Times-Age press heads to new home in Samoa

Freedom of the press in American Samoa will soon be aided by the Times-Age becoming free of its press.
Owner and award-winning editor in chief of the Samoa Observer, Sano Malifa, was in Masterton last week to oversee the transportation of the Times-Age's press equipment to Auckland and American Samoa where Mr Malifa is setting up independent editions of the Observer.
The 10 Times-Age press units and two folders, which until December printed the Times-Age and other publications, were packed in crates this week ready for delivery to their new newspapers.
The Times-Age continues to be put together locally, but is sent electronically for printing in Wanganui and shipped back to town every morning.
The Samoa Observer is a daily paper that publishes seven days a week in Western Samoa, and Mr Malifa's plans to expand his operations to the neighbouring American Samoa and New Zealand, with separate independent editions of the newspaper.
Six press units and a folder are to be installed at the Auckland office for the New Zealand edition, while the other four presses are being shipped to American Samoa with the remaining folder. Negotiations for the purchase of the press with the Times-Age began last November and the deal was finalised in January.
"We decided to look for a press for the expansion that we had in mind, and found this one advertised. It was a much better deal than getting one from the States," Mr Malifa said.
The equipment will take two weeks to get to American Samoa and Mr Malifa expects to have it up and running within a month of its arrival with the help of former Times-Age press manager, Dave Cameron, who will oversee its installation.
"Mr Cameron has been good enough to help us in the dismantling of the press, then he will help with the reinstallation in Auckland and he will also be going to American Samoa to set up that press."
Mr Cameron said although the press is 30 years old the printing quality was as good as any press in New Zealand. He will spend up to six weeks in Auckland installing the press and training staff in the operation and maintenance of the equipment, and then he will do the same in American Samoa.
"Although it is old, it has been brought back to specs. Ninety per cent is as good as it was when it was new, and some of it is far better than the original," he says.
Mr Malifa said he bought the press at a "very reasonable" price after looking at the production quality.
"It's much cheaper coming from here than from America. We are very happy to have the purchase finalised as quickly as possible. When this press is operational it will be a totally independent newspaper."
Mr Malifa says the introduction of a new daily paper for the citizens of American Samoa will have a positive effect on the state of printed media in the country.
"They will love it. They have one paper now and this new paper will provide some competition," he said.
The Auckland edition is being created not only for the 200,000 Samoans who live in this country but also as a viable independent source of news for everybody.
Savea Sano Malifa is the editor and publisher of the Samoa Observer, Samoa's only independent daily newspaper, since its founding in 1978. The Observer has repeatedly fallen foul of the government for its reports of government corruption. Malifa and his family have received death threats. His paper has faced lawsuits over the years, and government advertising was withdrawn in an attempt to silence the Observer's critical reporting.
Mr Malifa, who is also a poet, playwright and novelist of renown, studied engineering in Wellington but later changed to a career in journalism.
He founded the Samoa Observer as a weekly in October 1978 and started a second publication, the Sunday Samoan, with his wife, Jean, in 1987.