Concord Times (Freetown)
Mariama Kandeh
25 November 2008
opinion
I wish I was fortunate to vote in the November 29 Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) elections. I would have loved to cast my first ballot ever to effect a lasting change in the profession I love most. I would have loved to help change public perception about journalists in Sierra Leone and most importantly about the information we sell out to the public. Nevertheless, I hope to vote in the election that will follow after four years.
There is no doubt that the next SLAJ president will have a very big task ahead of him amidst widespread criticism by the public about our noble profession both at home and abroad. Many believe improvement in the media in Sierra Leone is far fetched.
I sat in my little London corner keenly following the row generated by BBC presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand over prank phone calls to faulty towers actor Andrew Sachs on the BBC's Radio 2. However, my anxiety to follow the saga was based on the bad publicity the two most popular and highly paid BBC presenters were getting from both the public that has adored them all the while, and their fellow journalists who wrote editorials and commentaries castigating the acts of Ross and Brand. After Ross and Brand's apology, Brand resigned while Ross was suspended in the interim of BBC's trust investigation in the matter. The topic ignited 42,000 complaints from the public against the two. The views of the public were heard and just last week, the trust brought out a report blaming the lapse on the lack of editorial and managerial control for their action. I pray for the day similar discipline would be instilled in Sierra Leone's media.
The story also brings to mind the widespread media malpractices in Sierra Leone by mainly veteran journalists which have been taken with a pinch of salt. Neither the Independent Media Commission (IMC) nor SLAJ have been helpful in that regard.
Colleague journalists take advantage of the parochial minds of Sierra Leoneans capitalizing on the high rate of illiteracy. About 15 percent of Sierra Leone's population is literate and I believe less than half of that number has reading as a habit.
In neighboring Liberia, the Liberia Press Union in February 2007 banned The Independent newspaper, one of the country's leading newspapers for professional misconduct. The newspaper was banned from publishing for three months. The LPU also levied a fine on Radio Veritas to the tune of $2500LD for professional misconduct. However, my question is, will the next SLAJ president influence discipline in the profession? Should we be hopeful for a better media practice in Sierra Leone? These are questions that are on the minds of many Sierra Leonean journalists at home and abroad. Senior journalists occupying very important positions in SLAJ have published immoral articles and even nude pictures in the past and those matters have perished in the hands of the law. Journalists under political influence have published immoral articles laced with invectives against fellow journalists.
The hue and cry for media freedom and the scrapping of the criminal libel law is a reality but there is evidence that even with its existence, colleagues have been going beyond their bounds, writing very unpleasant things about people in society. I expect the new SLAJ president to restore our lost professional image in the eyes of the ordinary people of Sierra Leone.
It is expected that the next president will put a complete end to police brutality against innocent journalists. The key words for any practicing journalists must be, fairness, and objectivity based on facts but many in the society believe that journalists in Sierra Leone practice little or none of the above.
We call ourselves the fourth estate and in that regard, the public rely so much on the information that we publish and broadcast. The new SLAJ president would also have the onus of ensuring that journalists in Sierra Leone get the values of best practice. Many young people no longer envy journalism as a career simply because many think the field comprise mainly of dropouts who have lost their bearing, and thus seek solace in journalism.
Apparently, the standard of living of many journalists back home is a concern to lots people especially the meager sum they receive as salary. They live a wretched and deplorable life which does not warrant respect from society. Journalists in the developed world are among the richest people but in Sierra Leone, it is the opposite. People have no respect for journalists because they consider them as beggars who write negative things about people in order to collect money from them the next day. My aspirations are too high for the incoming SLAJ president. He will have a lot to settle albeit the in-house differences and it would be a stepping stone towards solving the problems of journalists in Sierra Leone.
Many young journalists believe that SLAJ in the past was centered on in-depth nepotism wherein only those close to the executive have benefited from programmes meant for journalists. It is clear that only old folks in the profession have been attending conferences, side lining young people that need these trainings yet they would say they are representing all journalists.
We do not want a SLAJ wherein the president would want to abuse the rights of women in order to benefit his selfish interests. The status of female journalists in Sierra Leone is low down the drain. I hope the next president would look into the issue of female journalists and offer them equal opportunity as men, strengthen SLAJ's affiliated organizations such as Women in the Media Sierra Leone (WIMSAL), Sierra Leone Reporters Union (SLRU) and their branches nation-wide.
I am hopeful that SLAJ would bridge the gap with the Mass Communications department at Fourah Bay College in order to give more journalists the opportunity to go for proper academic training and thus prevent the issue of ethical lapses that is currently plaguing the media.
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