By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The media has had great influence in Sierra Leone; from the doom days of the 11years civil war right unto the democratic era; where it now defines everything; from which public official to be sacked next by the President to whom should be found guilty in court of law.
Such is the power that this institution wields not only in Sierra Leone but across the world, to the admiration of people like Malcolm X, one of America’s greatest black civil right activists. Malcolm said in one of his many speeches: “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power, because they control the minds of the masses.”
But with this huge power in the hands of media practitioners, there are questions about how they have adequately used it. Many believe that there is a fundamental problem wrong with the practice of journalism in the country. This has put doubt on the clamor to expunge the Seditious Libel law from the country’s constitution, a law that’s clearly an obstacle to the practice of journalism.
Issues like professionalism, ethics and creativity still remain a major challenge to the profession in this country. Late last year I read a piece done by Isaac Massaquoi, a media broadcaster and one of the lecturers at the department of Mass Communication at the Forah Bay College (FBC) where journalism is taught. He was basically expressing frustration about the lack of creativity in the broadcasting section of the media.
“Sierra Leonean broadcasters have access to much of the new tools of the trade but I can argue that they have largely failed to take advantage of the full range of possibilities offered by technology in program –making…,” Massaquoi, who happens to be an executive of the Free Media Group, publishers of Politico, wrote.
His opinion re-echo those of many other broadcasters in the country about the seeming lack of creativity and innovation in broadcasting; but this lack of creative may not be limited to only the broadcasting media, it might even be worst in the print section. As a print journalist, it doesn’t take a serious effort for me to see how shallow some newspaper stories or articles are. The writing and the style are so routine and rudimentary that you don’t get the excitement to read newspapers at all.
Some newspapers thrive by engaging in scathing attacks and others indulge daily in blatant propaganda. Some are drunk with sensationalism; they mistake it for creativity and for a certain reason they believe it’s what makes them stand out as a paper.
With this brief assessment of both broadcast and print media, there is an almost certainty that journalism needs to be professionalized in this country. And I will shout with my loudest voice in support of this, even though I might not make the cut at the moment. But for the greater good I think this will be a way to sanitize the practice of journalism a bit.
Professionalizing the practice of journalism is just my personal fantasy; realistically it might never happen in this country because the issues surrounding it are so many and complex, explaining them in this piece might be like opening the Pandora’s Box.
Best practice
Last year, the UNDP-funded Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) led a curriculum review that was suggested to the university and the outcome has been adopted by the Mass Communication Department at the FBC. The resultant change in the curriculum will see students get more in depth training on their preferred choices of specialization in the future.
Students can major in either Broadcasting, TV and Film Production, Print Journalism, or Public Relations and Advertising.
The Head of Department (HOD), Tonya Musa, has said the department is on the path of transformation to being a center of excellence. This transformation, though, is still a work in progress but by the time it is done then the face lift will help everyone concerned.
MRCG is playing a key role in reshaping how journalism is practiced in Sierra Leone, with emphasis on adding quality to the profession. Its composition has almost all the big stake holders in the media involved. If they manage to get half of their targets right in the coming years then there will be a new buzz around the practice of journalism once again.
Until then a major problem with journalism in this country is the lack of thorough media education among journalists. In every practice, profession, trade or whatever name you decide to call journalism, you need thorough training to be among the very best. This is not the case with journalism in Sierra Leone. There are a huge number of journalists who did not choose this job by choice; it just happened for them. But that is not the point; the point is if you find yourself in the practice then you have to improve yourself.
There are a number of institutes and colleges that now offer journalism courses apart from FBC. But a lot of them lack a very comprehensive syllabus for tutoring media education, save for University of Makeni that has in-depth curriculum and professionals to handle it. With all due respect to other institutions, the standard of their courses have been far short of what has been maintained in the premier institution of Sierra Leone, FBC.
At the very worst, we are learning from the very best in the practice. Nonetheless if the new curriculum that is now in use at FBC could be adopted by other learning institutions then this will be a coherent method of adding quality media education in the next breed of journalists the country will produce.
Sentimental
You might bash this statement as sentimental but the writings, voices and faces on the screens tell you everything you need to know about the level of productivity the Mass Communication graduates at FBC currently have to offer.
Again, with education, the media industry and private players must take it upon themselves to improve the practice. Spend some money to build structures like the ‘Media One Center’ and the ‘[AYV] Empire’ and equip them with the very best tools so they can produce quality at the end of the day.
The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) has done a great work in supporting media houses that promote a free, fair and balanced practice of journalism. A symbol of their work is the high level of technical and financial support they have been giving to an establishment like Radio Democracy and even the Free Media Group.
Organizations like OSIWA are hard to come by and one will hope that their support will touch other media establishments, especially the newspapers. Yes! I laid emphasis on newspapers because they are the poorest section of the media.
There are newspapers that cannot afford to publish if they do not carry adverts; that show how much they depend on advertisement revenue. Some of the papers’ net worth is not up to five million Leones. Imagine papers like these facing and losing a civil suit.
There might not be a one- size- fit -all solution for the problems journalism is facing in Sierra Leone. Come to think of it, there might even be more problems to address. But recognizing them and attempting to fix them is a huge step forward.
Capacity building among journalists should be at the center; this practice of journalism is for literate people.
Mass Communication department at FBC is a model that others can build on; its curriculum and infrastructure. It is not the perfect one, but its success story has been unmatched in the country.
(C) Politico 03/0316
