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Sierra Leone

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From the Communiqué

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New broadcasting act keeps public media under state control

Parliament passed a bill earlier this month that turns the state-run Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service (SLBS) into a public service broadcaster, but the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) says the President will still have undue powers.

GOVERNMENTS TURN AGAINST MEDIA, NIGERIAN KILLED

NIGERIA: Police Involvement Suspected in Killing of Journalist

EDITOR'S DEATH SPARKS CALLS FOR PROBE

International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the International Press Institute (IPI) are calling on Sierra Leonean authorities to investigate the death of Harry Yansaneh, a journalist who died last week of kidney

"DRACONIAN" LAW USED TO MUZZLE CRITICS

In Sierra Leone, where journalists can be jailed for libeling public officials, the Public Order Act has become a convenient tool for silencing critics. Just ask Paul Kamara, Sydney Pratt and Dennis Jones. All three journalists have been imprisoned on charges of "seditious libel" after writing articles about alleged government corruption.

CPJ ASSESSES STATE OF THE MEDIA

For a country only recently emerging from years of brutal civil war, Sierra Leone's media have come a long way? and still have a long way to go, according to a special report released last week by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The organisation visited the country in May 2002 to assess the state of relations between government and the media, and how the press covered the recent elections.

CJFE REPORTS ON MEDIA REBUILDING PROJECT; SEVEN JOURNALISTS ON HIT LIST

"The pay is low, the hours are long, but they keep at it. They have little advertising. They write about huge national stories. They criticize government. They struggle."