By Mabinty Kamara
In an event to discuss and launch report of a research conducted by the Media Foundation for West Africa and the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG), media practitioners, media regulators, media bodies and security personnel have engaged on the need to have a policy that protects the safety and security of the journalists in their daily reportage.
The engagement was held on Thursday 22rd April 2021 in Freetown. The study according to the National Coordinator of the MRGC, Dr. Francis Sowa was funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ghana and that it targeted 44 media houses including print and electronic across Sierra Leone.
He said the key issues assessed by the research are the trends of safety of journalists’ issues in Sierra Leone (including types of violations, perpetrators, gender of victims), number of media outlets that have a safety policy or manual, and a specific policy for female journalists.
However, the report revealed that majority of the media houses studied did not have safety and security policies for their staff.
“The findings generally show that majority of the media houses studied lacked a safety and security policy. There is no specific safety and security policy in those media institutions, although most of them stated that such issues are addressed in their editorial policy,” it reads in part.
It added: “Many journalists are not knowledgeable about tips on how to keep themselves safe in their line of duty and they exposed themselves to dangers when covering riots or demonstrations. They named most popular perpetrators of those violations as police officers, military personnel, politicians, civil servants, and community stakeholders/people.”
In his statement, the Executive Secretary Independent Media Commission, Khalil Kallon noted that the IMC was not averse to security issues and also he said the since the awareness of media security is coming up, they will try to adopt some of the issues that fall under security particularly for media institutions, noting that security matters are very important in the absence of the obnoxious 1965 public order Act.
Speaking at the event, the President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) Ahmed Sahid Nasralla highlighted the efforts made by the association over the two year period to ensure that journalist are safe and protected during the cause of performing their duties.
He noted that they have called on media owners and managers to put some safety and security measures in place for their staff.
In his keynote address, the Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Rahman Swarray applauded the MRCG and partners for striving to ensure the safety and security of journalists and assured journalists of government’s commitment to press freedom and their safety and security. He said the government will not condone any politician who may want to use his political powers to muzzle the press or its practitioners.
“Government will not support any politician that attacks journalists”, Swarray asserted.
He noted that under the leadership of the current SLAJ executive, the relationship between the government and the press has been impressive. He called for policies to improve on women representation in decision making positions in the media.
He concluded by launching the report titled the ‘Study on the State of Safety of Journalists’ Policies and Practices in Media Houses in Sierra Leone.’
Panel discussions among media Practitioners, regulators and security forces centred on how to map out the issues and bring out further recommendations on how to address the security and safety of journalists and chart the way forward, all of which climaxed the event.
Copyright © 2021 Politico Online 23/04/21
