B Y MOHAMED M. SESAY
In the country’s historic National Media and Investment Conference held at the Bintumani Conference Center in Freetown, His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio has on Thursday the 21st of April 2022, admonished Media practitioners that professional journalism is the best and the only antidote to the increasing spread of malicious information on social media.
President Bio also asserted that the country needs a credible and independent media to keep the government honest and accountable, devoid of partisan rhetoric. He added that through the revised Independent Media Commission Act, media practitioners are now guaranteed a safe space for redress and fair hearings on perceived professional lapses. For the first time ever, he said media professionals are listening to media professionals and working with them to make the media industry ecosystem even better.
President Bio furthered that Sierra Leone has one of the most liberalized, diversified, and decentralized media and communications sectors in the sub-region and in Africa as a whole. He reminded that he made a manifesto pledge to the nation in 2018 to repeal the criminal libel law.
President Bio acknowledged that the law had criminalized free speech, suppressed journalism, wrecked many lives, stunted democratic governance, and stifled the promotion and protection of the guaranteed rights of citizens to speak freely about governance.
“We all know the costs of those very painful years. So, my commitment to remove that obnoxious law was not just about doing something; it was about doing what our democracy requires to thrive. For the first time in the history of our great nation, no journalist is in prison for the practice of journalism. No journalist is in fear of death or imprisonment for the practice of journalism”, he said.
President Bio also intimated that for the first time in the history of this nation, his government has actively worked with the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists to enhance professionalism among media practitioners, promote gender inclusion and participation, and provide safeguards for the safe practice of journalism. Through the revised Independent Media Commission Act, he assured that media practitioners are guaranteed a safe space for redress and fair hearings on perceived professional lapses.
President Bio also admonished that for the first time ever; his Government has guaranteed a minimum wage for journalists and access to social security benefits. He added that his Government human capital development gains and liberalized media ecosystem support the development of budding talents in the media industry.
As part of the remedial action towards addressing the multiple challenges faced by the media, president Bio encouraged the gathering to focus on the media industry as a whole. He said it is not just about publishing and selling a few newspapers at road intersections like food, water, and energy, but said citizens also want and are willing to pay for information, education, advertising, and entertainment.
President Bio specifically encouraged media practitioners to re-imagine and adapt their business models in order to flourish. He pleaded that Newspaper Editors should think beyond a few advertisements and sensational or partisan front page headlines. TV producers to also think beyond hosting talk sessions and reading the news. Film producers should think beyond local romantic or copycat Nollywood or gangster films.
He concluded by also encouraging media practitioners to think about new market possibilities that create new revenue streams, to take advantage of digital technologies and innovation to deliver new content in new ways.
In essence, he said such moves produce, promote market, distribute, and deliver content in new ways to national, sub regional and international audiences. ‘We may be a small country but I want to inspire us as a nation to think big and consistently punch above our weight. That is the New Direction attitude”, he said.
