The Tonga government's actions against the state broadcaster threaten to undermine democracy, according to the Public Media Alliance.
The world's largest association of public broadcasters has written to the King of Tonga to express their concern over changes to the Tonga Broadcasting Commission.
This month government forced the TBC chair to resign and asked the board to sack the general manager.
The moves followed complaints by Prime Minister 'Akilisi Pohiva that the TBC did not support government enough and was unfairly critical.
The president of the Public Media Alliance, Paul Thompson, says his organisation has been observing the changes.
Photo: 123 RF
Transcript
PAUL THOMPSON: I'm very concerned about the attacks on the Tonga Broadcasting Commission. A public service broadcaster is all about protecting the interests of citizens and acting independently of the state and the government. I think the prime minister's targeting of the commission and the personnel at the commission is most unfortunate. As the president of the Public Media Alliance, I really call on everyone to take a breath, and just make sure that they protect and enhance the editorial independence of the broadcaster.
KORO VAKA'UTA: What have you done to express those concerns in an official capacity?
PT: Well we have done two things. Last month I wrote to the prime minister respectfully asking for him to cease his attacks and to protect the integrity of the TBC and today (Monday) I have written to His Majesty the King of Tonga, highlighting the concerns of the PMA and again asking that the integrity and independence of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission is respected. Tonga is a fledgling democracy and a key part of that is a free and independent media and the TBC plays a very important role in that. These attacks really threaten to undermine some of those democracy taking root.
KV: Now you know a lot and the PMA about state broadcasting, the whole issue here the prime minister seems to have, is that the state broadcaster is a little different from other media in terms of independence. He says they also have a job to facilitate government work. What's your take on, maybe not specific to TBC, but what is the role of a public broadcaster, state broadcaster, in that respect?
PT: I think public service broadcasters are all about protecting the interests of the public and the citizens of the country. They are certainly not about protecting the political interests of the government and I think any attempt by any government to interfere in the editorial independence and freedom of the public broadcaster is a real slippery slope. Of course there are ways of raising concerns about coverage and perhaps even criticising some individual stories but to target the whole organisation in this way, I think reflects really poorly on Tonga and it does run the risk of undermining the ability of the TBC to cover issues accurately and independently.
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