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Freedom of the Press 2008 - Sierra Leone

Status: Partly Free
Legal Environment: 18 (of 30)
Political Environment: 23 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 18 (of 30)
Total Score: 59 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)

Sierra Leone continues to recover from its long civil war and the political instability of earlier years. The constitution guarantees freedom of expression but the retention of the Public Order Act of 1965 continues to threaten the enjoyment of this freedom in practice. The Public Order Act criminalizes libel and holds accountable not only journalists, but also vendors, printers, and publishers. Under this law, the editor of The Standard Times, Philip Neville, was arrested in August and charged with criminal libel after publishing an editorial on the front page of the newspaper critical of government in the wake of a visit by Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi. The opinion piece alleged that the government did not publicly disclose gifts made to Sierra Leone by the Libyan leader. The office of President Tejan Kabbah issued a statement saying there was "no iota of truth in the publication" and demanded "immediate action" be taken against the newspaper. The Standard Times carried the government's rebuttal. When Neville appeared at a Freetown court, bail for his release from prison was set at a record $68,150 in addition to other stringent conditions. All charges against the editor were later dropped after the newspaper retracted the story.

In May, parliament passed an amendment to the media code of practice that provided guidelines for media coverage of public affairs. The code required media to be guided by broad principles of democratization, pluralism, diversity, cultural sensitivity, and responsibility. The media also signed a code of conduct that was aimed at discouraging hate radio and sensational xenophobic publications ahead of the August-September presidential and parliamentary elections. Although the measures probably helped avert the worst excesses in the pre-election period, they did not completely eliminate problematic broadcasts or prevent reprisals against local media in some cases. For example, a station was briefly shut down in Yele for broadcasting material unfavorable to the incumbent Sierra Leone Peoples Part (SLPP). And in June, a Member of Parliament shut down a community radio station in Pujehun district after a broadcast criticized the SLPP for being corrupt and inept.

With the election came a successful transition to a new government; the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party won both the presidential election and a majority in parliament and the SLPP leaders stepped down peacefully. However, the pre-election period was predictably charged with tension; politicians and their media allies on both sides traded charges of biased reporting, threats, and physical violence. Radio stations that belonged to the SLPP and the APC helped fuel the tension, prompting the Independent Media Commission (IMC) to ask the two stations to "tone down" in the hope of restoring calm.

Some of the hostility and violence was directed against foreign journalists, similarly accused of partisan support. As a result, in September the IMC issued a directive to media houses barring them from publishing critical comments on or discussing United Nations (UN) personnel and other international community members in Sierra Leone. The IMC said it was pressured into issuing the directive by the Office of National Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after it received complaints from the office of the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL). The UNIOSIL said it was a target of offensive articles in a number of newspapers, including Awareness Times, Democrat, and Salone Times. Despite the IMC directive, the commission has been credited with helping to improve the professionalism of media practice in Sierra Leone. The boom in the media sector and the improving viability of media ventures is partly credited to the commission's oversight. More than 35 newspapers now publish, many of them privately-owned, and several critical of government. Poor journalistic skills continue to weaken the capacity of professional media practice. Internet access is becoming available rising to 0.2 percent penetration as the country slowly recovers from the disruption of the civil war years.

Topics: Freedom of information, Freedom of expression,