Transcript
KENI LESA: They turned up with a search warrant, and they wanted to find out the identity of the person who had written a letter about the stigmata saga in Samoa at the moment that was run in the paper, and they wanted to find out who that was.
SARA: Can you tell us a bit about the stigmata, the background there?
KENI: This is the story about the girl who claims of course to be stigmata, and it's been an ongoing story. But the latest development has led to an online blogger making what they claim to be defamatory statements against the family and this girl. So the letter in question, published in the Samoa Observer, kind of made a claim in connection to what has been said online and that is what police came here for.
SARA: How does it impinge on freedom of speech?
KENI: Of course we are all about media freedom and the freedom of expression but that comes with responsibility. The matter when the police came was handled I would say in a Samoan way, and it wasn't carried out like you would expect a search warrant to be carried out in other countries. We sat down, we talked. I told them we have got nothing to hide. It is an online comment and its available online, and the name of the person is online. But I think certainly it sets a very dangerous precedent for this country in terms of media freedom. I mean, what happens next? Is anybody who writes a letter or writes anything they don't like and goes to police and then police turn up with a search warrant? That to me is concerning.
SARA: So is this the end of the matter? Did the police get anywhere? Will police be back?
KENI: I'm not too sure at this stage to be quite honest with you, but we gave them what we could. And like I said, the letter was an online response and the name of the person is still, if you go our website, it is still there. So where will they take it from here? Well I don't know. Whereas for us, The Observer, I have handed it all over to our legal team and we will see where it goes.
SARA: So is this type of blogger common over there?
KENI: No it's not. Obviously we've got so many different bloggers, but whereas this one the mystery of who this person is has become a real story on its own and the fact that police have launched a full blown investigation to find out who he is, has just dominated the headlines in Samoa lately. It is definitely not common. It is interesting but do I agree with it? Well the content of the blog is very defamatory and dangerous and that is what worries me. With people saying this is media freedom, this does worry me. Freedom of expression comes with responsibility. It is everything to do with media ethics. The understanding of the public about the role of the media is not well understood. I think people think that this is all just part of the media, but this is a faceless blogger and that needs to be taken very seriously and if you have an opinion you should put your name there, put your face there, for people to take it seriously.