By Mabinty M. Kamara
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) is on an ongoing engagement with stakeholders including media practitioners across Sierra Leone on the revised Independent Media Code of Practice replacing the 2007 code.
The engagement according to one of the Commissioners and one of the facilitators, Dr. Francis Sowa is to get the stakeholders across the 14 political districts of Sierra Leone with Western Area Urban and Rural combined, make their inputs in the document and to make possible changes before it is finalized.
The Independent Media Code of practice is a guiding document regulating media practices in Sierra Leone enforced by the statutory institution the Independent Media Commission. The current engagement is to have the code merged with the revised IMC Act of 2020, a guiding document for the Code.
According to Dr. Sowa, five out of 15 consultative engagements have already been held in some parts of the regions of Sierra Leone. On the 22nd of June 2021, a similar engagement was held in Freetown at the Country Lodge which brought together media Practitioners, Civil Society Activists, and Government officials.
During the engagement in Freetown, journalistic principles such as accuracy, balance, and credibility were discussed among others.
The participants agreed that Newspapers in Sierra Leone should be required to publish at least once a week. The aspect of Character assassination in section 3 of the code was highly contested by some of the participants present but the majority agreed that it be not expunged from the code. It was however agreed that it stays with some modifications of the words used to define character assassination and the fine to be levied. Issues relating to the Broadcast media were also discussed in detail.
The participants, especially the journalists noted that the engagement was very much in place and was timely as it borders on their daily practice and therefore should be part of the development of such document. But they however urged the facilitators to ensure that their views are reflected in the code.
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