MRCG LAUNCHES REPORT ON THE STATE OF MEDIA FREEDOM IN SIERRA LEONE
The Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) has on Friday 2nd July 2021 launched a report on the State of Media Freedom in Sierra Leone at the Harry Yansaneh Hall, SLAJ Secretariat in Freetown. The MRCG together with the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) produced the report which tracked media freedom issues in Sierra Leone within the last three years- March 2018- December 2020, under President Julius Maada Bio.
The report contains an overview of laws, policies and institutions governing the media space in Sierra Leone; key press freedom and safety of journalists’ issues; summary of press freedom violations recorded over the period, analysis of trends of violations, key perpetrators and victims; status of redress of violations; and recommendations to both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders on how to improve the situation. The report reviews the arrest and detentions of journalists over the years using criminal and seditious libel laws in Part V ‘Defamatory and Seditions Libel Defamation’ of the Public Order Act (POA) of 1965 (No. 46 1965), before the said laws were repealed.
“Even though the criminal libel law has been repealed there are still inconclusive cases relating to the arrest, detention, intimidation and harassment of journalists. From the first to the fifth edition of press freedom reports produced by the MRCG with support from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in the United States of America from 2018 to 2020, 29 cases were recorded dealing with invitations, intimidations, attacks, assaults, arrests, detentions and prosecution of journalists and civil society activists. The data showed that sixteen were concluded, settled, resolved, dropped or abandoned because of lack of progress; four were in court; and nine were under police investigation/inconclusive/stalled,” said Dr Francis Sowa, MRCG’s National Coordinator.
Dr. Sowa stated that the MRCG has brought to the attention of the Ministry of Information and Communication the inconclusive cases and stated that: “The Ministry has responded through a letter showing that action is being taken to address the issues. A letter had been written to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to look into the matters. We call on the ministry to expedite the process.” Dr Sowa ended by calling on the government, politicians, organisations, and institutions, members of society and media owners to support media freedom and safety and security of journalists in Sierra Leone.
Muheeb Saeed, Programme Manager, Freedom of Expression for MFWA in his statement raised issues of press freedom challenges journalists are faced with in the sub-region. He urged the media to work together with civil society organisations to ensure accountability and to find ways of countering hostilities against them one of which is the documentation of violations against journalists and the media to serve as a reference material for advocacy. He said that is the path the MFWA and MRCG are on by putting together the report on State of Press Freedom in Sierra Leone for the past three years.
“We believe that the findings and recommendations of this report will go a long way in ensuring a better environment for media practice and to end impunity of violations against press freedom. It is our hope that the new found freedom operates without threat of criminal prosecution that will lead to improved professionalism, more investigative reporting, and impact making journalism that contributes to deepening democracy and the culture of accountability,” Muheeb Saeed, Programme Manager, Freedom of Expression, MFWA stated.
Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) President before launching the report called on journalists to be professional and to adhere to the ethics and principles of the profession. “Freedom of speech is not a license to blackmail, assassinate people’s character. It is a license for you to practice professionally, ethically and responsibly.”
He noted that one of the biggest achievements for the media in Sierra Leone is the historic repeal of the criminal and seditious libel laws that affected the work of the media. “I have repeatedly reminded colleagues that even though the criminal libel law is gone, we still have civil libel law.”
As Mr Nasralla launched the report, he called on the Government to review and drop all pending libel cases against journalists since the criminal libel law has been repealed and further urged them to ensure that cases on the assaults, attacks, intimidations and harassments of journalists be speedily investigated and concluded.
The Independent Media Commission (IMC) Executive Secretary, Khalil Kallon, in his statement thanked the MRCG for the report as he called on journalists to be professional and responsible and expressed that the IMC Act 2020 seeks to promote professionalism in the media throughout the country as they strive to protect the interest of the journalists and as well protect the interest of the public against media excesses.