Media

Publisher Wang Jianmin and editor Guo Zhongxiao worked on New-Way Monthly and Multiple Face, which published gossipy news about mainland leaders.

The articles were published in Hong Kong, which has greater media freedoms, but copies were sent to the mainland.

They were arrested in 2014 in Shenzhen, and both men pleaded guilty in court.

Wang was jailed for five years and three months, while Guo was jailed for two years and three months and is expected to be released soon for time served.

Local news organisations have been grumbling for weeks about a lack of accessibility and a long time associate of Mr Pohiva, journalist and publisher Kalafi Moala, said the Democratic Party government was the most closed in the country's history.

But Mr Pohiva said that was not the case.

The Prime Minister's Office and Chief Secretary have come under fire for supposedly lacking transparency and good governance.

A number of media outlets have officially expressed concern about the lack of cooperation they receive from the office.

Pesi Fonua, who also runs the Matangi Tonga website, says although media relations have improved slightly compared to previous governments there are still issues.

A number of Tongan media outlets have expressed concern about the lack of cooperation they receive from the Chief Secretary and others at the office.

They say enquiries often go unanswered and former adviser and publisher Kalafi Moala says he noticed while working with the government that incorrect information has been distributed via the office.

Moala says the government hasn't lived up to the expectations of a pro-democracy government.

Last year, the Nauruan government said it was increasing the application fee for journalist visas from AUD 200 ($145) to a non-refundable AUD 8,000 (US$5,821) per person. 

But when Al Jazeera tried to apply, the networks was told “all media application [sic] is not approved”.

For some months, Al Jazeera has been emailing and phoning Nauru about the official process for a correspondent and cameraman to apply to visit the country. Most email messages and phone calls went unanswered.

The director-general of political and general administration at the Home Ministry, Soedarmo, said the new regulation was a follow-up policy drawn up after ministries and state institutions in charge of supervising foreigners in Indonesia, with the Foreign Ministry as the leading institution, agreed that it was important to monitor all activities of foreign journalists in Indonesia.