Broadcasting Services Division

The Broadcasting Services Division (BSD) is a directly state-controlled government broadcasting agency operating as a branch of Samoa’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). It runs the national radio station Radio National 2AP, on air since 1947 and historically dubbed “the voice of the nation”, and the television channel TV9, approved in 2019 as a government television service after the 2008 privatisation of the Samoa Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), which was conducted on World Bank advice to curb operating losses. Radio 2AP came under MCIT’s direct administration in 2008 and is described by the Ministry as a key source for emergency information and government messaging. BSD’s two outlets are core state broadcast vehicles for official communications to Samoa’s roughly 210,000 to 220,000 people and operate within a broader Samoan media landscape that also includes the private daily Samoa Observer, the state-owned weekly Savali, the privately operated TV1 (the former SBC television channel), and the Talamua media group’s SamoaFM.

Media assets

Radio: Radio National 2AP

Television: TV9

Ownership and governance

BSD is a programme division of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, with no separate legal personality, no independent governing board, and no statutory editorial-independence framework. It operates under the direct administrative authority of the Minister and the Chief Executive Officer of MCIT, both of whom changed during the 2025/26 cycle as a result of Samoa’s substantial political upheaval. Under the previous government of Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology was Toelupe Poumulinuku Onesemo until his dismissal on 14 January 2025; he was succeeded on 15 January 2025 by Mauʻu Siaosi Puʻepuʻemai of the Faʻatuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi (FAST) party.

The political crisis that followed PM Mataʻafa’s January 2025 dismissals, which split the FAST party, escalated through two no-confidence motions she survived on 25 February and 6 March 2025, before culminating in Parliament’s rejection of the 2025/26 government budget on 27 May 2025 by 34 votes to 16. The Head of State, Tuimalealiʻifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II, dissolved Parliament on 3 June 2025 on Mataʻafa’s advice. The snap general election of 29 August 2025 returned FAST with 30 of 51 seats; the Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) won 14; the Samoa Uniting Party (SUP) formed by the outgoing Prime Minister won 3; and four independents were elected. Laʻauli Leuatea Schmidt, the FAST party chair Mataʻafa had previously dismissed, was sworn in as Samoa’s new Prime Minister on 16 September 2025.

Under the new Schmidt government, Agaseata Tanuvasa Peto was appointed Minister of Communications and Information Technology, with portfolio responsibility for BSD. At the senior administrative level, Cabinet on 24 December 2025 appointed Leasoiloafaleupolu (Leaso) Ronnie Siaosi Aiolupotea as Chief Executive Officer of MCIT for a three-year term; Aiolupotea had been Deputy CEO since 4 May 2022 and holds a Master of Information Technology from the University of Newcastle, alongside more than two decades of public-service experience. The Deputy Prime Minister portfolio that Toelupe Poumulinuku Onesemo had held under Schmidt from 16 September 2025 became vacant after the Electoral Court voided his parliamentary seat on 24 March 2026, with Toelupe formally tendering his resignation from Cabinet on 30 March 2026.

Source of funding and budget

Radio National 2AP and TV9 appear to be financed primarily through annual Samoan national-budget appropriations to MCIT, with no publicly identified independent funding stream and no evidence of significant commercial revenue. The BSD line item is one programme component within MCIT’s overall vote, leaving the broadcasters’ annual operating resources dependent on the Minister’s budget proposal and the Legislative Assembly’s appropriation each fiscal year. The 2025/26 fiscal cycle was disrupted by the parliamentary rejection of the original government budget in May 2025; the post-election Schmidt government’s 2025/26 budget was approved by the new Parliament on 28 October 2025, with BSD’s appropriation continuing within MCIT.

Editorial independence

BSD operates without any statutory editorial-independence framework. There is no broadcasting act establishing arm’s-length governance for the Division, no charter prescribing editorial standards, and no statutory or institutional mechanism preventing the responsible Minister from directing programme content. Radio 2AP and TV9 have, since being placed under direct ministerial control following the 2008 SBC privatisation, functioned primarily as conduits for official government communications, particularly during national events and crises. Interviews with Samoan journalists conducted in May 2025 confirmed that BSD’s programming is geared toward amplifying official government messages, with little separation between government communications and editorial policy. The Division formally subscribes to the 2017 Samoa Media Code of Ethics adopted by the Journalists Association of (Western) Samoa, JAWS, but as a one-sided commitment that does not alter its structural position within MCIT.

AI and digital policy

BSD maintains a limited digital presence through MCIT’s institutional website rather than a separately developed broadcaster digital platform; Radio 2AP’s content is not systematically podcasted, and TV9 does not operate a dedicated streaming service. No published BSD policy on AI-generated content, synthetic-media disclosure or content-provenance frameworks such as C2PA was identified in this review. At national level, no Samoa-specific AI law or public-sector generative-AI framework comparable to those in Australia or New Zealand was identified. MCIT’s current digital-policy work focuses more on cybersecurity (including the establishment of the Samoa Computer Emergency Response Team, SamCERT, under the Ministry), government digital services and telecommunications regulation than on AI governance.

June 2026