By Lansana Fofana
FREETOWN, Oct 9 2002 (IPS)

The private media in Sierra Leone is going through rough times with court litigations, denials of licenses and bans by the country’s media commission.

The latest in the fray is ‘for di people’ newspaper whose publisher and managing editor Paul kamara is facing an 18-count charge of criminal libel brought against him by an appeals court judge.

‘’This matter is highly political,” kamara told IPS this week. ‘’I think the judge has ruling party who see our paper as a threat to their interests. They simply want to jail me.”

Over the past months, kamara has been in and out of court and at least detained once for a few hours by the presiding judge Tenjan Jalloh.

Kamara claims to have challenged the Appeals court judge Emeric Tolla Thompson for ‘’acting unconstitutionally by doubling as president of the country’s football association”.

‘’for di people” sustained the campaign for several months, with no action from the government, but one from the judge himself who went to court.

The matter is still being heard with a massive close of public interest and Kamara has been described in the papers by his fans as ‘Sierra Leone’s Mandela,’ a reference to the former South African President Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in jail.

Another victim has been the ‘African Champion’, which has twice been banned by the country’s media commission allegedly for ‘unprofessional conduct.’ The paper, one of Freetown’s fastest selling and most critical of government, is currently slugging it out in court with officials of the media commission, who want the tabloid closed again.

‘’The champion had accused a son of president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of doing ‘illegal business”, an article, which the commission did not take kindly to.

‘’Is that their (media commission) role?” champion managing editor Mohamed Koroma asked rhetorically. He told IPS the commission is not independent since, according to him ‘’it is the government that handpicks commissioners”.

Koroma said the commission does not have the power to ban paper and is therefore overstepping its bounds. ‘’The commission’s action portends bad times ahead of the private press. We must not sit back as journalists and allow them to succeed,” Koroma added.

But Koroma might just well be making the right appeal but to the wrong audience. Apart from a few, many so-called ‘independent’ newspapers with strong sympathies for the government castigated the ‘champion’ in the pages of their tabloids. The same happened to Kamara of ‘for di people.’

Samuel Cole, a media commentator said: ‘’These people (journalists) are the most disunited and split because of petty jealousies and the like.’ He warned that unless those differences were ironed out, the press would forever be fighting among themselves instead of addressing pressing national issues.

But perhaps the major challenge for the private media now is how to remove restrictions on licensing, expunge obsolete libel laws and ensure there is a standard code of ethics for media practitioners.

Tayib Bah, president of the journalist association (SLAJ) said his group is working on all these issues. ‘’We are looking in to all these challenges and even want the authorities to guarantee journalists freedom and access to information,” Bah said.

If this is done, he added, there would be fewer instances of court summons and official censorship.

The government of president Kabbah has always said it believe in the freedom of the press, but media practitioners especially those from the private press disagree.

Richie Awoonor-Gordon, editor of the acclaimed satirical newsmagazine ‘peep’, told IPS that most government institutions have refused to advertise in the private media.

‘’Some of them fear, what they say is our anti-government posture and don ‘t advertise with us,’ Awoonor-harden said.

He says sales returns alone cannot sustain production of his eight-page twice-weekly tabloid and cover staff salaries.

– It is difficult but we manage to survive and keep the paper on the news stands,"Awoonor-Gordon added.

With more than 50-odd papers circulating in a country of 4.5 million people that has 85 percent illiteracy, the press is simply managing to cope. And any form of censorship could just well add salt to injury.

Excerpt:

By Lansana Fofana
FREETOWN, Oct 9 2002 (IPS)

The private media in Sierra Leone is going through rough times with court litigations, denials of licenses and bans by the country’s media commission.

The latest in the fray is ‘for di people’ newspaper whose publisher and managing editor Paul kamara is facing an 18-count charge of criminal libel brought against him by an appeals court judge.

‘’This matter is highly political,” kamara told IPS this week. ‘’I think the judge has ruling party who see our paper as a threat to their interests. They simply want to jail me.”

Over the past months, kamara has been in and out of court and at least detained once for a few hours by the presiding judge Tenjan Jalloh.

Kamara claims to have challenged the Appeals court judge Emeric Tolla Thompson for ‘’acting unconstitutionally by doubling as president of the country’s football association”.

‘’for di people” sustained the campaign for several months, with no action from the government, but one from the judge himself who went to court.

The matter is still being heard with a massive close of public interest and Kamara has been described in the papers by his fans as ‘Sierra Leone’s Mandela,’ a reference to the former South African President Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in jail.

Another victim has been the ‘African Champion’, which has twice been banned by the country’s media commission allegedly for ‘unprofessional conduct.’ The paper, one of Freetown’s fastest selling and most critical of government, is currently slugging it out in court with officials of the media commission, who want the tabloid closed again.

‘’The champion had accused a son of president Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of doing ‘illegal business”, an article, which the commission did not take kindly to.

‘’Is that their (media commission) role?” champion managing editor Mohamed Koroma asked rhetorically. He told IPS the commission is not independent since, according to him ‘’it is the government that handpicks commissioners”.

Koroma said the commission does not have the power to ban paper and is therefore overstepping its bounds. ‘’The commission’s action portends bad times ahead of the private press. We must not sit back as journalists and allow them to succeed,” Koroma added.

But Koroma might just well be making the right appeal but to the wrong audience. Apart from a few, many so-called ‘independent’ newspapers with strong sympathies for the government castigated the ‘champion’ in the pages of their tabloids. The same happened to Kamara of ‘for di people.’

Samuel Cole, a media commentator said: ‘’These people (journalists) are the most disunited and split because of petty jealousies and the like.’ He warned that unless those differences were ironed out, the press would forever be fighting among themselves instead of addressing pressing national issues.

But perhaps the major challenge for the private media now is how to remove restrictions on licensing, expunge obsolete libel laws and ensure there is a standard code of ethics for media practitioners.

Tayib Bah, president of the journalist association (SLAJ) said his group is working on all these issues. ‘’We are looking in to all these challenges and even want the authorities to guarantee journalists freedom and access to information,” Bah said.

If this is done, he added, there would be fewer instances of court summons and official censorship.

The government of president Kabbah has always said it believe in the freedom of the press, but media practitioners especially those from the private press disagree.

Richie Awoonor-Gordon, editor of the acclaimed satirical newsmagazine ‘peep’, told IPS that most government institutions have refused to advertise in the private media.

‘’Some of them fear, what they say is our anti-government posture and don ‘t advertise with us,’ Awoonor-harden said.

He says sales returns alone cannot sustain production of his eight-page twice-weekly tabloid and cover staff salaries.

ôIt is difficult but we manage to survive and keep the paper on the news stands,”Awoonor-Gordon added.

With more than 50-odd papers circulating in a country of 4.5 million people that has 85 percent illiteracy, the press is simply managing to cope. And any form of censorship could just well add salt to injury.

Excerpt: