By Bampia James Bundu
Local authorities have claimed that victims of a wind storm in the northern town of Lunsar showed up at the house of the paramount chief demanding compensation for their loss because “a local radio station incited them”.
Paramount Chief Koblo Queen said the affected people had claimed that the surface rents paid to them by the iron ore miner, London Mining,also made provisions for compensation where there was a natural disaster.
“I was told by the victims that they had been asked to come to me for compensation by the Radio Lunsar,” he said, adding that he had to summon an emergency meeting with the country’s Attorney General, AG, and vice president of the journalists association, SLAJ, Stanley Bangura.
The chief said he wanted government’s intervention as well as that of SLAJ because it had to do with his people and the “unprofessional way in which Radio Lunsar had conducted itself in the community”.
“They told me that the local radio station had asked them to storm my house for solutions to their problem. I was shocked.I only had to disperse them by talking to them,” he explained, adding that he had to call in the appropriate authorities to help him correct the situation.
He claimed that he had had several meetings with management of the radio station because “they had behaved inappropriately all the time but they seem to have worsened off. He called on SLAJ and the AG to take action against the radio”.
The minister of justice, who is also the government’s attorney, Frank Kargbo, expressed disappointment at the alleged attitude of the local broadcaster saying that “its management structure was poor and was not serving the purpose for which it was established”.
He said the radio had not only succeeded in creating problems in the chiefdom but had also widened the divide amongst authorities in the chiefdom, which, he added, “is a recipe for chaos.”
He revealed that government had considered suspending the operations of the station through the media regulator, Independent Media Commission, because of “the numerous complaints we have had about the performance of the radio in the chiefdom.”
He thanked SLAJ for the intervention and assured the gathering of his fullest support in the resolution of the conflict.
The vice president of SLAJ, Stanley Bangura Jr., blamed the station management because “the utterances from the radio were inciting and unprofessional.” He said the association was not in support of “reckless journalism which has the tendency to create panic or problem”.
He made reference to an earlier effort they had made to settle similar problems between the radio station and the community, adding that there was need to build the capacity of the radio staff so that they could live up to expectations.
The meeting ended with a resolution that the presenter of the radio programme be suspended for one month, while all stakeholders should be restrained from taking part in live phoning programmes. It also recommended that the service of a media consultant be hired to train the staff of the radio for three months and that the station be managed by a professional broadcast journalist with a mandate to restructure some of the programmes.
The attorney general offered to pay salaries of media consultants who would be conducting the training for the three-month period.
(C) Politico 02/10/14
