By Hajaratu Kalokoh
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) has commended Sierra Leone’s media houses for complying with their regulations.
Officials of the media regulatory body made this statement during the launch of the ninth IMC media awards competition last week, noting that complaints from the public against media institutions and practitioners had drastically reduced.
IMC Chairman, George S Khoryama said there was more compliance than default.
“Out of 91 active newspapers, 142 active radio stations and 11 active television stations, it is interesting to note that on the average, there are more compliant media institutions than defiant ones in terms of complaints brought to the attention of the IMC by the public; which is to say there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for journalism profession in the country,” he said.
Established by an act of parliament in 2002 and amended in 2006 and 2007, it seeks to regulate media institutions in the country through promoting free and pluralistic media throughout the country.
Chairman of Compliant Committee (IMC), Ansu B. Lansana, explained to Politico that complaints had reduced almost by half since they took over.
“When we came to this commission in November last year on average a week we could have about 10 - 15 complaints, but now it has gone down to 10 - 5 and sometimes we go without any complaints, [which] means compliance by the media institution is improving”, Lansana said.
He continued: “Between November 2018 and December 2019 we had about 36 complaints. We dealt with 20 to completion, we fined quite a number of them and quite a number of them complied. They paid their fines and we do not have any complaints about them any longer”.
Lansana said their engagement with the media must have been one of the factors for this change.
“We have been going over the air letting people know what the complaints are about, what actions we take and even I remember I had one or two television appearances to let the public know the complaints and what we do about the complaints, and I think that is a proactive stance. It is not just okay for us to relax and let the complaints come, we prevent the complaints by letting journalists know the dos and don’ts.”
In 2015, IMC recorded a total of 54 complaints from the public in which 20 media outlets complied with prescribed fines such as retraction and payment of the amount stipulated in the IMC code.
In 2016 there was a slight increase of 61 complaints with a greater decline in 2017 which recorded 21complaints.
Aruna Kargbo, Editor New of Age Newspaper, explained to Politico that the development was as a result of several engagements with media practitioners.
“So many training sessions have been occurring by MRCG [for journalists].So for me this is kudus to the media because at present there are less complaints compared to before. It means people are abiding by the media code of practice, it means journalists have started doing the right things” Kargbo went on.
He said journalists who do not do follow-up or crosscheck information would end up being taken to the IMC.
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