Ad ban, bad manners

Written by Cherelle Jackson
Friday, 15 February 2008
Threats are a part of everyday life of a Samoan reporter, of any news journalist for that matter, but that’s ok, its part of the job. It’s like the nurse in the ER, blood is part of their job, or like the construction worker, dirt, splinters and dust are all part of their livelihood. So threats are therefore an accepted part of the job of a journalist, we laugh it off sometimes, how else do you deal with it, because if we really took it seriously, there would be no one left in the media industry, and you wouldn’t get your news at all., Threats of a personal nature are the usual sort we get, which means each person has to fend for themselves, but sometimes, threats are directed at the whole news team, at the whole news organization, and that, that is not funny. Taking matters personally is a fine trait perfected by humanity on a daily basis, we all do it, no one is above it, perhaps we as Samoans are better at this than any other people, because of our fierce pride in who we are. Many a times we have witnessed village feuds over minor criticisms and offences, many a times we have dodged rocks flying from one neighbour to the next after a child accidentally calls out the fault of another family. Its part of life, and our culture only serves to preserve this pride, and righteously so. Last week a senior official in Government threatened one Newsline news reporter of pulling all advertising from their Ministry if the reporter went ahead with the story. Now as mentioned, the threat is not a problem, but rather what the threat held and implicated. If the reporter wrote the story, and the newspaper was to publish it, then Ministry funded advertisements would cease, which is a direct threat to the livelihood of the reporter speaking. Now it’s ok if this was a dictatorial government and the one speaking from the other end was the dictator, but as we all know this is an alleged democratic state, and the last we checked, freedom of expression is the fourth estate of such a form of governance. In a country that specializes in shooting the messenger, this is no surprise. But when the bullet is empty, it makes the killing a bit harder. Analogy aside, the fact is, the news reporter seeking comment on the story was merely doing their job and giving the involved Ministry a right of reply. The aim was to seek the other side of the story, so threatening on behalf of a Ministry of the Government of Samoa funded in part by the people of Samoa is not really in good taste. But the explanation by one of the officers of the Ministry almost broke this writers heart. It was out of frustration, he said and it was nothing serious, so because to err is human and to forgive divine, we will take the latter and do no denying for the prior. Our Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister are the only Government leaders in the world to be honoured with Press Freedom awards for their efforts in Samoa, the fact that they received these awards reflect their intentions if not practices to ensure the concepts of transparency, accountability and good governance. Now as the Cook Islands look to pass the first ever Freedom of Information bill in small island states, perhaps we should explore this possibility to avoid any misunderstandings that public companies and Government Ministries are indeed accountable to the public. What is hard to understand is that more often this is the intention of Ministers and those who lead each Ministry and some Chief Executive Officers, but it rarely trickles down, which is perhaps where the problem lies. So it is apparent that it is not enough to have the intention to seem transparent, but also to practice it, as the Prime Minister loves to say: “We are not hiding anything.” Then this should not be a problem then, should it? Ia manuia le aso. Comments (3) Subscribe to this comment's feed Free speech written by lomi, February 15, 2008 There's no such thing in Samoa. The Prime Minister controls everything. Samoa is closer to China's way of life than people think. The richer get richer and the poor get .........You know what I mean. The media should be allowed to have a take in what goes on in the country. Thats how the public know about what goes on behind closed doors. Samoa is 99.9 communist country if you ask me. Please..don't even get me started. Mr. Prime Minister, lay off the media. ... written by Popo Uli, February 16, 2008 I dont agree with u Lomi.... the pm does not control everything or even everyone. he only controls those whom wants to be controlled and materials that needs controlling. I know if u reside in Samoa, u will be one of such. chuzuzuzuuuuu ... written by lomi, February 16, 2008 Sounds like Mr. PM does control a lot of what goes on in Samoa. For example, this right side driver, I believe many have protested this matter due to cost and problem that will surface once the change. He's made up his mind on the change and I heard his reason behind it which I don't agree. Why the change now, its been how many years since Samoa has driven the way they are now. Its unfare to those from countries like the US if vehicles aren't allowed to enter Samoa anymore. Its not his pocket thats filling the gas tank if thats his concern. Many things are happening in Samoa I feel is not brought out to light because its not being allowed to. We should be ablle to know everything that goes on behind closed door to comment and put our own two cents in on what should be done with our communist country. Yeah, pm control the country and its people. Write comment Name Email Title Comment

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