By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
A State of the Media Report published by the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) covering the period 2018 to 2021 says media poverty still continues to hinder the progress of the media landscape in Sierra Leone.
The report was launched on Monday 5th December, 2022 at the MRCG’s Secretariat at Circular Road in Freetown.
The National Coordinator of MRCG, Dr. Francis Sowa in speaking about the report said it presents a critical overview of the prospects and challenges in media freedom and its role in the country’s sustainable development pathways.
He highlighted its two fold segmentation ; one part focusing on freedom, professionalism, performance, state-media relations, regulations, management and ethics, whilst the second part presents academic articles on the role of the media and access to information in sustainable development.
Dr. Sowa statedthat Sierra Leone has in the past four years made progress in the entire gamut of press freedom which he linked to the repeal of Part 5 of the Public Order Act of 1965 that contained the offences of Criminal and Seditious Libel.
He however admitted that there are still some media challenges relating to the safety and security of journalists, and investment, all posing problems for the media industry in Sierra Leone.
Independent Media Commission (IMC) Chairman, also Chair of MRCG’s Advisory Board, Dr. Victor Massaquoi said the report is a critical piece of research designed to test many questions bordering on human rights, and freedom of expression. He said the state of the media in Sierra Leone has drastically improved in recent years, with more newspapers, radio stations and other forms of media that have registered with the IMC.
The President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Ahmed Sahid Nasralla said the findings contained in the report are relevant for the media ecosystem of the country, which he noted has changed drastically.
He said the country is doing very well in the area of media pluralism, freedom, training opportunities and investment, and spoke of the consultative approach undertaken to address the challenges being faced in the sector.
Nasralla pointed out that efforts have been made to ensure journalists are paid within the minimum wage, and of SLAJ doing a follow-up on some of the recommendations that emanated from the investment conference about developing a national fund for public interest media.
“This will not happen immediately, but since there is a political will to invest and support the media to develop, we are ready to take advantage of that,” he said.
He spoke of progress in the area of safety and security of journalists, unlike in the past when Police assaulted journalists or destroyed their equipment during the course of their work.
He said in those instances in the past, of assault on journalists, SLAJ will only issue press releases or set up inconclusive investigations.
“The assault on journalists by the police only stopped when SLAJ established a relationship with the police. MRCG has established a national coordinating committee for the safety and security of journalists in Sierra Leone,” said Nasralla.
Head of Department (HOD), Journalism and Media Studies,Fourah Bay College, Joshua Nicol stated that, at the inception of MRCG, the then Mass Communications Department (MASSCOMM) played a leading role in literature generation regarding the media landscape or ecosystem in the country.
He said the document launched has closed many critical gaps in the media literature in Sierra Leone.
“For a very long time, if you want to conduct research on the media landscape in Sierra Leone, most of the literatures were done by outsiders,” Nicol commented.
He urged journalists to read through the report so they can get informed Knowledge about the media.
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