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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."

So writes journalist Roger Holmes, in describing the heroic efforts of a group of Sierra Leone reporters to re-build the country's media scene after the ravages of a protracted civil war which has left its newspaper and radio sectors in ruins.

Holmes and fellow media trainer Dale Ratcliffe have been involved since January 2001 in a Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) project to help newspaper workers in Sierra Leone reestablish themselves and strengthen the capacity of the country's media organizations.

Ten months into the 18 month project, Holmes and Ratcliffe gave an update at CJFE's Annual General Meeting on 25 September 2001, describing the successes and challenges facing it.

Sierra Leone has experienced many years of brutal civil war, leaving tens of thousands of lives devastated and a political, economic and social infrastructure in ruins. The CJFE project, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), seeks to provide the needed infrastructure so that the country's print media can operate regularly and efficiently.

This includes the purchase and installation of a printing press, and the establishment of a local cooperative to manage the press. In addition, the project will develop the professional, ethical and reporting capacity of Sierra Leonian journalists in both print and radio.

Meanwhile, journalists in the country continue to work under life threatening situations. Last week, seven reporters were the targets of anonymous death threats, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN).

A copy of a letter obtained by CPJ was titled "Warning: Journalists' Hit List" and named Philip Neville of "Standard Times"; David Tam Baryoh, chief of the Centre for Media, Education and Technology; Jonathan Leigh, editor of the "Independent Observer"; Paul Kamara, founding editor of "For di People"; Chernor Ojuku Sesay of "The Pool"; Richie Olu Gordon of "Peep"; and Pios Foray of "The Democrat". Signed by "Danger Squad", the letter states that "all must die before elections; all these journalists are enemies of the state."

The journalists, all longtime critics of the government, are believed to have been targeted for criticizing the government's recent move to postpone elections, according to CPJ sources. Originally slated for December 2001, the elections have now been rescheduled for May 2002.

Since 1997, 15 journalists in Sierra Leone have been murdered. Thirteen of these murders have been attributed to the Revolutionary United Front rebel group.

For more information, see
www.cpj.org and
www.wan-press.org.