By KABS KANU
Cocorioko Publisher
The media are the focal point of the community. They are the guiding light of their society .They are the most relied upon vehicle of analyses of societal problems and aspirations.
When the media fail to deal with issues affecting the lives of the people, they have failed in their responsibility to mirror their society. With just one look at the headlines of print Newspapers, TV radio and online news outlets a reader should be able to evaluate accurately what is happening in a country and the mood of the people. But today’s media in Sierra Leone do not mirror the issues affecting the lives of the people.
I have heard many people complaining on social media that most of the country’s newspapers, like civil society and the judiciary have been bought by the ruling SLPP Paopa Government. The reason given is that since the SLPP came to power in 2018, only very few newspapers like THE NATIONALIST, AWARENESS TIMES, FORUM , STANDARD TIMES COCORIOKO. SIERRA LEONE TELEGRAPH. SIERRA EXPRESS and of course the AFRICANIST PRESS from among over 60 print and online newspapers that grace the newsstands and computer screens every week, actually describe what is really going on in the country.
Only two weeks ago, there was a massive bye-elections chaos in Kailahun. Homes were burnt; people were forced to flee into the bush with their belongings on their heads. and a young man, who was the only son of his mother, was killed in the bedlam. Citizen journalists and eyewitnesses provided gruesome and frightening videos of the chaos , with smokes from burning building, people fleeing for their lives and a sorrowful clip of a mother weeping pathetically over the bloody remains of her son, who had been bludgeoned to death.
Since it was a major event bearing on the peace, safety and security of the people, this chaos should have elicited screaming and bold headlines in Sierra Leone’s newspapers and television. But only very, very few newspapers published anything about the disturbances in Kailahun, not to mention write stinging editorials blaming the culprits and condemning the chaos, as would have been the case during the halcyon days of Sierra Leone journalism.
The reason that majority of the Sierra Leone media refused to report on the Kailahun violence was that the victims , during interviews by eyewitnesses and citizen journalists, blamed supporters of the SLPP Paopa Government for the mayhem and grisly death. They accused SLPP supporters and the pro-government army and police of launching attacks on rival supporters, burning their houses and killing the boy who lost his life in the conflict.
Ironically, when the SLPP won the bye-elections it was banner headlines in many newspapers. By such selective reporting , the Sierra Leone news media is performing a huge disservice to the people and the country. The people of Sierra Leone are facing monumental problems under this oppressive and vindictive SLPP Government.
There are glaring problems of extreme economic hardship, tribalism and discrimination, judicial bias against the opposition, oppression and suppression of dissident voices, rampant corruption , human rights abuses , violence, lawlessness , elections fraud, intimidation and bullying of opposition opponents environmental destruction, etc.etc. Yet, how many newspapers report on these issues ? How many produce editorials and op/ed articles highlighting these problems and offering solutions ?
When you read most of our newspapers, you think that all is going well in Sierra Leone. But in actuality, the country is sitting on a tinderbox that will explode one day, if changes are not made.
The news media are failing the people of Sierra Leone every day because of partisan politics and tribalism. In a country where regionalism and ethnicity determine political alignments, it is not surprising that the media are failing the nation because most of the editors and publishers hail from the South/East, the stronghold of the ruling SLPP Government. They would rather attack the opposition APC than expose the crimes, abuses , failures of the SLPP. and everyday reality in the country.
When Sierra Leoneans wake up in the morning and find that most of the newspapers, radio and TV have refused to publish the events of the past days because they do not want to put the SLPP Government in bad light, they get very disappointed and frustrated. Ask the ordinary man in the street about the media and the response you will receive is that the media are not reflecting what is really going on in the country.
IT IS A SHAME.
A CRYING SHAME FOR A NATION ONCE REGARDED AS THE BEDROCK OF HONEST, OBJECTIVE AND VIBRANT JOURNALISM IN WEST AFRICA.
