Speaking to New Zealand media, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addressed questions about the Samoan government’s ban on the Samoa Observer, saying he remains open to all media and views journalism as playing an important role in holding “government and leaders to account.”

Luxon said his government had “communicated” its position ahead of his visit when asked whether the Samoa Observer’s participation had been discussed.

“We’ve communicated that, that’s our position on media,” he said.

“We want all comers in there because we think they’ve all got important voices. We don’t agree with everything the media writes, but we share our point of view about how we handle our media.”

When pressed on whether he had concerns about restrictions on media access in Pacific countries, Luxon said approaches vary across political systems.

“I visit with lots of leaders and lots of countries around the world and every one of them has a different protocol for how they engage with their media. All I can talk to is the way that I do it,” he said.

“No politician agrees with everything the media writes about them, but I think the media have a very important job in a liberal democracy to hold governments and leaders to account.”

Luxon said the media plays a “very important part of our democracy” and that it is important to him that all media are invited to his press conferences.

“There’s a whole continuum of how different governments are organised and how they approach the media,” he said.

“I can’t change that as the leader of New Zealand. What I can determine is how we engage with our media as a government. We believe in media freedom and we believe in the important role you play in our democracy.”

His comments follow remarks by Samoa’s Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt at a joint press conference, where he said the media is an important part of democracy and that he “honours” and “respects” journalists, while Samoa Observer journalists were barred from attending.

The Samoa Observer has been barred from the prime minister’s press conferences and from taking photographs of him in public. The prime minister also told Parliament last week that media outlets are being investigated for alleged “treason.”