By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ), Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, has said the association’s disciplinary committee will help journalists to self-regulate themselves as they seek to repel the obnoxious Criminal Libel law.
Nasralla was speaking during the introduction of members of the newly constituted Disciplinary Committee on Friday, May1, at the SLAJ headquarters in Freetown.
“The disciplinary committee is one of the assurances we gave to the public whiles we bid to repeal the criminal libel law. It is a step towards self-regulation,” he said.
The new committee consists of five members, three from the SLAJ and two members of the public. Veteran media practitioner, Bernadette Cole is the chairperson of the committee, Abu-Bakar Sheriff, former Editor of Concord Times, is the Secretary to the committee. Lucy Ann Ganda of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) is the third SLAJ member on the committee.
Those representing the public are prominent civil society activist, Marcella Samba Sesay and Batillo Warritay, a veteran journalist and media trainer.
Whiles praising the outgoing committee, Nasralla said the committee has been strengthened by the appointment of regional and district monitors all across the country.
“Unlike before, we have now appointed monitors on behalf of the committee in all regions and districts. So there will be wider participation by all journalists. This will strengthen the work of the committee,” the SLAJ President explained to Politico after the engagement.
At the inauguration of the committee, the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), which consists of all players in the media landscape of the country, held a day’s engagement with journalists and some members of the committee on the SLAJ Code of Ethics.
The committee has a tough task ahead in the era of social media, citizen journalism and fake news. Secretary to the committee, Abu Bakar Sheriff, recognized the difficult road ahead, whiles emphasizing on the importance of the committee to ensure professional journalism in Sierra Leone.
“As professionals, we have to strive to do the right thing. This is not censorship, as the President said, it is part of the process to self-regulate ourselves,” Sheriff said.
“This comes at a time when citizen journalism is threatening the fabric of traditional journalism,” he later added.
The formation of the committee has however raised similar questions about the distinction between its role and that of the Independent Media Commission.
MRCG Chair, who is also a commissioner at the IMC, Dr Francis Sowa, said there is no duplicity in function for the two bodies.
“A major distinction between this body and the IMC is that the disciplinary committee deals with journalists, whiles the IMC deals with media institutions. The committee is not in competition with the IMC. If anything, it makes the work of IMC easier by allowing them to focus on some of their other functions,” Dr Sowa said.
As part of their mandate, the disciplinary committee is expected to look into complaints against journalists practicing in the country and determine if they are in breach of the SLAJ Code of Ethics.
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