SYDNEY (Pacific Media Watch / ABC Radio Australia): The threatened Samoa Observer reporter, Sophie Budvietas, says press freedom in Samoa is under threat.
Budvietas was recently victim of theft and threats when her laptop was stolen from her car and a note stating "Observer bitch" was left in its place.
In an interview with Radio Australia's Pacific Beat programme, she said the media was under a "great deal" of pressure.
"The way they're doing it here is that, for instance, by just having the media banned from certain things. Like we've been banned from public meetings, we've been banned from a function held for the national football team, all ministries now require emailed set of questions, there's no open-door policy with interviews or anything," Budvietas said.
Lisa William-Lahari of the NGO Pacific Freedom Forum said it was particularly worrying that a female journalist was attacked.
"[T]here are issues involved around what kind of signals that sends to anyone else in journalism. Something that needs to be followed up and followed up immediately."
"I'd really urge the police investigating the matter to just ensure that action is taken or something is done about it - that it doesn't become one of those complaints or investigations that just gets swept under the carpet," Williams-Lahari said.
Fines and imprisonment
According to Budvietas, who is Samoa Observer's chief reporter, can anyone who speaks out against Samoan tourism face up to three months in prison or a $5000 fine.
The Samoan government is also trying to implement a statutory media council, which the Samoa Observer does not want.
Furthermore, the Speaker of the Samoan Parliament has recently threatened journalists with six months in prison if 'misreporting' anything from Parliament.
Finally, in May, three female Samoa Observer colleagues of Budvietas were threatened and one assaulted in the presence of three police officers, when covering a traffic incident.
Listen to the full interview with Sophie Budvietas and Williams-Lahari here
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence.
Pacific Media Watch
