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Tonga Media Council expressed its grave concern over the treatment of the two most senior journalists at TBC Featured

Tonga Media Council expressed its grave concern over the treatment of the two most senior journalists at TBC

21 October, 2017. The Media Council Incorporated (Tonga) in a Special Meeting yesterday evening, 19 October 2017, in Nuku'alofa, expressed its grave concern over the treatment of the two most senior journalists working at the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC), Tonga's public broadcasting service.

The abrupt decision by the Board of Directors of TBC to move the long-standing Manager of its News Content, Viola Ulakai, and its News Editor, Laumanu Petelo, for the reasons given that their news coverage was "not pro-Government” and for their transfer to a newly formed division called NGO Services, on the grounds that the TBC was operating at a loss, is in direct opposition to the "impartial, free and fair" principles of public broadcasting.

The impact of such an unethical decision on Press Freedom in Tonga greatly concerns the Media Council Incorporated (Tonga).

The Media Council Incorporated (Tonga) is concerned about the welfare of TBC’s most senior journalists, and the state of Press Freedom in Tonga, considering that we are only weeks away from a General Election on 16 November 2017.

-Tonga Media Council

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