MEDIA-SIERRA LEONE: New Regulation Angers Journalists

By Lansana Fofana Reprint | | Print |

Lansana Fofana

FREETOWN, May 14 1999 (IPS) - Sierra Leone’s government has promulgated new regulations for media practitioners, which has brought it on collision course with journalists, especially those from the private press.

According to the regulations, all newspapers wishing to continue publishing and others wishing to enter the business must register with the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Culture before May 14.

The announcement was broadcast on state radio and television this week and publishers and others in the newspaper business had been scampering to meet the deadline.

One of the requirements of the new rule is that a publisher must clear all income tax bills, dating back to May 1997, when the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) military junta seized power and ruled for nine months.

This would mean that some newspapers would have to pay thousands of dollars before being allowed to continue publishing.

Journalists have reacted sharply to the new regulation. “The government is using this newspaper registration regulations as a short cut to sending off the stands dozens of independent papers. It is totally unacceptable because by all indications the aim is to censor the flow of news,” says Alusine Fofanah, managing editor of the independent ‘Star’ newspaper.

Fallah Ensa-Ndayma of the ‘Frontline’ tabloid says the government is over-reacting to the perceived threat posed to its authority by the vocal press.

But, if journalists and publishers think the new registration requirement is too much, then there is a bigger problem they have to put up with.

The government has slammed a ‘public emergency regulation’, under which, three journalists have been arrested and are currently standing trial in a Freetown court.

According to the regulation, “the publication of any report or statement that is likely to cause alarm or despondency or is prejudicial to public safety and tranquility” is an offence.

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Solomon Berewa told IPS earlier this week that “all publications or reports relating to the war with rebels or operations of government forces must firstly be verified by a senior police officer or commanding officer of any division of the authorised security forces.”

This means that before publishing a war-related story, one must first submit it to the appropriate authorities” for vetting.

Three editors from the ‘News Storm’ newspapers Ahmed Bob Kanneh, Mohamed Massaquoi and Thomas Gbao are the first victims of what media analysts dub “killer regulations”.

All three have been slammed with a two-count indictment for publishing “a report likely to cause public alarm and despondency contrary to sections of the Public Emergency Regulations of 1999”.

Since rebels intensified their offensives in January leading to their brief capture of parts of the capital, relations between the private media and the Freetown authorities have not been rosy.

The ‘News Storm’ editors had carried a story in their paper on an alleged telephone conversation between the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) field commander Sam Bockarie and his West African peacekeeping force, ECOMOG, counterpart Gen Felix Mujakperou.

The paper alleged that Mujakperou declined to discuss peace efforts to end Sierra Leone’s eight-year conflict with the rebel commander, and this is thought to have angered the authorities.

Last month another editor Philip Neville of the Standard Times newspaper was also briefly detained for allegedly publishing “unsubstantiated security information”, according to the authorities.

But, even as journalists kick their heels against the new regulations, there seems to be little public sympathy for the beleaguered press.

Sierra Leone has over 50 newspapers in existence, even though half of the number appears irregularly on the stands.

There is public outrage against the alarming sensational stories carried in the tabloids and with an 85 percent illiteracy, newspapers appear to be in a quandary.

“I think the journalists ought to be taught hard lessons because instead of informing the public accurately, they help frighten and alarm us,” says Paul Conteh, a civil servant in the capital.

Meanwhile, journalists have made representations to the government to simmer down on its rules.