By Politico staff writer
The Minister of Information and Communication has said in Freetown that the “dreams of all Sierra Leoneans can only be realized when the country remains tranquil and cohesive”. Mohamed Rahman Swaray was speaking at Radisson Blu Hotel on Monday 27th March, where he launched Elections Reporting and Coverage regulations produced by the Independent Media Commission, IMC.
He said the main challenge facing the media is “not the absence of regulatory instruments but the existence of unprincipled practitioners who use journalism to serve their paymasters”. The minister cataloged what he called solid achievements of the government of President Bio in the media sector including the repeal of the criminal and seditious libel provisions in the Public Order Act of 1965, providing subventions to SLAJ, committing to provide matching funds to the fund for public interest media and making Sierra Leone the 5th member of the Global Media Freedom Coalition.
Minister Swaray described the IMC election coverage regulations as the best in Africa and called on the IMC to be robust in its implementation so that the institution could maintain its relevance in the eyes of the people of Sierra Leone.
The president of SLAJ told the gathering that the election coverage regulations represent “a step forward and would promote trust in the media”. He said a number of training programs have been organized for journalists but the impact of such efforts is negligible because “most journalists have taken sides and are protecting their partisan political interests”.
Ahmed Sahid Nasralla said, “SLAJ will not defend reckless journalism and will not allow any journalist to hide behind freedom of the press to pursue their partisan interests”.
Dr. Victor Massaquoi, the chairman of the IMC, urged journalists to “read, understand and apply the provisions of the regulations and never allow politicians or other interested parties to move them away from their professional duties and responsibility to the people of Sierra Leone.
The IMC is now on a nationwide popularization of the regulations.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (29/03/23)
