Sir John Jeffries, the Chairman of the New Zealand Press Council, and Lincoln Gould, the Chief Executive of the Newspaper Publishers' Association and the New Zealand Press Association, visited Tonga from 16-20 September 2003.

Sir John and Lincoln were invited to Tonga by the Tonga Media Council for consultation on a project to establish a media Complaints Committee.

While the two men were in Nuku'alofa they met the Solicitor General, 'Alisi Taumoepeau, the Chief Secretary to Cabinet, 'Eseta Fusitu'a, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Fekita 'Utoikamanu, the head of the Government Information Unit, Lupe 'Ilaiu, the Acting Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Clive Edwards, and the Minister of Labour, Commerce and Industries, Dr Masasso Paunga.

Sir John and Lincoln also met with representatives of the local media organisations and expressed their best wishes to the TMC for initiating another step in the development of the media in Tonga with the establishment of a Complaints Committee. They sincerely believed that the Complaints Committee will lift the standard of journalism in Tonga to another level, because any complaints will eventually be dealt with by the editor of the news organisation concerned, who will be made aware of what has been considered to be bad journalism.