By Aminata Phidelia Allie
With
just two days to elections, the media regulatory body in Sierra
Leone, Independent Media Commission has called on journalists to be
peaceful and law abiding to boost the country’s young democracy.
IMC
chairman, Rod Mac-Johnson, said that all media institutions were
mandated by the commission’s media code of practice to observe the
day before the elections as a “cooling-off period during which they
must neither broadcast nor air or publish anything that is related to
the campaigns or elections.”
The
date, he said, had also been set aside by the National Electoral
Commission as a resting period to calm the nerves of political
parties and their supporters.
“Inasmuch
as the political parties will not be campaigning, it is incumbent on
the media not to carry stories about campaigns or election related
issues,” he observed.
Commissioner
Mohamed Samoura said they had stationed twenty-five media monitors
across the country to follow up radio and television station
broadcasts and ensure they did not air or broadcast anything that
would arouse misunderstanding amongst the various party supporters.
He
said the monitors would be backed by their commissioners who would
supervise them to ensure they worked within the code of practice and
the training that they had undergone.
“We
expect all radio and TV stations to comply with our monitors,” he
said, adding that the Independent Radio Network would ensure
information on the elections would come from various sources which
would be broadcast in their various communities.
Executive
Director of the Society for Democratic Initiatives, Emmanuel Saffa
Abdulai, supported IMC’s position, saying “the media has been
doing well in terms of their reporting of issues around the
elections.” He commended the radio stations, some of which he said
had done extremely well in relation to voter education.
He
expressed disappointment in the newspapers, which he said had been
divided along political party lines.
“Most
of them are portraying one political party or the other as the best,
forgetting their social responsibility of informing and educating the
public,” he lamented.
“Though
a huge amount of unprofessionalism has been displayed by the states
broadcaster, the SLBC, they have in recent time been trying to
balance their reportage of issues leading to the elections after we
advised them to call off all political advertisements,” he said.
