OPINION: When Somebody Starts Believing They Alone Carry This Country

Apia, Samoa – 19 November 2025 – It is astonishing — and frankly insulting — when a newspaper begins to speak as though it is the sole backbone of Samoa.

Recent editorials have taken exactly that tone: self-canonising, self-praising, and self praised guardians of the nation while refusing to confront a simple breach of the Media Code of Practice.

The Prime Minister raised a straightforward point: A correction was required. A right of reply was owed. Neither was given.

Instead of responding with accountability, the editorial pivoted into a sermon about their “acts of greatness” for Samoa, as if the entire country depends on their ink to function. That is not journalism — that is self-mythology.

And let’s be honest: when an outlet behaves as if it is above correction, above scrutiny, and above the very Code it demands others follow, the public is right to wonder whether this is the behaviour of a media institution — or a monopolist drunk on its own influence.

Because yes, when you are the only printed newspaper in Samoa, power can go to your head. And it shows.

The editorial comes across as chest-beating about how much it has “done” for the country, as though every other Samoan is simply a spectator to their greatness. It then resorts to petty attacks aimed at embarrassing others.

The principle is simple. When you make a mistake, you fix it. When you misrepresent someone, you correct it. When you breach the Code, you acknowledge it.

What you do not do is lecture the nation about how indispensable you are while avoiding accountability like it’s beneath you.

Then talk silencing the truth. Whose truth? When the newspaper can’t simply account when confronted to prove if that “ghost meeting” took place and never bothered to correct, retract or apologize it made a mistake.

That is the issue here. Not silencing the media. Not media freedom because will it affect TV1’s freedom to report? Or the other media outlets? Or is the newspaper saying that there is no media freedom in Samoa without them?

What about the rights of those maligned by its reporting? Who protects their rights and their voices? Will Samoa turn into a pseudo dictatorship without the newspaper? I don’t believe so. Others will continue to carry the baton. Our history speaks to that. And that was well before the age of daily newspapers and social media.

To want to claim the role of national watchdog must start by watching yourselves.

Male faaaloalo tele.

Afi’a Tuluvao