By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The challenge of social media to mainstream journalism in connection with professionalism dominated day one of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) general meeting.
The two-day meeting which commenced on Friday with a Vice Presidential address also included discussions on the progress of the long anticipated repeal of the Criminal Libel Law.
Outgoing SLAJ President Kelvin Lewis called on the Sierra Leone government to develop social media regulations to deal with fake news. His call comes amidst the growing challenge mainstream media all over the world is facing with the emergence of the phenomenon.
The theme of this year’s triennial meeting of the association is “Social media and the future of Journalism in Sierra Leone.”
Lewis said in his statement,
“Government should try as quickly as possible to enact laws to control the excesses of social media. They should stop using the criminal libel laws to address social media issues. There was no social media in 1965 when the law was created, and people should stop using it for the purpose it was not drafted,” Lewis told delegates at the opening of the sessions which was graced by Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh.
“Social media must have its own laws; they are long overdue,” Lewis added.
In Sierra Leone there are no laws regulating social media use. But the country has a cyber department within the Police force. They track down ‘libelous’ posts they see as aimed at government officials or and posing threatening national security.
Vice President Jalloh, who was present as guest of honor, said social media has changed how information is accessed and influenced.
“Social media has reduced the transactional costs of information. The information space is no longer the monopoly of journalism,” he said.
It is common for social media contents to be reproduced in newspapers. The Independent Media Commission (IMC) is responsible to regulate the media. They have no laws to deal with how they should regulate social media.
Chairman of IMC, George Khoryama, said they must prepare to carry on regulation under the current circumstances.
“We must prepare for regulation in the current environment. Starting with the review of our current framework,” Khoryama said.
Despite his concerns, Khoryama said that social media can still be good for the profession.
“Social media can be a positive ally in securing a good future for Sierra Leone journalism,” he stated.
In responding to the calls for regulation, the Vice President said regulating social media will come at a huge cost.
“What is more challenging about the damning effect of social media particularly for developing countries is near absence of state capacity to regulate social media,” he said.
“It is cheaper to close all social media than to regulate it and I don’t think that is what you want. You want regulation, but regulation comes at a cost.”
Apart from cost, regulating social media also have some legal conundrums which concerns freedom of speech and expression.
Friday’s session also featured discussion on the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law. SLAJ has long been campaigning for this, considering the ripple effect this law has its members.
Vice President Jalloh said even though the government is committed to the repeal of the law, it also realizes the need to find alternatives in dealing with libel.
“What we are trying to do as government is essentially to look at the libel law in both its supply and demand sense. It means we as a government we are going to relax the law, but we are going to create alternative laws so that people don’t get away with libel easily,” he said.
“We take this very seriously,” he emphasized.
Journalists have been faced with the question of professionalism for a while now. That has been a major excuse that has stalled the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law. In his speech, Vice President Jalloh blamed the question of professionalism on the “institutional poverty” the media is faced with.
To address this, he said government is looking at an option of providing subvention to the media.
“We need a broader dialogue to address what I call the institutional poverty of journalism. We are looking at how the government could possibly support the media without necessarily compromising the professionalism of the fourth estate,” he said.
But added that the support will come at a cost.
“In return, government will demand something. Government and the people of this country will demand for professional standard. We don’t want to invest money in something that will take us back to zero. We want to invest resources in the context where that investment will have positive returns.”
This is not the first time the government is floating the idea of giving the media subvention. The issue was key in President Julius Maada Bio’s campaign.
In a country where the media is poor and polarized, there is a danger that the subvention will be abused by government or journalists themselves.
The SLAJ meeting continues Saturday when delegates are expected to vote for a new president and other executive members.
Presidential candidates during this year’s campaign were focused on welfare issues for journalists. Mustapha Sesay and his opponent Ahmed Sahid Nasrallah both have spoken extensively on their plans to deal with the “institutional poverty” that the media is faced with.
After Saturday’s elections, the new president will have to navigate through all these challenges to raise the standards of the profession.
© 2019 Politico Online
