The Ministry of Health’s quick response to an article by the Samoa Observer showing the state of the national hospital needs to be applauded.

The Director General of MOH Aiono Dr Alec Ekeroma who is out of his office and on travel duty facilitated the response showing his willingness to work with the media and show what his ministry is doing.

His actions speak of transparency and his commitment of being accountable to the general public. In the statement, MOH does not try and hide the fact that problems are there. They did not try to paint a picture that everything is glittery.

Samoa considers itself a democracy and one of the key features of any democracy is the ability of the government to interact with its people. That is where the media comes in.

Former American president Thomas Jefferson in his famous quote said: “If I had to choose between a government without newspapers, and newspapers without a government, I wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter.”

Contrary to the belief that some cabinet ministers have that the media is targeting them, the media, Samoa Observer in this case is only trying to play its role as the watchdog of the people.

Government ministries instead of trying to control the media through their bureaucratic processes of emailing a hundred people and then responding a month later should try to work with the media.

The media provides that link between the Government and its people. During the flash floods in Savaii more than a week ago, there was no interaction between the Government and the people.

There were Government departments doing work on the ground but there was no interaction between the relevant agencies and the people. There were some posts on Facebook but no media briefings called to tell the people what the Government was doing on the ground.

People have a right to know what their Government is doing and it is only right on the part of the Government to tell its people what they are doing. There have been times when journalists have come across public relations or press secretaries who think that the media is not entitled to information.

It is time to look at the big picture.

The big picture is that the work of journalists reflects how we, as humans, interact with each other and is a measure of how well our society is functioning. The principles of interaction that apply to us as individuals are carried through and apply to how broader social institutions, such as the media and government, interact with each other.

You can tell a lot about the state of a country’s governance, as well as its commitment to democracy and economic and social development, by looking at whether it respects its citizens and its media, print, broadcast and online.

Freedom of expression is critical to democracy. This rationale is based on the notion that democracy — which recognises that people have the right to elect a government of their choosing — cannot exist in any meaningful way without the right to freedom of expression.

There are many aspects to this rationale, but the fundamental concept is that, for democracy to be effective, the citizenry that votes in elections and engages in public processes with the government must be informed and must have the right to participate freely in public discourse.

If there is no freedom of expression — if people are not free to share information and express a range of ideas, opinions and political views; and, the corollary to that, if people are not free to receive information in the form of a range of ideas, opinions and political views — they will not be sufficiently well informed to make appropriate and meaningful political choices, whether at the ballot box or in their more general interactions with government.

The media is not out to get anyone. The role of the Samoa Observer has been and will always be to aid in the development of Samoa by keeping the Government transparent and accountable.

If the cabinet ministers and the elected representatives of the people are truly working for the people, then they should not have any fear in working with the media.