Last Wednesday there were celebrations after this year’s press freedom rankings released by Reporters Without Borders showed that Samoa was one of the big movers. It jumped from 45 on the 2022 index to 19 in 2023 to break into the top 20 in the world. 

But two days after the release of the global press freedom rankings, the treatment of a senior Samoa Observer journalist by a Cabinet Minister raised serious questions about the commitment of Samoan leaders in the current Government, and whether press freedom is one of the rights of citizens would be promoted and upheld.

An article (Minister’s wife lodges complaint against journalist) in the Sunday Samoan reported on how Samoa Observer reporter, Sialai Sarafina Sanerivi was asked by the Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Toelupe Poumulinuku Onesemo to stop by his office so she could get his comments. He was contacted by Ms. Sanerivi to comment on a tipoff from a Government official, that the documentation for the American Samoan-registered vessel Kite Runner to enter Samoan territorial waters was initially sent to his office for processing.

However, what was supposed to be a simple question-and-answer session with the Cabinet Minister quickly descended into an interrogation and criticism targeting the reporter and her employer Samoa Observer. In full view of Ms. Sanerivi, Toelupe accused this newspaper of trying to discredit him and claimed that the newspaper has become irrelevant amid the increase in social media use, and urged the reporter to change her job and “do something useful” in her life.

He also called her “arrogant” and added that he didn’t like “her tone” before he called his wife to join them and respond to questions from this newspaper, before threatening to lodge a complaint with the Police and take the matter to court. He also demanded that the name of the Government official, who initially tipped off the Samoa Observer newsroom last Friday, be given to him so he can be taken to court. Ms. Sanerivi was in the Minister’s office on Level 4 of the Government Building for two hours before she returned to the Samoa Observer newsroom.

We are shocked at how our reporter was treated by Toelupe last Friday and must say that she didn’t need to go through that experience. The fact of the matter is she was just doing her job as a journalist – to verify the information that she had at hand – and all the Cabinet Minister had to do was confirm if his office indeed receive the paperwork from the Pago Pago businessman and Kite Runner owner Papali'i Lauli'i Alofa.

There was no need for him to question her job as a reporter with this newspaper or offer an opinion on the relevance of the 45-year-old daily newspaper amid the increase in social media use in Samoa. The Cabinet Minister was totally out of line to personally attack our reporter by questioning her career and giving personal descriptions of her job.

Getting his wife, his office staff, and even a Police officer involved in the meeting in the office was also uncalled for and unprofessional, especially when the meeting was supposed to be between him and Ms. Sanerivi in order for him to respond to the allegation concerning his ministerial office. Sadly, they look like intimidation tactics to us, allegedly in a bid to put our reporter off the story.

Even the comments from the Pago Pago businessman’s interview with our reporter were unsavoury.

"I told you already, I have people that worked on the papers. Why [are] you asking me stupid questions like that? You don't need to call me, we are not the same, you don't get to call me. 

“I got people who can talk to you about it and I am not answering your stupid stuff. I am not talking to you. 

"You have no business calling me directly on my phone. This is my personal phone. There's people that work for me that do all the paperwork for me so talk to them."

Our reporters have been subject to this sort of language and treatment for many years, in this newspaper’s strive to get to the bottom of an issue and find out the truth. But there is a difference between these two characters: Papali'i Lauli'i Alofa is a private person, while Toelupe is a Minister of State, whose conduct at all times should be exemplary and he is accountable to the people.

While it is great that we all celebrated Samoa’s much-improved press freedom ranking on the 2023 Reporters Without Borders index last week, how the Cabinet Minister conducted himself last Friday confirms he doesn’t care about press freedom, the media, and its role in keeping the Government accountable.