Global Voices Online

Wendy at Babasiga blog pays homage to the King of Tonga Taufa'ahau Tupou IV. The ailing King died on Sunday. In the comment, the blogger says “The Tongan people are in a quandery because they want to show respect for tradition but at the same time many want a fair go for ordinary people. The democracy movement there is persisting and eventually there will be a fairer outcome.”

Recent Links also in Oceania

With Fiji’s government cracking down on outlets selling pirated DVDs, L. Cass pens a piece in Failed Paradise criticizing these “cheating” retailers but also lamenting their downfall

A second journalism school has opened in Fiji, this one at the Fiji Institute of Technology. But given “the climate of censorship and media paranoia in post-putsch Fiji,” media educator David Robie in his Café Pacific blog argues the standards of these new programs should face heavy scrutiny.

Jonathan, the writer of the blog Oceanic: User Experiences from the South Pacific reports on a consumer complaint against his Fiji-based advertising agency stating that his advert for a local ISP attempts to benefit from the Swine Flu epidemic (now called H1N1) by misleading consumers into thinking internet service “is like a prescription drug.” He wonders how people can protest against his work, while much of the local media prints “sensationalist” and “inaccurate” headlines about the flu scare.