Moala says the confiscation of the Taimi earlier this year under recent media acts means Tongans living at home will no longer be able to read what has been described as the only independent media in the country.

Moala says the last hope for the Taimi is an upcoming writ signed by 152 people, seeking a judicial review of the government's constitutional amendment and changes to media laws.

The plaintiffs say the moves have taken away the freedom of speech and freedom of the press. M

Moala says the Taimi will still operate outside Tonga.

[Moala] We do have a very strong distribution and strong presence of course in the Tongan communities outside of Tonga. And this year, for example, we are really setting up very strongly in the United States, whereby it has been only Hawaii where we've been distributing. [sentence as heard] But this year we are moving into San Francisco, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

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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Wednesday, 4 February 2004

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