Dr Feleti Sevele includes members, 'Elenoa 'Amanaki, the TBC general manager; 'Eseta Fusitu'a, Chief Secretary to Cabinet; Papiloa Foliaki a motel owner; Salote Cocker, a local business woman; Siaosi Moleni a church minister; and 'Aisake Tuiono, a squash exporter.
Editorial interference
Before last week's decision by the TBC board to interfere with the editing process of public broadcasting, the candidates for the coming general election were allowed to book times for and to broadcast their campaign speeches on Television Tonga and Radio Tonga
This permission was granted following a ban imposed last year on all 'political' programs to be aired by TBC, with the exception of programs that present the government's political views.
Supported campaign broadcasts
The Minister of Information, Hon. Afu'alo Matoto told Matangi Tonga Online yesterday that he supported the proposal for TBC to broadcast the campaign programs of candidates for the coming election.
"When TBC presented their policy, for candidates to present a transcript of their speeches to be approved by the TBC, and for an interview presentation to be conducted by one of the staff of TBC, we supported it."
He said that the Ministry of Information has no representatives on the TBC board, but nevertheless, they keep tabs on what is happening at TBC.
Comments
Afu said that after the TBC allowed campaign programs to be aired there arose concerns about some of the interview presentations, "particularly when the candidates were asked to comment on certain issues, then the candidate would lash out at government and make false and unfounded remarks, and the interviewer failed to put the candidate on the spot with some follow-up questions, so the false statements and the unfounded remarks were allowed to go.
"It is unfortunate that the concern was mishandled and misinterpreted," explained Afu, who disagreed with a view that there was a deliberate move by government to interfere with the process of the election and to suppress the media.
Mishandled
He believed that the matter had been mishandled by the management of TBC.
"Following the airing of the first few interviews, the interviewer should have been reminded on what to do and what not to do, but instead nothing was said until now, and the general manager has come out saying that her staff lack the skills.
"If I was told that, I would also be hurt," 'Afu said.
Bypassing editorial staff
The general manager of TBC, 'Elenoa 'Amanaki, said yesterday evening that the new TBC policy on how to process candidates' campaign speeches completely by-passed the editorial staff of TBC, and all the editorial work is now handled by an Editorial Committee, which directs the editorial staff of TBC on what to delete, amend or reject.
With regards to concerns that the slow process of the committee now means that some of the campaign speeches will not be able to be aired before the election, 'Elenoa said that they offered to work over-time.
The members of the Editorial Committee are: public servants 'Aisake Eke, and Paula Ma'u; a squash exporter, 'Aisake Tuiono; and a motel owner, Papiloa Foliaki. 'Elenoa said that herself and 'Eseta Fusitu'a, the Chief Secretary to Cabinet are reserve members, who can go in if a member does not turn up. It is understood that 'Aisake Eke has never attended any meetings of the Editorial Committee and 'Eseta Fusitu'a is standing in for him.
Damaged Tonga's image
As Chief Secretary, 'Eseta played a leading role in applying the heavy-handed media laws that severely damaged both Tonga's image and its media organisations in 2003 and 2004, - restrictions which were eventually, with a few exceptions, overturned by the courts.
Meanwhile, international criticism of the Tonga government's new attempts to control public opinion and the media, is rapidly coming from parliamentarians in New Zealand and from media watchdog organisations.