Prime Minister Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt has not held his promised weekly press conference for more than a month, despite promising reporters shortly after taking office in 2025 that he would make himself available to the media.
His last press conference with the media was held on 13 May 2026, a week before he attended the Journalists Association of Samoa’s (JAWS) 50th anniversary and World Press Freedom Day events, where he said, “the media is part of democracy.”
Insiders told the Samoa Observer that the Prime Minister was understood to be unhappy after not being invited to the JAWS events that week.
The absence of the weekly press conferences comes as the Prime Minister again criticised the media in Parliament this week, accusing unnamed outlets of twisting the government’s words.
“The media cannot be controlled,” Laaulialemalietoa told Parliament. “I say one thing, (the media) say another, and the country does not know what to believe."
