Taimi 'o Tonga says government determined to ban paper
Title -- 3982 TONGA/NZ: Taimi 'o Tonga says government determined to ban paper
Date -- 15 March 2003
Byline -- None
Origin -- Pacific Media Watch
Source -- Radio New Zealand International, 13/3/03
Copyright -- RNZI
Status -- Unabridged
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TAIMI 'O TONGA SAYS GOVERNMENT DETERMINED TO BAN PAPER
www.rnzi.com
AUCKLAND (RNZI/Pacific Media Watch): The publisher of the Taimi 'o Tonga newspaper, Kalafi Moala, says an additional ban placed on it this week by the Tongan Privy Council shows how determined the government is to stop the paper,
The Privy Council, which is effectively the highest branch of the monarchy’s executive, says the paper is a prohibited document.
This comes after earlier decisions by Customs making the Auckland-published paper a prohibited import and the Prime Minister’s Office claiming it was being used to try to topple the government.
“What really concerns me, it just shows that all the way to the top in government they are pretty determined to really stop the newspaper, not just to stop it from being imported, even if they produce it in Tonga, it still becomes a prohibited publication.”
Kalafi Moala.
"The Cabinet’s spokesperson, Eseta Fusitua, says while acknowledging there have been complaints over the ban on the Taimi 'o Tonga, the Government has been praised for its actions.
“Government has had a lot of communications, particularly from Tongans abroad, thanking [it] for the action government has taken.”
Meanwhile, supporters of Kalafi Moala and Taimi 'o Tonga will rally at a "Pollywood" fund-raising film night in Auckland tonight hosted by the New Zealand-based Pacific Islands Media Association (PIMA).
PACIFIC MEDIA WATCH is an independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, dedicated to examining issues of ethics, accountability, censorship, media freedom and media ownership in the Pacific region. Launched in October 1996, it has links with the Journalism Program at the University of the South Pacific, Bushfire Media based in Sydney, Journalism Studies at the University of PNG (UPNG), the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism (ACIJ), Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, and Community Communications Online (c2o).
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