Treasury threatens ad ban on Newsline

Written by Cherelle Jackson
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Senior officials at the Ministry of Finance threatened to withdraw advertisements on Newsline if the newspaper printed a particular story concerning Treasury on the Sunday edition. The threat was made to the reporter who investigated the story last week. “The senior official told me that if we published my story they would stop advertising with Newsline,” the Reporter said. According to the reporter, the threat was made by two senior officials at MOF during separate conversations, investigating an internal memo to control the abuse of phones within the Ministry. Yesterday Newsline Marketing Manager Maggie Sioa was told by an officer in the Accounts Section of MOF that ads on Newsline were banned as per “instruction from the top.” Newsline contacted the office of Chief Executive Officer of MOF Hinauri Petana, who was on leave according to the officer who answered the phone. Newsline then attempted to contact the office of ACEO Lusia Sefo but were told that she was in a meeting, asked to be referred to another ACEO, Newsline was referred to Soane Leota. Leota confirmed to Newsline that there was an unofficial verbal order to ban MOF ads on Newsline, “but it was not implemented,” he said. As the ACEO of Corporate Services Leota said he is responsible for the actions of his section and would therefore address all concerns raised by Newsline. Asked as to why the “unofficial” ban was made, he said: “It was out of frustration, you know how it is.” Asked if that was normal practice for the Ministry to threaten ad bans in light of negative media news, he said: “No.” Leota said he regrets the mishap and ensured that there will be no disturbance to the publication of MOF ads in Newsline. Enjoy the Yes Minister version on Who Reads the Newspapers on youtube Comments (2) Subscribe to this comment's feed grow up guys... written by MUS, February 15, 2008 Simply put... ‘very unprofessional servants’. Who knows, these actions may be direct outcomes of the PM and HRPP in control of department CEO. Instead of PM controlling the media, now is passed on to another level of PM's autocratic realm! Good on you Cherelle, keep them honest tell us everything we do not know…. Being informative as usual... written by rtp, February 15, 2008 Great job Relle!!! Keep it up, we enjoy reading your articles. Love, The Pouono Newlyweds.. Write comment Name Email Title Comment
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 February 2008 )

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