THE MEDIA UNSHACLKED: A YEAR TO REFORM, REBUILD AND REBRAND THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE
Society for Democratic Initiative (SDI) joins the world in celebrating World Press Freedom day. The theme for this year is “Journalism under digital siege”. SDI is also pleased to launch the “2021 State of the Media Report: The Media Unshackled; A year to reform, rebuild and rebrand the media landscape” on this day.
Today marks the 31st anniversary of the World Press Freedom, declared after a UNESCO conference in Windheok in 1991. The event ended on the 3rd May with the adoption of the landmark Windheok Declaration for the Development of a free, Independent Press. Since 2009, SDI has prepared a detailed, research report on the state of the media, including information on violations of rights associated with freedom of the press and access to information.
The State of the Media Report has continually highlighted some of the perennial problems affecting media practice. The Report also provides recommendations to guide media practice. The Report also provides recommendations to guide media practitioners and hold policy makers to account on the need to ensure media neutrality, promote ethics, professionalism and free expression.
The media is largely responsible for the research, collection, interpretation and distribution of information of interest to the public and the media play a large role in the development and
sustainability of democracy. A vibrant, articulate, thoughtful and independent media is vital to democracy and development.
Through 2020 and into 2021, the Sierra Leone media environment has undergone a dramatic shift.
The repeal of the criminal libel laws in Part 5 of the Public Order Act of 1965 has potentially opened the door to more investigative journalism and more fearless reporting. The repeal of criminal libel is a cause to celebrate and reflect on the state of our media environment, quality of reporting, freedoms and challenges faced by media houses and journalism practitioners.
While the Sierra Leone media have been unshackled by the removal of criminal libel laws, howeverthe media remains bound by media poverty, state capture, lack of technology, illiteracy, politicization, advertising issues, management challenges and reporting capacity. These issues have largely been identified in past “State of the Media” reports.
The 2021 Report recognizes the many challenges facing the media but the sector continues to expand with more media houses, more radio stations and newspapers being established. At last count, the Independent Media Commission (IMC) listed 230 newspapers (123 active and 107 inactive) and 24 magazines (10 active and 14 inactive). And, there are 212 registered radio stations (174 active and 38 inactive) listed with the IMC. The list of internet news sites from Sierra Leone is uncounted but continually growing with the increasing penetration of the internet.
Advertising remains largely unregulated and rife with corruption, misplaced priorities and nepotism.
And, there is an over-reliance on government ads, which further detracts from the medias‟ ability to act as a watchdog to hold government to account.
According to a Media Development Strategy, produced for the IMC and paid for by UNDP and UNESCO, “The sensationalism and sub-standard ethics characteristic of a number of media in Sierra Leone are highly detrimental in a post-conflict and transitional society. This practice is caused by unsustainable media economy and in some cases claimed to derive from agendas by those interests that fund these media.”
This Report ends with recommendations to the government, advertisers, security forces and donors.
Several of the recommendations to government have to do with professional conduct. For example, the MDAs should provide an information source and contact for journalists doing stories in their operational sectors.
MDAs should provide access to sources of technical data and information.
The finance people or departments within MDAs should pay their advertising invoices to media outlets as soon as possible and without delay.
The Police personnel should be very professional in handling reports against the media or journalists.
The police should ensure they do not violate the human rights of journalists in handling complaints against the media; therefore there is need for the personnel at the CID to be trained on human rights.
For non-governmental organizations and civil society groups, who are content specialists, they should continue to provide data and information to journalists as sources – not for public relations purposes but for quality, independent reporting. If it is public relations these NGOs are after, they should purchase advertising space in newspapers or on TV or radio. They should not rely on journalists to do their public relations or advertising.
NGOs should stop budgeting for “media”, and assign budgets for advertising or education or sensitization, which would go through the media outlet and not the journalists. In that regard, NGOs should stop paying journalists directly. This is tantamount to a bribe or “pay for play”, which skews media reporting. Whether it is „transport‟, or „lunch‟, or „out of pocket expenses‟, these payments bolster the unsustainable business models and irresponsible journalism.
Those placing advertisements in newspapers and on radio or TV need to understand the demographics of those media outlets. They should place ads based on distribution, print run, sales figures, readership/listenership demographics, quality of reporting, reputation of the media outlet, target audience and advertising research/analysis.
Donors should maintain transparency and accountability for their financing and projects. This means making budgets, proposals and contract agreements available when funding implementing partners on the ground. International donors are well aware of the damage they cause when they fund media trainings and make payments to journalists.
Given the level of misinformation circulated on social media, journalists are expected to crosscheck alleged facts and do some investigative journalism to meet the needs of an informed population.
Journalism is powerful and the media must use it wisely. Journalists should take a „conflict-sensitive‟ approach to their work, understanding that good journalism and accurate impartial reporting can help reduce tension and potentially avoid conflict.
The media remains a key to democracy, holding those in power accountable and encouraging transparency and accurate information flows. There is great potential in the development of the media and with the repeal of criminal libel, democracy can be enhanced and accountability can be increased.
End of Release
For further information please contact George Mustapha on+232 078155450 or Mam Amie Jobe on +232 07604628