The importance of media freedom is recognised each year globally on May 3. This year the Pacific Island country of Tonga commemorated World Press Freedom Day just a week after one of the most frightening threats to that freedom which took place at a media outlet.

A hooded man brandishing a pistol threatened a female journalist at the newsroom of Kele’a Voice, an FM radio station in Nuku’alofa. The radio station had broadcast a news story about a Tongan deportee serving a life sentence in Tonga for the importation of two kilograms of methamphetamine.

The convicted man was a member of an Australian motorcycle gang known as the Comancheros. He was planning to set up a chapter in Tonga, according to an ABC Foreign Correspondent documentary that included an interview with the man in prison.

The threatened journalist was warned never to broadcast any more stories on the Comancheros and drug trafficking.

The police are still investigating and looking for the man. The incident is to my knowledge the first armed threat ever carried out against any media in Tonga.

The manager of Kele’a Voice, Teisa Cokanasiga, said the incident was a huge threat to their freedom to report the news, and that it is the media’s role to report on stories of public interest.

Veteran journalist Katalina Tohi, president of the Media Association of Tonga (MAT), spoke out strongly: “A climate of fear and intimidation targeting media personnel undermines democratic principles and silences the very voices that hold power to account.”

‘Attack on right to know’
She said that an “attack on the press is an attack on our nation’s right to know”.

“The Media Association of Tonga is appalled by this brazen act of intimidation. Journalists must be able to carry out their work without the threat of violence or death.”

Tohi is also a board member of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA); her condemnation of the Tonga incident is representative not only of MAT’s views, but also those of PINA as the premier news association of the Pacific.

Threats against press freedom are unfortunately ongoing in the Pacific. The incident in Tonga demonstrates that the enemies of press freedom can come from anywhere — not always the government or those in power, but anyone averse to truth and transparency.

Whether it is in Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, French Polynesia or anywhere else in the Pacific, media freedom must be protected, advocated for and exercised to the fullest. Only then can we in the Pacific be assured of the proper exercise of democratic governance, the rule of law, transparency and commitment to truth as foundational pillars of society.

In Tonga, freedom of speech is a fundamental value inscribed in its 150-year-old Constitution. Clause 7 of the Tonga Constitution states:

“It shall be lawful for all people to speak write and print their opinions and no law shall ever be enacted to restrict this liberty.

“There shall be freedom of speech and of the press for ever but nothing in this clause shall be held to outweigh the law of slander or the laws for the protection of the King and the Royal Family.”

Social media issue
In an age when the communication industry has exploded, bringing with it misinformation and disinformation, the dominance of social media platforms has raised an important issue for our profession.

We need to redefine our freedom on the basis of truth, and not just because we have a voice. With the availability of technology such as AI, media freedom may be threatened not so much by forces from outside as from within the industry itself.

Never before has there been a greater emphasis on fact-checking, reflecting a decline in trust and reliability of content. Traditional editing has always included fact-checking, but it has become far more important amid today’s flood of misinformation, AI-generated inaccuracies and manipulated images.

Truth must be the foundation upon which media freedom is built. We are free to speak the truth — we are not free to misinform, deceive or propagate falsehood. There is a huge difference between the freedom to speak truth and the freedom to speak lies.

Freedom of speech is the tool for holding power to account on the basis of truth. And truth matters not only to those who speak but to those who listen; audiences influenced by misinformation train their ears to follow narratives that may be false.

In a world of too many confusing voices, what matters is not simply having a voice but having one that speaks truth — and we cannot be silent about the truth. We must speak, write, print and show, for truth matters.

‘Built on truth’
American civil rights essayist Maya Angelou rightly said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”. Nothing important is built on silence. If it matters, it must be built on truth. And truth is dependent on a free and fearless media to be its voice.

Finally, I wish to point out a Biblical truth, spoken by Jesus himself: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8.32)

Here we see a connection between knowledge, truth and freedom — the freedom that is such a vital part of our Pacific cultures and existence.

Kalafi Moala established Tonga’s first independent newspaper and currently manages the online platform Talanoa ‘o Tonga. He was elected president of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) in September 2024. This article was first published by DevPolicy Blog and is republished under a Creative Commons licence.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Fiji has shot up the world rankings for press freedom but the victory feels hollow as journalists across the Pacific face a wave of court battles, police raids, and vicious online abuse.

The 2026 World Press Freedom Index, released last Thursday by Reporters Without Borders, shows Fiji climbing to a record 24th in the world.

But the celebration is being cut short. In Sāmoa, the media has plummeted to its lowest ranking ever (59th), and in Fiji, despite the “freedom”, reporters are still being summoned to court and having their phones seized by police.

The Paris-based global watchdog warns journalism is at a 25-year low. From AI-generated “fake news’” on Facebook to politicians bullying reporters, the job of telling the truth in the Pacific has never been more dangerous.

Sāmoa falls to lowest ranking after election fallout
The biggest shock in the report is Sāmoa’s collapse. After a messy 2025 election cycle, the island nation — once the “gold standard” for Pacific media — has seen its ranking fall off a cliff.

It isn’t only about politics, it’s about safety. Women journalists are being targeted with threats for simply doing their jobs.

Rula Sua Vaa, head editor of TV1 Sāmoa News, told the ABC she received threats against her and her family while covering the fallout between the Fa’atuatua i le Atua Sāmoa ua Tai (FAST) party and former Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa.

The UN Women Asia and the Pacific project reports that 45 percent of women in Pacific media now self-censor online just to avoid the abuse.

As the UN stated on social media: “Behind every silenced voice is a growing crisis of digital violence, weak accountability, and threats to press freedom,” it says in a social media post.

Kalafi Moala, president of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), said the biggest threat might actually be “free” money being offered by foreign powers.

He said Pacific journalists were operating under dual pressures of political control and digital disinformation.

“In small island states, where information ecosystems are fragile and resources are limited, the impact can be immediate and damaging, undermining public trust, fueling division, and threatening social cohesion,” he said in a statement.

Kalafi Moala’s full interview with PMN News.

Fiji gains overshadowed by legal scrutiny
Fiji’s rise to 24th is a big win following the repeal of the old, “draconian” 2010 Media Industry Development Act in 2023.

But the Fijian Media Association warns these gains are “tenuous”.

This year alone, senior reporters Lavenia Lativerata (Mai TV) and Jake Wise (The Fiji Times) were summoned to testify in court while Meri Radinibaravi, an investigative journalist, had her phone seized by police over a Facebook post earlier this week.

Clayton Weimers, Reporters Without Borders North America executive director, said the global situation was critical.

“Journalists continue to be killed and jailed, but journalism itself is now threatened by economic headwinds, the criminalisation of reporting, and a hostile political climate. There is no freedom without press freedom,” he said in a social media post.

Across the region, the 2026 Index shows a Pacific moving in two directions.

While the laws are getting better in some countries, the digital and financial pressure on journalists is reaching a breaking point.

For Moala, the mission remains simple but difficult: “Tell the stories that’s right there in front of us… and somehow, we’ll get there.”

Press freedom at its lowest point in 25 years                Video: RSF

Republished from PMN News with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As a journalist based in Tonga, I have chosen mostly to refrain from giving a view of US President Donald Trump, one way or another, as I thought that he would sooner or later get over his incredible childishness and tyrannical behavior, and start doing something credible for his country, and the world.

I was initially horrified in 2024 watching Trump in a White House televised meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in which he rudely bullied the Ukrainian leader; told lies and acted arrogantly, humiliating him.

Also, I watched him boast unceasingly about “Making America Great Again” (MAGA).

He created an ICE force, unleashing them in states like Minnesota against their will, killing people in Minneapolis and wrongly arresting citizens while looking for illegals to be deported.

Tonga was listed among nations which were banned from entry into the USA, affecting many students who were planning to take up further schooling for 2026. Tongan families who planned to visit the graduation of their children were no longer allowed into the USA.

He ordered America’s military to attack Venezuela and kidnapped the President, against international law; also controlled the sale of their oil.

When the Opposition leader of that country offered him her Noble Peace Prize Award, he accepted — something he has tried to get saying he has “settled peace in 8 wars”.

Bombing of Nigeria
He ordered the bombing of Nigeria as a reaction to the “killing of Christians”. Is this what Jesus would have done whenever there are Christians who are persecuted anywhere in the world? Or is this Trump’s way to help boost his image among American Christians?

And then came the Greenland issue, which he called Iceland in a speech in Switzerland. He has threatened to invade this country which is under Denmark and NATO; then offered to buy it, and then after threats, changed his mind and announced there has been “a deal involving NATO, a peace framework for the future.”

But Trump could not help himself by boasting that “if it was not for us, German would be your language today”. He did not realise that German is the main language spoken in Switzerland.

Much more can be said about what this Nazi-style dictator is doing in America and the world, but the one that eventually tipped me over, was his most recent public statement, during a boast-fest in the White House that “God must be proud of me!”

How can a human be more deceived?

The narcissism of this man exceeds anyone else in that he now boasts that “God must be proud” of him! If God is proud of him, then God must be behind every move he makes.

Trump is not just a product of his own making. He has the support of the extreme rightist Republican Party, and a huge number of American Evangelicals. This is a huge concern, because the views of these groups continue to fuel the ungodly narcissism that is so much a part of Trump’s personality and character.

‘He is always right’
Its not only a case of “might is right” but that “he is always right” and that is why God must be proud of him!

What is also most shocking is that Trump supporters not only worship him as “a god” but also give great sounding explanations to Trump’s actions. An example is like saying Trump is only bringing the Venezuelan President (and his wife) to America to stand trial for drug smuggling.

Never mind about his cruelty, his arrogance, his lies, his “Epstein-style” immorality, and abuse of power resulting in senseless deaths.

“He is a wonderful Christian,” I was told by a Christian leader in the USA, who happens to be a friend of mine. Another Christian leader in Tonga said, “I like Trump because he opposes abortion, the murder of unborn babies.” My response was that I am also apposed to the murder of unborn babies, but I am also opposed to the murder of those who are already born.

I do take some of this personally because as an American citizen, I am a registered Republican voter out of Hawai’i. I am also an evangelical Christian. And yet Donald Trump, President of the country of my citizenship is definitely the most tyrannical and unprincipled leader of the free world we’ve had for some time.

Resisting the Trump nonsense does not mean endorsement of Biden and Obama or the Democrats for that matter. The people of America put Trump where he is, and the people of America have allowed him to do what he has done — his illegal and cruel actions, his senseless threats, his bullying of other world leaders, and international organisations, and so much more.

Reflection of US society
It can be true that a people deserve the leader they get.

In a Republic like America, they voted him in. Trump has become a reflection of American society, a warlike people who seem to look down on everyone else, and whose history is filled with cruel takeovers like they did in Hawai’i and other Pacific Islands; wiped out hundreds of thousands in Japan with the world’s first nuclear weapons, and fought wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Iran supposedly “to save the world” while killing countless others.

I recently saw an anti-Trump poster that says: “There is nothing more dangerous than an idiot who thinks he is a genius!” I do not think the President of the United States is an idiot, neither do I think he is a genius. But he is dangerous because he is a so-called Christian who does un-Christian things, he is a god-worshipper whose god is himself!

I am publishing the following article by Michael Jochum which speaks for a lot of people including myself.

What we witnessed in Switzerland was not a policy address. It was an X-ray

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Donald Trump didn’t merely embarrass the United States in front of its allies; he revealed, with clinical clarity, the pathology that now defines his presidency — and the pathology his supporters actively crave. The bluster, the grievance, the thinly veiled threats, the adolescent swagger masquerading as strength: this is not drift or decline. It is the point.

Here’s the dangerous truth that finally snaps into focus after Davos: the unhinged Trump on that stage is exactly the president his followers want. They don’t tolerate the chaos; they require it. They don’t excuse the cruelty; they cheer it. They don’t misunderstand the geopolitical land-grabs and war-mongering postures; they see them as proof of dominance. The spectacle is the substance.

What makes this moment uniquely perilous isn’t just one man’s depravity. It’s the millions who looked at that performance and thought, Finally — someone who speaks for me. We are not up against a conventional politician or an opposing platform.

We are up against a movement animated by:

The racism embedded in “Make America Great Again,” which has always translated to Make America White Again.

The misogyny that waved off “Grab ’em by the pussy” as locker-room talk and called accountability hysteria.

The anti-intellectualism that confuses cruelty with strength and treats knowledge as weakness.

A provincial, grievance-soaked worldview that mistakes bluster for leadership and exclusion for sovereignty.

Trump is not a nightmare by accident. He is the most unprepared, unqualified, and disgraced president in American history by design. A bigot. A hater. A sexist. A xenophobe. A man with the intellectual and emotional maturity of a five-year-old child. He is mentally ill. He is a pathological liar who lies about his lies. He is obsessed with verbally attacking Hillary Clinton, and he reveals his deep racism through his constant, obsessive disparagement of Barack Obama. Donald Trump is a disgrace to humanity.

I have never heard — nor am I hearing — one single coherent, rational, intelligent, informed, educated, moral, fact-based, sane, mature, patriotic, or politically valid reason to support this illiterate, illegitimate, mentally ill, fish-mouthed “president”. What I do hear, loud and ugly, is resentment, self-hatred, impotent rage, and the glee of people who seem perversely proud that they have endangered everyone in this country.

This is no longer left versus right. The real question is whether we normalise this collective sickness — or excise it before it metastasizes further.

Every time someone says, “But the economy . . .  and those illegals . . . ” to justify their support, listen closely. They are telling you exactly which part of Trump’s reflection they see themselves in.

The good news? Mirrors can be shattered. But only if we stop looking away.

— Michael Jochum

Kalafi Moala’s column was first published by Talanoa ‘o Tonga and is republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

On this World Press Freedom Day, we in the Pacific stand together to defend and promote the right to freedom of expression — now facing new and complex challenges in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

This year’s global theme is “Reporting a Brave New World: The impact of Artificial Intelligence on Press Freedom.”

AI is changing the way we gather, share, and consume information. It offers exciting tools that can help journalists work faster and reach more people, even across our scattered islands.

But AI also brings serious risks. It can be used to spread misinformation, silence voices, and make powerful tech companies the gatekeepers of what people see and hear.

In the Pacific, our media are already working with limited resources. Now we face even greater pressure as AI tools are used without fair recognition or payment to those who create original content.

Our small newsrooms struggle to compete with global platforms that are reshaping the media landscape.

We must not allow AI to weaken media freedom, independence, or diversity in our region.

Respect our Pacific voices
Instead, we must ensure that new technologies serve our people, respect our voices, and support the role of journalism in democracy and development.

Today, PINA calls for stronger regional collaboration to understand and manage the impact of AI. We urge governments, tech companies, and development partners to support Pacific media in building digital skills, protecting press freedom, and ensuring fair use of our content.

Let us ensure that the future of journalism in the Pacific is guided by truth, fairness, and freedom — not by unchecked algorithms.

Happy World Press Freedom to all media workers across the Pacific!

 Kalafi Moala is president of the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and also editor of Talanoa ‘o Tonga. Republished from TOT with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

World Press Freedom Day has been marked by journalists around the world, including the Pacific.

Launched by the United Nations in 1998, May 3 is a day of solidarity among the world’s media, in particular with journalists who are being persecuted in autocratic nations and war zones.

It serves as a day of celebrating the development and improvement of media landscapes.

Perhaps the biggest trophy for press freedom in 2023 has been the return of press freedom in Fiji via the repeal of the repressive media law — the 2010 Media Industry Development Act.

“It hung over our heads like the sword of Damocles , forever threatening the very foundation of media freedom,” said Fiji Times editor-in-chief Fred Wesley.

The draconian law introduced by former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama imposed severe restrictions on freedom of expression and the ability of the press to report on any controversies involving the government.

It was a dark era for the independent media, who endured intimidation and the threat of imprisonment.

“Liabilities applied if the ‘content of any media service which is against public interest or order, or national interest, or which offends against good taste or decency and creates communal discord’,” said Wesley.

“An editor was liable for a fine of $25,000 and two years in jail.

“With that repeal we are now free to report freely and to express opinions freely.”

The ousting of Bainimarama’s government in last year’s general election would change everything.

Incoming leader Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka had promised to bring back media freedom, and on April 6 Fiji’s Parliament voted to repeal the act.

“I remember an overflowing of emotions that morning,” said Wesley.

“It was overwhelming, I remember trying to keep the tears away but it was truly emotional, it was like a weight had been lifted off the shoulders.”

PNG journalists threatened with state control
While Fiji’s media has been liberated, their Melanesian counterparts in Papua New Guinea are facing the potential threat of state control.

In March this year, a media act was drafted in PNG’s Parliament, proposing the creation of a state body to replace the independent Media Council of Papua New Guinea which regulates the licensing of journalists.

“We still enjoy media freedom in Papua New Guinea but currently we have a proposal by the government to control the media, but it’s still in the draft form,” said journalist Gorothy Kenneth of the PNG Post-Courier.

Scott Waide, an independent journalist and former Lae-based deputy editor at EMTV, is equally concerned.

“The Media Council is working through this, trying to restructure itself, trying to get everybody on board so that this policy in its current form doesn’t get through,” said Waide.

“I guess the overall picture is that we need a lot of help in terms of welfare of journalists, in terms of training so that is a message we have conveyed to the policy makers.

“We have a relatively free media, we can say what we want, but do we get resistance from various sectors.”

Press freedom flourishing in Tonga
For Tongan journalists, the kingdom’s media landscape is a vast improvement from the past when they endured repressive media laws.

The young democracy has undergone a rocky transition from an absolute monarchy to an unsettled democracy.

Taimi ‘o Tonga editor Kalafi Moala was jailed in 1996 for contempt of Parliament, and his paper was temporarily banned in 2003.

“It’s so much better today, nobody is in jail and nobody has been persecuted for anything,” said Moala.

“There are defamation laws that anybody can take the media to court if they feel there has been irresponsible reporting, but in terms of freedom to speak, freedom to publish and to broadcast — it’s alive in Tonga.

“And we’re enjoying it.”

Samoan journalists hurdle barriers
Media freedom continues to thrive in Samoa but accessibility to information remains a challenge for journalists.

Complaints have arisen over late government media updates, and during the 2021 general election, several villages banned journalists from attending district gatherings.

“Freedom of the press is something that is not a part of our culture,” said Lagi Keresoma, head of the Journalist Association of Samoa (JAWS), who is hoping things will improve.

“We’re still facing barriers in getting information, not only from the government, but from other organisations.”

“We have a new government that we hope will address these issues — they still have open door policies unlike the previous government, but there are still times where they give us the runabout.”

Varied freedoms in Micronesia
For the Micronesian nations, the journalistic landscape varies.

In Nauru, a nation of about 12,000 people, there is no independent media and foreign journalists are required to pay a visa of US$6,000.

In 2018, TVNZ Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver was detained by authorities after visiting a refugee camp on the island.

The closed-off environment means there is low transparency of the issues in Nauru and the controversial Australian detentions camps that hold refugees.

It’ is the opposite case for the Marshall Islands where independent media thrives.

Recently two Marshallese MPs proposed greater media regulation, but it was struck down.

“The appreciation of most people, both in government and in the public about media freedom is really good,” said the editor of the Marshall Islands Journal, Giff Johnson.

“It’s meant that we have a fairly robust and open ability to publish what we want to.”

According to UNESCO, 87 journalists and media workers were killed in 2022 around the world — an average of one fatality a day and a 50 percent jump from the previous year.

High profile deaths included Fox News camera man Pierre Zakrzewski covering the war in Ukraine, and Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian covering the Israel occupation in the West Bank.

In the latest World Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders, Samoa has been ranked 19th, up from 45th.

Tonga is ranked 44th, Papua New Guinea 59th and Fiji is 89th, up from 102nd last year.

Each year, Reporters Without Borders evaluates the environment for journalism in 180 countries and territories.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As Tonga’s recovery from the recent volcanic eruption and tsunami ramps up there is growing concern for the psychological and emotional wellbeing of survivors.

According to the government, 84 percent of the population has been impacted, with assessments of the widespread destruction still being conducted.

Two Tongans and a British national were killed during the disaster.

RNZ Pacific’s Tonga correspondent Kalafi Moala said that while the recovery was building up steam a lot of people were still visibly shaken.

“For example near here, where there were homes in the waterfront that were destroyed, when you go over to inspect the place you see people that are just staring,” he said.

“With looks in their faces not only of disappointment, but it is a look of hurt,” he added.

French aid
A French Navy ship is to take relief supplies to Tonga following the volcanic eruption and tsunami.

The Red Cross in Noumea has readied 21 pallets which the patrol boat La Glorieuse will deliver to Nuku’alofa.

The 10 tonnes of goods include tents for about 100 families, hygiene kits, solar-powered lights as well as masks.

A coordinator, Vincent Lepley, has told the local broadcaster that as Tonga was covid-19 free, no staff would be sent.

He said the delivery would be made within the French partnership with New Zealand and Australia as well as Tonga’s Red Cross.

Help from Fiji on the way

The first contingent of 51 Fiji soldiers are still awaiting approval from the Tongan government to assist New Zealand and Australia in their relief efforts in the kingdom.

The Fijians arrived in Brisbane last Saturday to join Australia’s Defence Force deployment to Tonga.

Fiji army commander Major-General Ro Jone Kalouniwai said the group consisted of engineers, medics and other specialists.

He said they would carry out rehabilitation and further assessments in Tonga.

The Fiji military said the soldiers had completed covid-19 tests and isolation requirements before heading to Australia.

“Looking at the damage and the things that happened in Tonga so far, we are going engineer heavy so we taking a lot of plant operators, we are looking at construction workers, civil engineers and also medical staff. The rest are all part of the manpower that can assist these specialists’ engineers in the work they are doing,” he said.

Volunteers needed
Twelve shipping containers bound for Tonga have been fully packed with food and water by Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee volunteers.

Thirteen additional containers are being sent to Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium today.

The drop off points for the public remain closed as the hundreds of drums already onsite need loading.

Committee co-chair Jenny Salesa said volunteers worked until 10pm last night.

But she said more people power was needed for the final push today, with packers expected to work until midnight.

All volunteers must be fully vaccinated.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Tonga has new noble MPs and at least one returning MP among the people’s representatives, according to preliminary election results.

The polls have closed in the kingdom and counting is underway. However, results for the kingdom’s nobles was announced this afternoon by the Supervisor of Elections, Pita Vuki.

About 60,000 Tongan voters have been taking part in election.

They will be electing 17 People’s Representatives for the 26-member legislature.

The 33 noble families elected their nine representatives from within their own ranks.

Results for the nobles was announced this afternoon by the Supervisor of Elections, Pita Vuki.

For Tongatapu, the noble MPs are Lord Vaea, who makes a return to Parliament after being voted out in 2014, Lord Tu’ivakanō, who was prime minister in the first government after the reform and Lord Fohe who is a first time MP.

Vava’u seats retained
Vava’u has seen both noble MPs retain their seats Lord Tu’i’afitu and Lord Tu’ilakepa.

The same for Ha’apai, with Lord Fakafānua who was the speaker of the last Parliament, and Lord Tu’iha’angana both retaining their seats.

For ‘Eua, Lord Nuku is the elected noble representative and for the Niuas, the most northern islands, Prince Fotofili, who is himself a first time MP.

RNZ Pacific’s correspondent in Tonga, Kalafi Moala, said that having three new MPs among the nobles did not indicate much politically as two out of the three new seats were held by MPs that have been out of the country for medical reasons.

At the closing of the polls at 6pm local time, among the people’s representatives the only clear front runner was Siaosi Sovaleni, a possible candidate for the prime ministership who had registered an almost unassailable lead in Tongatapu 3.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

“It’s a bit of a lighthouse” for vital regional news and information, says former contributing editor Alex Perrottet summing up the value of the Pacific Media Centre’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project for New Zealand and Pacific journalism.

The Radio New Zealand journalist is among seven international media people involved in the 23-year-old project featured in a new video released this week.

Pacific Media Watch – The Genesis is a 15-minute mini documentary telling the story of the project launched by two journalists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) in 1996 and adopted by Auckland University of Technology’s Pacific Media Centre in 2007.

READ MORE: The Pacific Media Watch freedom project

The video was released this week to coincide with the global media freedom conference in London this week.

Pacific Media Watch has become a challenging professional development opportunity for AUT postgraduate students seeking to develop specialist skills in Asia-Pacific journalism.

It is was launched by Professor David Robie, then head of the UPNG journalism programme in Port Moresby and Peter Cronau, editor of Reportage investigative magazine at UTS.

Now Dr Robie is director of the Auckland-based PMC and Cronau is an award-winning senior producer of the ABC’s flagship Four Corners investigative journalism programme.

Video producers, Blessen Tom of TVNZ’s Fair Go, and Sri Krishnamurthi of the Pacific Media Centre. Image: PMC

The ‘Tongan three’
The catalyst for Pacific Media Watch was the jailing of the “Tongan Three” – founding editor of Taimi ‘o Tonga Kalafi Moala, his deputy Filokalafi Akau’ola, and pro-democracy MP ‘Akilisi Pohiva, now Prime Minister of Tonga – for contempt of Parliament in 1996.

Dr Robie and Cronau could not sit back and allow this happen – the second major attack on media freedom in the Pacific after Fiji was thrown into turmoil with the first coup in 1987.

“The Tongan Three was really how we got started,” recalls Dr Robie about their response to the unprecedented and “outrageous” 30-day jailing sentence imposed on the trio at the time.

Peter Cronau says: “The case of the three was just a shock and it was a rallying point.”

Since then Pacific Media Watch has grown to become a reliable media outlet based on professional development for student journalists but it also has a network of contributing media and academic correspondents around the region.

Many events
The PMW has covered many events in the Pacific including tsunamis, Fiji peacekeepers being taken hostage in the Golan Heights, beatings and torture of a prisoner by the security forces in Fiji, two Fiji general elections, the New Caledonian independence referendum and – most recently – the massacre of 51 Muslims at two mosques in Christchurch and the impact on journalism.

Blessen Tom pushing a dolly for the Pacific Media Watch documentary. Image: PMC

So far nine postgraduate student contributing editors and two reporters have been trained on the PMW project, and between them at least 11 awards have been won at the annual Ossie Awards for the cream of student journalism in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

For Blessen Tom, who produced last year’s Bearing Witness climate change project short film Banabans of Rabi along with Hele Ikamotu, and I, producing this Pacific Media Watch programme was a deeply satisfying project.

We hope that through our six interviews and countless hours spent in the editing suite that we have made a fitting tribute to the work of David, Peter, Kalafi and all those who have made the Pacific Media Watch project what it is today.

Media freedom challenge
In London yesterday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and 31 other press freedom and media development agencies met in advance of the Global Media Freedom Conference.

They called on all nations taking part to ensure the protection and safety of all journalists and media workers in compliance with their existing obligations and international standards.

The group, representing and working with hundreds of thousands of journalists and media workers throughout the world, said new pledges would only be credible if countries immediately:

• Release all imprisoned journalists;
• Stop killing, attacking and denigrating journalists; and
• Investigate and prosecute all murders of journalists.

The group demanded that all states hold themselves and their counterparts accountable and show demonstrable progress.

Several countries attending the conference have imprisoned journalists and unsolved murders.

This article was first published by Asia Pacific Report.

• The 11 recommendations by media freedom groups
• More Pacific Media Watch stories

This article was first published on Café Pacific.

Tongan journalist, publisher and broadcaster Kalafi Moala talks to Pacific Media Watch project’s Sri Krishnamurthi. Video: Sri Krishnamurthi/Blessen Tom

By Sri Krishnamurthi

After 30 years as chief editor and publisher of Tonga’s flagship Taimi ‘o Tonga newspaper, the iconic Pacific media personality Kalafi Moala has sold his business and is looking to move on.

He plans to explore greenfield operations in Tonga in the digital era by presenting news through a mobile phone platform.

“I want to be engaged in something where we continue to produce news and maybe deliver news in a different platform maybe online, digital or maybe something to do with the phone,” he said in a recent interview with the Pacific Media Centre in Auckland.

WATCH: The interview with Kalafi Moala

“Who needs a newspaper, who needs a television set, who needs a computer when you have a telephone, in Tonga everybody has a telephone.

“The mobile phone is a major thing that has changed the life of Tongans and we want to use that platform.”

Moala expressed his concerns too about the “sovereignty” of Pacific peoples who he said were being subjected to “colonisation through other means”.

He has sold his publishing and broadcast business Taimi Media Network to enterprising businessman Tausinga Taumoefolau and his company Keitahi Limited.

Moala spoke to the PMC’s Pacific Media Watch freedom project as part of a series of interviews for a forthcoming mini-documentary, Pacific Media Watch – The Genesis.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz