Media and the right to communicate in Sierra Leone

The right to communicate comes out of Article 19 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which states that: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinion without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers’ (United Nations, 1997).

Key aspects of communication rights have been enshrined in legal frameworks such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Ó Siochrú, 2004, p. 23). Debates over the right to communicate have focused on access to information and active participation through mass media, seen as both an individual and collective entitlement.

A notion of communication rights therefore allows us to ask questions about ‘how commu•nicative opportunities [can] be assured and enhanced for everyone’ (McIver, Birdsall & Rasmussen, 2004, p. 9). Communication rights are often invoked in discussion of media devel•opment, as a way of framing the need to empower the most marginalized and poorest populations. It is in this light that we examine the relationship between poverty and the right to communicate.

We suggest that a regulatory framework supporting the right to communicate is a neces•sary, but not sufficient starting point for media development that gives voice to everyone. In Sierra Leone, poverty and underdevelopment conspire to undermine communication rights, and must be addressed before a rights-based philosophy can be substantiated.

Sierra Leone: Media and society

Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is at the bottom of the United Nation’s index of human development indica•tors. The nation is slowly emerging from the civil war which devastated the country between 1991 and 2002. After the war, 70% of the pop•ulation are illiterate, life expectancy stands at 38 years, and infant mortality is 170 per 1,000 (Coker, 2003).

Despite its traumatic recent history, the country has a distinguished media history. Sierra Leone was the first nation in Anglophone West Africa to publish newspa•pers. The Royal Gazette and Sierra Leone Advertiser first came out in January 1801. A seminal publication, it stimulated newspaper activity throughout British West Africa. During the 19th century, a variety of newspapers were published in Sierra Leone, which became the ‘hub of African journalism’ (Ziegler and Asante, 1992: 12). The strength and diversity of Freetown newspapers were sustained throughout the colonial era.

When Sierra Leone gained independence in 1961, a viable media infrastructure was thus already in place. In the post-colonial era, the climate was initially supportive of a free press, under the rule of Milton Margai. However, subsequent governments sought to control the media by means of legislation, threats and coer•cion (Cole, 1995). The climate for media oper-ation deteriorated dramatically during the civil war. 70% of trained media professionals left Sierra Leone, ‘leaving the industry in the hands of mostly untrained media practitioners’ (Coker, 2003: 78).

Since the end of the war in 2002, and the return of many displaced citizens and journal•ists, a vibrant and diverse media has emerged once again under the democratically elected regime of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah. Today’s media landscape in Sierra Leone includes a total of 44 newspapers, 33 community radio stations, 6 international radio relay stations and 4 televi•sion stations (Independent Media Commission, August, 2006). Most of the community radio stations are supported by international donors. Talking Drum Studios, supported by the world•wide NGO, Search for Common Ground, dis•tributes programs to 20 community broadcast•ers (Search for Common Ground, 2006).

The Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and the Radio Netherlands Training Center, through its local subsidiary INFOR•MOTRAC, have between them supported the establishment of over 25 community radio sta•tions. In addition, popular media forms, includ•ing theater and music, have long played a key role in shaping public debate. Since the end of the civil war, popular musicians including Daddy Saj and Emmerson Bockarie have called attention to the problem of endemic corrup•tion. Their music has been so influential that some observers have likened them to an unoffi•cial opposition.

While most areas of the country now have access to at least one community radio station, the popularity of newspapers appears to be waning. Of the 44 newspapers registered with the Independent Media Commission, only about 12 of them are published regularly. Half are printed on a daily basis, while others come out once, twice or three times a week. Leading newspapers include New Citizen, Standard Times, Independent Observer, Concord Times, and Awareness Times.

Here, we look at how newspapers in Sierra Leone can contribute to the right to communi•cate, but also critically examine how legal con•straints and a scarcity of resources interact to make it difficult for these home-grown newspa•pers to provide information and give voice to the population.

Legal constraints

Journalists in Sierra Leone have been enjoying increasing freedom of expression since the end of the Civil War. Today, Sierra Leonean journal•ists report freely on any event, issue, or activity. They name and shame corrupt officials in the hope that this will serve as a deterrent; they play their watchdog role by monitoring the activities of the government and institutions of public trust. Nevertheless, this is not to say that it is all rosy under the democratic dispensation. Like the legal frameworks prevailing in most other African countries (Ogbondah, 2002: 58), the Sierra Leone Constitution guarantees free•dom of expression, supporting aspects of the right to communicate.

However, the defamatory and criminal libel laws contained in the 1965 Public Order Act work against the guarantee of communication rights, insofar as they criminalize seditious libel. The act empowers the judiciary to jail journalists convicted of libel. It also allows for the conviction of anyone who utters, prints, publishes, sells, distributes, reproduces or imports seditious information. Not only are individual newsworkers vulnerable to charges of seditious libel; the legislation also criminal•izes printing houses and vendors. Critics of the legislation argue that it is used as a tool to sup•press dissent against power holders, while pro•ponents insist it is a necessary tool in enforcing the responsible practice of journalism.

The most high-profile Public Order court case since the return to democracy in 1996 has been that of Paul Kamara, the editor of For Di People, who spent 13 months in jail (October 2004 to November 2005) for publishing stories about President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah which the courts found to be libelous. The sentence was later overturned by the Appeal Court which argued that Kamara’s action did not amount to sedition.

However, since the establishment of the Independent Media Commission in 2002, very few journalists have been charged under the Public Order Act as the public instead take their complaints to the IMC. In 2005, a total of 27 complaints were lodged at the IMC by the public ( IMC 2005 Annual Report). From January to June 2006, 18 complaints were lodged. At Commission hearings, the com•plainant and the offending newspaper are pre•sent. If the complaint is proved to be libelous, defamatory or false, the editor is requested to publish a retraction and apology.

Overall, guaranteeing free expression does not necessarily provide all that is required for the right to communicate to thrive. Such a right must also be considered in the context of responsible journalism practice.

Operational problems

The most significant challenge to newspaper operation in Sierra Leone is the lack of a viable economy. It is extremely difficult for newspa•pers to gain significant advertising revenues and income from sales. The cost of advertising is the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa and proba•bly in the world; a full-page advertisement can be bought for Le300,000 (US$95). The largest advertisers in Sierra Leone are mobile phone companies, the government, and NGOs, espe•cially the UN.
The combined circulation of all newspapers does not exceed 10,000 copies. This small fig•ure should be viewed in the context of overall newspaper circulation in sub-Saharan Africa, where ‘daily newspaper circulation remains at twenty per 1,000 compared to the worldwide average of ninety per 1,000’ (Ogundimu, 2002: 220).

There are several reasons for the low circu•lation figures. First, low literacy rates severely restrict the audience. As a result, newspapers cater to urban, English-speaking and affluent elite of ‘government officials, politicians, busi•ness executives, university students, lecturers and the diplomats’ (Sumana, 2005). Secondly, because of their weak financial base, very few newspapers can afford to station reporters outside the capital, Freetown.

These factors highlight a significant chal•lenge to the right to communicate in the Sierra Leonean context and beyond: While the prolif•eration of newspapers in the capital allows political and economic elites to ‘seek, receive and impart information and ideas’, there is little access to information and participation for the majority of the population living outside Freetown.

Shortage of technology and equipment

Though reporting from urban centers allow journalists to hold elites to account, this task is made more difficult by a lack of basic resources. One of the most fundamental chal•lenges to running a technology-intensive enter•prise in Sierra Leone is the lack of a consistent electricity supply. It means that newspapers, like most other businesses, rely on expensive gas-fueled generators. There is also a shortage of adequate printing presses in the country (Nasralla, 2005).

The owners of the presses that do operate are often fearful of publishing material critical of the government because they are liable for contents under the Public Order Act. The print•ing presses are unreliable because their outdat•ed equipment frequently breaks down, suffering from a lack of spare parts and routine mainte•nance. Only two newspapers, Standard Times and AWOKO, print in color. The printing presses are also affected by short supply of con•sumables.
Moreover, there is a scarcity of basic tech•nologies and materials necessary for newspaper production. This includes access to computers, printers, telephones, cameras, paper, notepads, pens and pencils, tape recorders, office space, and office furniture for journalists. A visit by the IMC to newspaper houses in 2005 revealed that several of the papers do not even have office space. A survey of 50 Freetown print journalists showed that while one out of five respondents have access to computers and tele•phones in the newsroom, only one out of ten have access to tape recorders and note pads (Parkinson, 2005).

Without such basic technologies, it is much more difficult for newspaper journalists to cover even basic breaking news stories dealing with political elites, let alone make the effort to broaden access by seeking out the voices of the marginalized and underprivileged.

Exacerbating these resource problems is the fact that because of the limited financial resources of newspapers, few are able to pay their employees a living wage. According to one study, the average monthly salary of Sierra Leonean journalists is about Le 60,000 (US$25.48) (Nasralla, 2005: 9). By comparison, the per capita GDP of Sierra Leone was US$600 in 2004, according to the CIA World Factbook. On this basis, Sierra Leone was ranked at 230 out of 232 countries in the world. And even within the impoverished national context, journalists’ wages stand out as particularly low. A considerable percentage of newspaper journalists – at least 20% – work entirely without pay (Parkinson, 2005: 33). Because newspapers cannot pay their workers a living wage, journalists are forced to find other means to support themselves. This occasionally translates into unethical practices.

Some journalists engage in what is known as ‘coasting,’ or the use of blackmail. Coasting is a significant source of revenue, accounting for 30% of reporters’ income according to one study (Parkinson, 2005). It works as follows. Upon joining the newspaper staff, journalists are issued with a press ID card. They ‘coast’ by using this card to coax money out of individu•als or organizations (Parkinson, 2005). First, journalists may require payments by organizers of events in exchange for coverage. For exam•ple, the local coordinator for the aid agency ADRA recalled that at a news conference held by his organization, a photographer demanded payment for covering the event.

A second form of ‘coasting’ involves journalists making demands for payment in exchange for keeping secret damaging information – whether real or fabricated. Coasting is the con•sequence of resourceful individuals adapting to a resource-poor environment. However, this does not make it defensible. The end result of widespread coasting is that journalists are mistrusted (Reno, 2004).

Altogether, these resource problems highlight the fact that vibrant news media do not guar•antee the right to communicate. What is also needed is a sound financial basis to create a framework for the responsible operation of mass media, and an audience empowered to access these media. •

References

• Coker, P. (2003) ‘The Role of the Media and Public
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• Cole, B. (1995). Mass Media Freedom and Democracy in Sierra Leone. Freetown, Sierra Leone: Premier Media Publishing House.
• IMC (2005). 2005 Annual Report, Independent Media Commission, Reffo Printing, Freetown.
• McIver Jr., W. J.; Birdsall, W. F., and Rasmussen, M. (2004). ‘The Internet and the Right to Communicate.’ Media Development 4/2004, 3-15.
• Nasralla, A. S. (2005). ‘Running a Newspaper as a Business: A Case Study of Sierra Leonean Newspapers.’ Unpublished dissertation, Institute of Library Information and Communication Studies, Fourah Bay College.
• Ó Siochrú, S. (2004). ‘Communication Rights Create Spaces for Democratic Discussion.’ Media Development 4/2003, 23-26.
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• Parkinson, D. (2005) ‘Problems Affecting Newspaper Management in Sierra Leone from 2000-2005.’ Unpublished dissertation, Institute of Library Information and Communication Studies, Fourah Bay College.
• Reno, W. (2004). ‘Countries at the Crossroads: Country Profile of Sierra Leone.’ UNPAN Executive Summary, available online at http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/docu-ments/nispacee/unpan016206.pdf, accessed October 25, 2005.
• Search for Common Ground. (2006). Mission Statement. Sierra Leone Encyclopedia 2006, available online at http://www.daco_sl.org/encyclopedia/4_part/4_4sfcg.ht m, accessed July 27.
• United Nations. (1997). Human Rights: A Compilation of International Instruments. New York, NY: United Nations.
• Ziegler, D., and M. K. Asante (1992). Thunder and Silence: The Mass Media in Africa. Trenton, New Jersey: Africa World Press.
• Karin Wahl-Jorgensen teaches at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom. Bernadette Cole teaches at the Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies, Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, and is a member of the Independent Media Commission, Sierra Leone.