| TONGA | |
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Country Summary
Tonga has a fledgling media system, with a small number of weekly or monthly newspapers and newsletters, and one government-owned radio station. The Tongan governmenta constitutional monarchy in which the king, the nobility, and a few prominent commoners dominate political lifehas repeatedly shown its intolerance of any criticism of authority or suggestions of democratic reform by the media.
Filokalafi ’Akua’ola, the deputy editor of Taimi ’o Tonga, received an 18-month suspended prison sentence for publishing letters critical of Minister for Police Clive Edwards. And ’Akua’ola and Taimi ’o Tonga editor Kalafi Moala, along with ’Akilisi Pohiva, a member of Parliament and pro-democracy leader, were each sentenced to 30 days in prison for contempt of Parliament. Pohiva’s publication of the bimonthly newsletter Kele’a has garnered a string of libel cases.
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