 Produced by the government-owned Tonga Broadcasting Commission, TV Tonga News is the chief provider of news and information for television viewers in the tiny South Pacific island kingdom. Currently reaching almost three quarters of the nation s 100,000-strong population, this program -- broadcast five nights a week in both English and Tongan -- highlights the daily major events throughout Tonga and the South Pacific, blending a mix of local, regional, and international news. But beneath all the hype, TV Tonga News is just another sad example of how press freedom in Tonga has rapidly degenerated to all new levels of subjugation and autocracy. Laws allowing changes to the country s constitution have been passed by Cabinet, making it now illegal for Tongan media to publish or broadcast anything even remotely critical of their own government. Overseas news stories investigating the questionable activities of high profile Tongan leaders & ministers are regularly cut and prevented from making the local airwaves. In between the countless fluff news pieces that are covered ad nauseam on any given night -- from check presentations of aid money, to the never-ending string of seminars and three day workshops -- one cannot help but notice the lack of genuinely newsworthy items on this program. The reporters often leave the real stories to go untold, fearing government reprisal and possible imprisonment. Some might say the people of Tonga would be better pressed to find out the real news from their local hairdresser or kava circle, than from watching this extremely one-sided, predisposed propaganda.