Transcript
KALAFI MOALA: I think one of the things this government has failed to see was that Tonga Broadcasting was never set up to be a commercialised operation. Of course they have got to sell advertising and commercials just to be able to do operations - they were always set up as a to be a public service, to run a public service, not to provide so much profit to be able to pay government a dividend. So I think this is why they have got it wrong. And Tonga needs a broadcasting or news service for the community, they don't need a commercialised business in terms of broadcasting. So I think that the government have, unfortunately… got that wrong. From the very beginning when the broadcasting network was set up it was always for a community service. When there are disasters happening in Tonga the AM stations cover all of Tonga, the FM with better broadcasting locally, so it is really sad that they are going to do it this way, and obviously if it is going to be privatised, and sell shares in it, somebody will purchase it and turn it into a commercial station, and there goes our community service from broadcasting.
DON WISEMAN: What sort of interest do you think there would be. I mean obviously you are involved in broadcasting, you are involved in newspapers, do you think there would be any interest within the other media in buying this public service?
KM: Of course Tonga Broadcasting is very well equipped and of course we have to put a priority in terms of employment of those who are already employed by them, but we would be interested. As a private media we would be interested. I think one scenario that is a possibility is that all other media groups can come together, maybe buy shares and become a part of Tonga Broadcasting. It is Tonga's biggest broadcasting, biggest media organisation. They have the best equipment and they do have the best trained workers, so just to sell it to somebody because they have the money, I don't think it is the best way to go, but we would be interested as a private media organisation to be a part of buying it and I think those of us in the private media may need to meet and talk together about how we can do it.
DW: How do you think the general public would react to it? Do you think it would bother them?
KM: I think those that are in the know would be bother by it so much and one of the big questions is that does it mean that Tonga Broadcasting and their services, the quality of their services, the community services that they have provided, are we still going to have that, so that is going to be a big question. Let alone the fact that they are going to sell it and downgrade it - there would loss of employment for a lot of good journalists.
DW: There has been this long squabble hasn't there, going on between the government and the Tonga Broadcasting Commission. Is this what it is about - because the government was dissatisfied with some of the things carried, or not carried, by the TBC, and it's just decided to sell it off, or can they in anyway justify such a move?
KM: Yeah that is what it is all about. It's political. It's the fact they cannot really control what's going on. It is a personal vendetta and it's really a quarrel between the prime minister himself and what he thinks a government owned media group should do. And it's very unfortunate. It’s very sad and it's going to affect the overall services that media provide for Tonga.
