Last week, an envelope arrived at the Samoa Observer — an ordinary event in a daily newsroom. It came from lawyer Brenda Heather-Latu, acting on behalf of her client, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Auapa’au Mulipola Aloitafua.

The letter was in response to an editorial we had published concerning a crash involving a government-owned vehicle driven by the Deputy Speaker. While legal letters are not unusual in our line of work, this one was remarkable. Appended to it was a drafted apology with a demand for it to appear in full on the front page. There was also a separate, confidential request for a payment of $20,000 to be made to the Deputy Speaker.

Like any credible newsroom, we referred the matter to our lawyers and got back to work. We do not apologise lightly — and we certainly do not pay for silence.

But our silence seems to have rattled the FAST party leadership. In their weekly live broadcast, party leader Laaulialemalietoa Leuatea Polataivao and Mulipola Anarosa Molio’o made a stunning and entirely false claim — that the Samoa Observer had apologised to the Deputy Speaker. Not only was this a deliberate lie, it was a blatant attempt to deceive the public.

Even more alarming was their use of the president of the Journalists Association of (Western) Samoa (JAWS), Lagi Keresoma, to lend weight to their claim. Keresoma, who was expected to ask questions, instead offered a comment that there are ethical guidelines journalists should follow. It is one thing for politicians to spin a narrative — it is another when the head of a journalist body remains silent in the face of it. That silence is not neutral. It is irresponsible, and it is dangerous.

Mulipola went further, calling for media training for the Samoa Observer on ethics and standards — supposedly to prevent the need for future apologies — while JAWS president Lagi Keresoma sat in attendance, silent and seemingly unbothered. Laauli followed by claiming that Samoa Observer stories leave “scars that cannot be removed,” positioning himself as the victim while casting doubt on the newspaper’s integrity.

Their lecture on ethics and standards unfolded like a sermon on principles, morals, and values. But for all their words, they failed miserably to uphold the one principle on which all other values rest: honesty.

By deliberately misleading the public and falsely claiming that the Samoa Observer had apologised — when no such apology was ever made — they voided every word they said. They did not just cross the line; they erased it.

Freedom of expression is a privilege grounded in truth — a responsibility that few exercise wisely. In saying what they did, Laauli and Mulipola made it painfully clear they are not among them.