Samoa

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 30 March 2009 IFJ media release: IFJ Calls for Respect for Media as Reporters Attacked in Samoa The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls for an immediate renewal of public respect for journalists and press freedom in the Pacific island state of Samoa after a spate of attacks on […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s only daily newspaper, the “Samoa Observer”, has decided to stop covering a Commission of Inquiry into alleged gun smuggling because of media restrictions. The inquiry is looking at the alleged involvement of Samoa’s Police Commissioner and crew members of the police patrol boat MV Nafanua, as well as the Customs office. The […]

Freedom of the Press 2007: Samoa

(PINA/IFEX) – On 3 August 2000, the Pacnews agency reported that Samoan opposition leader Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi has welcomed a Supreme Court ruling that opposition members be allowed free access to government media. The court found that the late Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana’s administration infringed the rights of freedom of expression of opposition […]

On 16 March 2000, the “Samoa Observer” reported accusations made in court that a former Samoan government minister tried to hire an assassin to kill the paper’s award-winning editor-publisher. The former minister, Leafa Vitale, denied inciting a person by the name of Leutufia Ioane to shoot editor-publisher Savea Sano Malifa, the paper reported. In the […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 16 August 1999, all Samoan news media were delivered copies of an injunction ordering them not to publish, broadcast or distribute a police statement allegedly given by a man convicted of killing a Samoan Cabinet minister. Justice Andrew Wilson, of the Supreme Court, issued the interim injunction following an application by Samoa’s […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 13 August 1999, the “Samoa Observer” reported that the criminal libel action by the late Samoan Prime Minister, Tofilau Eti Alesana, against the paper’s publisher and a former editor were ended by the Supreme Court. The “Samoa Observer” reported that on 12 August, Justice Patu Tiavaasu’e Falefatu Sapolu accepted an application by […]

(PINA/IFEX) – A judge has ruled in Samoa that the criminal libel claim by the late Prime Minister Tofilau Eti Alesana against the “Samoa Observer” newspaper publisher and a former editor can go ahead. Details of Justice Phillip Moran’s sixty-one-page ruling were reported to PINA by the “Samoa Observer” on 16 April 1999. The judge […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s opposition leader, Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi, has no intention of using government-run Televise Samoa and national Radio 2AP to air his views, but says there is a ban on him to gain political points, Samoa’s Prime Minister said on 15 March 1999. The independent “Tala nei” news service said Prime Minister Tuilaepa […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s parliamentary opposition leader has begun a case in the Supreme Court in Apia, alleging that the government bans him from government media and violates his constitutional rights. Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi says that he is banned from the national radio service 2AP, the national television service Televise Samoa, and the government newspaper […]

(PINA/IFEX) – On 16 March 1999, “Samoa Observer” publisher Savea Sano Malifa and editor Aumuagaolo Ropeti Ale were fined 500 Western Samoa Tala (about US$230) each after being found guilty of contempt of court. Chief Justice Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu found in the Apia Supreme Court that it was a case of civil and not criminal […]

(PINA/IFEX) – American Samoan newspapers have rallied to the support of the embattled “Samoa Observer” newspaper in the neighbouring independent nation of Samoa. They have called for American Samoans to stand up for freedoms they are guaranteed and follow the example of their mother country, the United States, and sever economic and political ties with […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s Chief Justice has reserved his decision on an application by Samoan-government owned Polynesian Airlines to jail the publisher and editor of the “Samoa Observer” newspaper for alleged contempt of court. Chief Justice Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu heard the airline’s application to jail publisher Savea Sano Malifa and editor Aumuagaolo Ropeti Ale. After hearing […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoan government-owned Polynesian Airlines is asking the Samoa Supreme Court to jail “Samoa Observer” publisher Savea Sano Malifa and editor Aumuagaolo Ropeti Ale for contempt of court. The airline’s application for a writ to arrest Malifa and Ale has been set down for hearing on 8 March 1999 (local time). It seeks to […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s only radio station carrying independent local news has dismissed its two journalists and ended its local news bulletins. Radio Polynesia 98FM had been the only broadcast media to regularly carry news and views of parliamentary Opposition leader Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi. Tuiatua is normally banned from the government-controlled national radio, 2AP, and […]

(PINA/IFEX) – Samoa’s only radio station carrying independent local news has dismissed its two journalists and ended its local news bulletins. Radio Polynesia 98FM had been the only broadcast media to regularly carry news and views of parliamentary Opposition leader Tuiatua Tupua Tamasese Efi. Tuiatua is normally banned from the government-controlled national radio, 2AP, and […]