OPENING OF THE JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION OF SAMOA (JAWS) OFFICE [Thursday 30 October 2025]

SAMOA, October 30 - KEYNOTE ADDRESS by Minister of Finance Hon. Mulipola Anarosa Ale – Molio’o

Talofa lava,

Reverend,

Honourable Ministers,

Your Excellency Will Robinson, members of the diplomatic corp,

President Lagi Keresoma,

Vice President Seiuli Francis Vaigalepa, members of JAWS,

friends of the media,

ladies and gentlemen

The Heart of a Nation Lies in Its Ethics

“O tala ma fa’aupuga, e fausia ai se aiga, se nu’u ma se atunu’u words and truth build a nation.”

And it is truth held with integrity that sustains it.

Every society is measured not only by its power, but by its principles. And nowhere is that principle more tested than in the space between truth and influence between the story that serves, and the story that sells.

We are here today not just to open an office, but to reaffirm a standard that good journalism is not defined by the number of readers, but by the weight of its integrity.

Ethics is not the shadow of journalism; it is its spine.

It is what gives this profession dignity and what gives the public its trust.

The media is both a mirror and a protector.

It reflects our nation back to itself its struggles, its hopes, its character.

But it must also protect not by shielding power, but by shielding truth from distortion.

In the stories you tell about women and children, you shape how Samoa sees its soul.

When we report on pain, we must do so with purpose.

When we uncover harm, we must do so with humanity.

A victim’s story is not a headline to exploit it is a call to compassion. Yet we must also acknowledge a growing challenge when truth is bent for attention, or stories are shaped to stir rather than to serve.

When facts are twisted to fit a narrative, trust is the first to break. Our people deserve reporting that enlightens, not entangles; that builds understanding, not confusion.

Because when truth is lost, every voice including the media’s loses its power.

When we reduce pain to spectacle, we wound twice first the person, then the public.

But when we report with dignity, we turn suffering into strength, and the nation rises.

In my time as Minister for Women, Community and Social Development, one truth has shaped every decision: leadership like journalism must be grounded in empathy.

We must learn to see through the eyes of the heart.

Because the heart brings clarity.

It sees the issue, not just the person.

It understands that the goal is not to condemn, but to correct; not to shame, but to shape; not to expose for attention, but to reveal for change.

That is what it means to name to change, not to shame.

That is what it means to practice ethical journalism with humanity.

Today, more than half of Samoa’s population are social-media users most of them women, around 53 percent.

But in our rural communities, four in ten households still lack internet access.

So the stories shared online are often the ones that shape how the nation thinks, feels, and acts.

Our data remind us of the weight of that responsibility:

One in eight Samoan women has faced intimate-partner violence in the past year.

Nine in ten children have experienced violent discipline at home in the past month.

These are not numbers for shock value they are human lives calling for responsible storytelling.

We do not report these truths to sensationalise we report them to humanise.

To remind Samoa that every woman and child deserves protection, not pity; visibility, not violation.

Good Media and True Partnership

Good media uplifts and enlightens.

It questions with courage but reports with care. It holds leaders accountable, but never forgets the dignity of those it writes about.

As Samoa advances under the Pathway for the Development of Samoa (PDS 2021–2026) and our national vision Aiga Manuia, Nu‘u Manuia, Healthy Families, Resilient Communities, the media must continue to stand as a partner in protection not as a commentator on crisis alone, but as a catalyst for conscience.

When government and media walk together in truth and respect, our people rise with us.

“Let our stories be sails, not swords. Let them catch the winds of wisdom, not cut through the hearts of the people. For when truth walks with grace, a nation finds its light again.”

As we open this office today, may it remind us that journalism at its best is not merely about what is seen, but about what it helps our people to see more clearly. Behind every story is a person, a family, a truth and how we tell that story determines whether we build or break.

On behalf of the Government of Samoa,

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the Journalist Association of Samoa.

May this new home be a sanctuary of courage, conscience, and compassion.

Fa‘afetai tele lava, ma ia manuia!

November 10, 2025