[pima.nius] The Facts....

Truth Facts and Lies… the real story about what's been going on at the
Pacific Media Network….

Malo e lelei
Well, how surprising that the NPRT saga does not go away, and even
more surprising that Will Ilolahia appears to know nothing about this
"secret" email (has anyone actually sighted it or is another myth in
the NPRT saga?). How strange that Will Ilolahia hasn't – usually he's
involved in writing such emails and spreading them around. He is after
all the 'self appointed media expert' and self-declared crusader
working tirelessly on behalf of "his people, his community" to right
the alleged wrongs at the Pacific Media Network.

It never ceases to amaze me how gullible our people can be, especially
our Pacific media: sucked in by the libel and lies that Will and
others like him propagate in order to pursue very self-serving
agendas. Agendas that have nothing to do with protecting the interests
of our Pacific communities, or the very important radio services that
are so critical to our communities: but rather to enable Will to
conduct a personal vendetta. It's unbelievable too how many of Will's
'friends' - in this PIMA forum and in public - also promote the same
crap.

Media have a responsibility to report balanced and objective news, not
the rubbish that gets televised, written in Pacific papers or on news
blogs, and passed off by many of as unbiased and objective, when it is
more just unsubstantiated opinion, hearsay and gossip.

What special expertise, background, knowledge in broadcasting & media
does Will have that would make our flagship Pacific programme Tagata
Pasifika, give him airtime time and time again over the last few years
to comment about NiuFM &PMN? Just that he shouts loudly and sh**stirs
long enough? Yes, and that it makes for an exaggerated sensational
story. Where was the balanced commentary from legitimate leaders and
members of the Pacific community who value the network and believe in
the good work it was doing? It is sad to see our main Pacific TV
programmeconsistently resort to theatrical and negative stories to
knock Pacific people and organizations doing good work, under the
guise of "hard news". The same can be said of a well-known Pacific
female TV journalist that has recently got herself into very hot water
because she sensationalized stories about gangs and guns. Perhaps
they'd all be better to stick to lifestyle and entertainment stories?

Who appointed Will the resident commentator on PMN anyway? How can he
validly criticize from the outside when he has no knowledge or
experience whatsoever in running any significant Pan Pacific (let
alone broadcasting) organization. Those of us inside the organisation
and many people outside know he has a personal axe to grind with NPRT/
PMN. And what group does he represent exactly? The "Tongan"
community…. hmm… I wonder?? Is that the same community of a few, like
the community that Melino Maka is a spokesperson for? e.g The Tongan
Advisory Council - does it really exist? Who else is on it anyway? Is
it even a constituted organisation? As for piTV? That online Kiwi TV
channel was an admirable attempt to get Pacific TV started… but Will's
over-promotion of it is laughable - definitely a case of overselling
and under delivering… All bluster and no substance.

So, in the interests of balanced disclosure, let's clear up some of
the unfortunate lies that Will has spread in pursuit of his own agenda
and look at some real facts. All PMN staff / ex-staff who were there
when Will Ilolahia was employed as Tongan Producer and Sales Rep know
the truth:

1. Will says he had the most popular Tongan programme and that the
programme got worse when he left. Actually, he resigned as producer of
the NiuFM Tongan show because his erratic, unstable behaviour was
badly affecting the Tongan show and the Tongan team complained to
management. Key members of the Tongan community (including Mr Maka –
kind of ironic that they now gang up together against NPRT?) and many
Tongan listeners also complained to the station about Will. Will was
not performing as a producer, so he removed himself from the role.

2. As a sales person he also underperformed – not achieving his
budgets, and the sales team had to suffer from similar shocking
behaviour – his non-performance & misconduct became the subject of
disciplinary action, and the truth is, if he hadn't resigned - he
would have been asked to leave – and he knew that.

3. It's amazing in more recent times that he puts himself out
there as the savior of our network and continues to promote grand
myths about how he is changing the situation at the network – taking
credit for what? He is having no visible impact at all. He claims the
NPRT Board has listened to him - that they protested and 'forced' the
Board to come to a meeting and make some changes….. hmm…. Maybe Will
can tell us exactly what has changed at the network? The Truth is
nothing. All that happened is he & other Tongan agitators, have got
the political run around by the NPRT board: Consider this, he attended
an NPRT Fono in Nov 08 – he & other Tongans asked for a meeting and
got the commitment from the Board to having one, but they didn't meet
with the Board until March 09 and (despite the big press release from
Will skiting how successful they were in getting their demands heard)
they were actually just were fobbed off by the Trustees & management
who made vague promises to come back to them in June. Well, did
anything actually change?? No - because the Trust has no intention of
delivering anything extra to the Tongans - especially not another
night - way too political. There are only 24 hrs in a day, and how
will they convince the other 8 Pacific communities that this is fair?
Unless of course the Trust quietly does make changes to keep Will & co
happy, without other communities knowing? Now that woudln't be a
surprise either... why?

Well, there are many other untruths that Will has made over the years
about the network, but instead of wasting time reliving those, our
communities and especially NiuFM listeners should be seriously
concerned about the REAL ISSUES…… the truth and facts that all staff
at the network have been aware of for some time now.

The real problem at the Pacific Media Network is the NPRT Board of
Trustees….
Anyone who is seriously interested in the long term viability of our
Pacific Media Network should be looking to the major problems and
incredible goings-on at the governance level: investigating the
actions of the NPRT Board.
People should be asking questions like:
Why has the Minister for Broadcasting, Jonathan Coleman, had
independent reviewers in the network over the last couple of months
conducting a full review of the NPRT board and the radio services??
Why has the NPRT Board not told our communities about that? Suddenly
silent when the heat is on them? And what does this mean for the
Pacific Media Network's future?

To answer this people need to look more closely at the actions of the
Board over the last 18 months.
At best this Board can be described as incompetent, and at its worst
the Board members behave unethically and lack integrity. It is a
Board that is more interested in protecting political positions and
personal agendas of individual trustees, esp in Wellington (with
government officials) and out in our Pacific communities, then
producing good programming and services for the listeners.

Some examples to illustrate: It is common knowledge amongst PMN staff
that:

1. The NPRT Chairman's company (NVG) owes PMN money for
advertising services – a debt of some tens of thousands of dollars;
and this debt has been outstanding since July 2008. The Board has not
taken any action against Tino Pereira's compnay - despite this being
raised by the previous CEO, and many times over since by the existing
management team. The Minister for Broadcasting is also aware of this.

2. Knowing this, you can understand why our PMN staff found it a
bit difficult to swallow Tino Pereira's public statements to them and
the 'community' last year about the network being in financial strife,
and the Board taking action which included having to restructure and
make people redundant. Staff asked the Board at a meeting last year,
and then again this year, whether they would take a cut in their board
fees to help ease the supposedly critical financial situation and they
said no.

3. This Board wrote off debts owed by Radio 531pi Limited in 2008:
interestingly enough, two of NPRT trustees were also directors of that
company which was in liquidation at the time this decision was made.

4. Following the previous CEO's departure, the Trustees gave
themselves executive roles and stepped in to run the operations –
their lack of experience and knowledge about broadcasting operations,
and the level of interference and meddling in the operations has
caused great angst amongst the management team and staff generally;
who feel their work has been badly compromised as a result. The
quality of the news service has deteriorated significantly, sales
continue to decline, and decisions about programming are questionable.
None of the promised changes to Auckland programming have been
delivered.

5. Several Board members got involved last year with staff that
were taking grievances against the Board, and breached their Trustee
duties/responsibilities by supporting the staff and talking with the
lawyer representing those staff (completely improper, and against
fundamental rules of good governance 101). The Board then paid out
significant trust monies late last year to ex-staff to settle
grievances following the restructuring: despite getting very sound
legal advice that the news staff concerned did not have a legitimate
claim.

6. The board has allowed the contracting of a 531pi ex-staff
member this year - someone that was previously sacked for serious
misconduct concerning breaches of IT security / confidentiality which
included asking another staff member to lie/cover up for him.

7. Another very serious incident took place at the network at the
beginning of the year, and the 531pi staff member concerned who should
have been fired for serious misconduct (for physically threatening
another staff member) was allowed to stay. The staff member she
threatened left fearing for her safety if she remained at work.

8. And then only last month we see the drama over the suspension
of the NiuFM Fiji Producer Bulou Amalaini for an interview she
conducted on air. What HR advice did the management rely on to make
that call – perhaps the advice of the NPRT Trustee (a lawyer who has
no HR expertise) that is now the trust-appointed HR advisor to
management? All staff have contracts which clearly spell out what
constitutes misconduct and the processes that should be followed, and
all of us know there is a complaints policy/procedure in place.
Suspending a staff member without investigation is in breach of NPRT's
duties to act as a fair and reasonable employer. and any first year
broadcaster knows the right place for listeners to complain about on-
air stuff is the BSA.

What is going on? Where is the outrage of our Pacific media about
this now? What does PIMA have to say about this? (Nothing – not
surprising. Because PIMA is just another Pacific organization that is
not representative of the group it claims to speak on behalf of. It
has increasingly become merely a voice for journalists to bitch and
argue and slag off each other – under the guise of discussing the
merits or otherwise of each others news stories)

The astute and sensible people reading this will understand the
current situation at PMN - and realise the Fiji news story issue, is
not about bad journalism or breaching the BSA standards…… it's about a
531pi and NiuFM history that is playing out once again on the Board,
and in the community and it's pervading the network operations. The
facts are:
There is no leadership on the board..
The management team flounders and is subject to the whims and fancies
of the Board.
Staff are untrusting of the Board and management, they are miserable
and the culture in the organisation is tragic.

The NPRT trustees might think that they are doing well because they
are keeping the vocal critics like Will quiet through token
consultation meetings but our people are smarter than that. The
reality is that the PMN is a time-bomb waiting to implode on itself.
It's only a matter of time… we are just starting to see the cracks …

Our Pacific communities – all the PMN listeners and especially the
national audience that relies on and thrives on NiuFM – should be
concerned about where this is all going to end up. We have seen what
this new government thinks about public broadcasting (TVNZ charter
decision). We have all seen the cuts the government is making across
government spending to cope with the recession. Coleman is also
Immigration Minister and had to deal with the Pacific Division
scandals so he's not going to tolerate another Pacific led
organisation causing the government grief & embarrassment. Interesting
that the auditors arrived at the station early this year to do the
annual audit of the Trust - we usually don't see them till September?
a coincidence? we wonder..

What will happen to NiuFM and 531pi given this Board is incapable of
delivering sound governance and Pacific leadership? We hope and pray
that Coleman and the National government show some leadership and deal
to the current Board before they do any more damage, and hopefully the
government finds another way to ensure our network survives and
thrives….and does what we say we are all about: Celebrating the
Pacific Spirit.

PS. I see the Board has finally advertised for a new CEO ………….. I
wonder if, after reading this, anybody will be stupid enough to apply.
Go on Will - put your money where your mouth is....

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