It was ‘shallow advertorial’

AUCKLAND – The two page article in Forbes Custom is shallow and inaccurate, according to veteran Pacific journalist Michael Field.

Its main offering is the claim that Tonga is simple and attractive because of its good economy. There is no mention at all of the country’s near debt default, he told CI News regional.

“The interview with Pohiva is really rather pointless and would only get published if it was paid for. Furthermore it does not read like an interview – it looks carefully crafted by somebody, perhaps from the magazine. I have interviewed Pohiva many times over 30 years – he does not talk like this.”

Excerpt from Pohiva interview: “I’m 73 and grew up on a very small island, and I have made it clear that simplicity is very important. We don’t want to live a complex life.

“The West has a different environment from a small society like Tonga. We accept a lifestyle that is very different.

“But when we question the purpose of life, leaders should consider their culture and system of education. Life must be meaningful for our people.”

Field continued: “On its website Forbes Custom is described as ‘a custom publishing site that features special advertising sections from Forbes magazine as well as industry articles and videos from our partners’.

“In short it is a magazine of advertising supplements, leveraged off the Forbes name.

“Tonga’s credibility, such as it was, has been damaged by the revelation that it is spending this kind of money in this kind of publication,” Field concludes.

It appears that Tonga may have believed it was being featured in the main Forbes Magazine, which describes itself on its website as Forbes as “a global media company, focusing on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle”.

Instead, as Field has deduced, it has bought two pages of advertising space in Forbes Custom, “an interactive media centre featuring special advertising sections that appeared in Forbes magazine, as well as exclusive online content”.

The question now is – did Tonga, and Prime Minister Pohiva, know they were buying $150,000 of advertorial space, or did they actually believe they were being featured in a journalistically credible international news magazine.