By Lagi Keresoma\/<\/p>\n
Apia, Samoa \u2013 18 September 2025<\/strong> – The newly appointed Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schimdt has committed to an open-door media policy. But at the same time urge the media to be factual and accurate in its reporting.<\/p>\n He has called two press conferences since taking office in as many days, updating the media and country on governments actions in addressing priority issues such as an Emergency Budget.<\/p>\n He told the media that there will be regular media briefings after Cabinet every week and if he is not available, a spokesperson will speak to the media.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be a new start, and I am not asking the media to side with me, no, but we put our trust in you to write factual and accurate articles,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He reminded the media that it is easy to say things without knowing how hurtful they can be.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I am hurt, the country will also be hurt,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAsk me questions about things that will benefit Samoa, what will benefit you and us all tomorrow,\u201d he told the media.<\/p>\n Before the elections, Laauli as leader of FAST was invited as a guest speaker at the Media\u2019s Election Reporting Workshop. He told the media then, that if he has the country\u2019s trust to lead Samoa, he will seek to have closer working relations with all media outlets.<\/p>\n At the press conference,\u00a0he echoed those words and is living up to what he promised the media during then.<\/p>\n Although Cabinet has one pressing issue which is the Emergency Budget, he opened the floor for media questions on general issues\u00a0that the media took advantage of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Lagi Keresoma\/ Apia, Samoa \u2013 18 September 2025 – The newly appointed Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao Schimdt has committed to an open-door media policy. But at the same time urge the media to be factual and accurate in its reporting. He has called two press conferences since taking office in as many days, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[177,209],"tags":[5621,59,5622,5620],"class_list":["post-51574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-media","tag-accurate-reporting","tag-featured","tag-open-door-policy","tag-pm-urge-media-to-be-factual"],"yoast_head":"\n