By Isaac Massaquoi
Unavoidably all aspects of life in Sierra Leone were consumed by the general and presidential elections in June 2023. General and Presidential elections are high stakes issues in Sierra Leone. The whole process is treated by many Sierra Leoneans as a life and death matter and it’s easy to understand why – a good many people across the country have come to believe down the years that the only way to prosperity is through politics and winning an election gives them direct access to what little money the country has in the coffers. And they are never afraid to corruptly enrich themselves while deliberately setting up one group of people against the others with dangerous tribal rhetoric that sometimes result in raw violence erupting on our streets and lives being lost. We have a few dates to look back on with trepidation in this regard, in 2023.
As probably expected, politicians, mainly in the opposition, are still arguing about the authenticity of the results published by ECSL. In fact the APC’s rejection of the results crystallized into a few months of boycott of governance at all levels. They have only just returned to parliament and local councils after mediation efforts which they insisted must be led by international actors. We are now following the implementation of the agreement reached by the APC and the government of Sierra Leone.
There was no better way to start this piece given the fact that the election was the single most important issue facing the country in 2023. I thought I should look back a bit to get us on our way to issues in the media.
THE MEDIA AND THE ELECTIONS
My comments are about media houses that operate in what we call the mainstream. In other words media operations registered with the Independent Media Commission and are thus bound by the Media Code of Practice. International and local observers have published their reports on the media’s performance throughout the electioneering process but I am throwing in my own observations now before looking ahead to 2024.
As always with elections in this country money flows in from the usual sources to help the media prepare for the elections and in 2023 some money, though much reduced compared to the other years, did come to Sierra Leone for that purpose but, at the risk of offending a few people, our preparation for the elections was somewhat chaotic.
There was very little money from local sources and as already stated the cash from international agencies was terribly inadequate and it arrived too late to make any serious impact. For some of those agencies they released the money only to complete the process of ticking boxes to satisfy donor requirements.
On the side of the media we have to openly admit a few infractions and take immediate actions to correct them. I was a member of one of the training teams that handled a few of those exercises and I realized that there was a lot of duplication in the training topics and objectives and we found ourselves telling the same journalists the same things in different places. Some training programs went on until 48 hours to the polls opening. I am basically saying that we could have done a much better job at coordinating all the training programs using the good offices of SLAJ and their partners so that we derive maximum benefit from the tax money that came from abroad.
Some of our colleagues in the community radio sector in particular who were so crucial in the coverage of the last elections did not help the situation at all. I one training location I came up against a group of rookie participants who were hurriedly nominated for the exercise just to meet the required numbers. I went into the hall expecting to mop up some knowledge gaps here and there but got tied down with basic aspects of news reporting and ethics. I got money for my services in the end but I think half the participants were only in the room to collect transport refunds and the little token they normally get after such programs. The workshop model of training is now looking extremely tired and ineffective.
One bright spot in the overall media activity around the election was the SLAJ I-verify project. They did a fantastic job. In 2024 they should be well funded so they can expand their activities and run a 24 hour service in real time to speedily deal with fake news.
THE NEWSPAPER
In 2024 many newspaper would go out of circulation in hard copy. Last year the President of SLAJ called to government intervention to address the trouble facing newspapers in particular. The government has continued to provide advertising revenue for many papers but the cost of the materials needed to produce newspapers is now so prohibitive that some are going to be compelled to publish on social media applications just to remain relevant.
Newsprints and other materials are in the hands of a few foreign traders that have formed a cartel around the industry, making the situation totally unbearable- in fact choking life out of print journalism in Sierra Leone. Any attempt by newspaper owners to transfer the cost of production to advertisers and readers would fail in 2024.
Newspaper readership has fallen year on year and even without accurate statistics it is easy to reach this conclusion based on what production officers bring to the post office daily. As we close 2023 the Independent Media Commission has 239 newspapers on their books but only 97 of those papers are active. According to the IMC, an active newspaper is one that is fully registered with the commission and is published at least once a week.
Things can only get even more difficult in 2024 owing to a combination of factors like advertisers now increasingly using sophisticated methods to easily reach the people through social media applications. The only adverts now left for newspapers are those that MDAs are statutorily required to publish in newspapers for job vacancies and other procurement matters.
The other challenge facing the industry is the inability of almost all newspapers to circulate deep inside the country outside the regional capitals and the suffocating delay by advertisers to pay for services – especially government ministries, departments and agencies. They are sadly the biggest advertisers.
2024 should be the year for two sectors in the media business – the Community Radio sector and Independent Content Producers.
THE COMMUNITY RADIO SECTOR
The government has not exactly played down the importance of this sector in delivering their programs across the country but it’s fair to say that the sector has not been brought into the position it ought to be. A major pillar in the BIG FIVE agenda is the FEED SALONE project aimed at significantly cutting back on the unbelievably huge amount of money spent yearly to import the food we eat – mainly rice. That’s not a bad initiative but those executing should never underestimate the effective role community radio stations can play to make it a success. Those radio stations are based in their communities; they know their people and the people trust them. Early in 2024 the agriculture ministry and all other agencies connected to the FEED SALONE project should engage the managers and governing boards of those community radio stations directly and if possible sign a Memorandum of Understanding with them so they commit themselves to the realization of FEED SALONE.
INDEPENDENT CONTENT PRODUCERS
Last year I mentioned the crucial role that Independent Content Producers can play in enriching programming especially on the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation. Let me repeat that the bulk of the money coming through the Independent Fund for Public Interest Media should be channeled through independent content producers.
The details can be worked out but the quality of the programs broadcast on SLBC would be so much better if the station restricted itself to producing only its news and current affairs sequences and local language programming leaving sports, light entertainment, feature and documentary series dealing with our history and culture and other genre in the hands of private producers. Those programs would be paid for from the public interest media fund, advertising and other innovative revenue streams that the government should consider. Producers that are due for retirement but have continued to use all the tricks in the books to remain in office could now retire and bid for those production contracts.
CONCLUSION
We are ending 2023 on a sad note for our trade against the backdrop of what is happening Israel and Gaza. The Committee to Protect Journalists, CPJ reports that as of December 17, 64 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead: 57 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese. 13 journalists were reported injured, 3 missing while 19 others were reported arrested. The figures coming out of Gaza alone dwarf those of journalists and media workers killed worldwide in the whole of 2022.
My heart goes out to the families and friends of our colleagues killed in the line of duty. Sadly, the way things are going suggests that even without bombs and bullets, we will surely lose some more brave souls as they try to tell the story of that conflict.
I wish all journalists and media workers the very best in 2024.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (22/12/23)
