Source: FPA
LONDON – Mr. Rodney D. Sieh, editor and publisher of Liberia’s leading newspaper, FrontPageAfrica says dictatorial regimes are now resorting to social media, particularly Facebook to clamp down on the free press and journalists exposing corruption, greed and nepotism.
Launching his memoir, Journalist on Trial: Fighting Corruption, Media Muzzling and a 5,000 Prison Sentence in Liberia, Friday at Chatham House in London, Mr. Sieh, addressing some of the significant obstacles for independent journalism and freedom of information in many African countries, averred that most modern African leaders are joining US President Donald Trump in clamping down on the free press with ‘Fake News’ labels in a poor attempt at discrediting journalists’ work and muzzling the press through threats on social media.
Said Mr. Sieh: “Sycophantic followers of dictatorial rulers are now using the online medium Facebook to launch verbal attacks on journalists. I personally have received dozens of threats in the past year, my newspaper shut down and staffers picked up because we published an advert about a land that was up for sale. Even though several other newspapers published the same advert, we were singled out for closure and arrest.”
Sadly, he said, “the fear journalists like me have had to endure over the years is crossing over. Western journalists, in the era of US President Donald Trump have a front-row seat to what we have been experiencing over the years. The recent killing of prominent Saudi journalist-turned-critic Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul preceded by the killing of three Russian journalists killed while investigating a shadowy security firm in the Central African Republic (CAR) are just a few of the cases illustrating the dangers that comes with reporting the news. In Africa, the election of US President Donald Trump has even added a new dimension to it all with some leaders now resorting to labeling critical media as enemies of the state and critical reporting as ‘Fake News’.”
The FPA editor used his presentation to reflect on the negative elements of a mixed overall picture at the continental level.
State-controlled media environments, he explained, have implications not only for the journalists they restrict but for all citizens with respect to wider issues of governance and accountability.
The FPA editor assessed the current context and challenges facing independent media and consider the issues that must be addressed in search of comprehensive press freedoms across the continent and globally.
Media Clampdown
On his 2013 prison ordeal which is documented in his memoir, the FPA editor said the fact that a court would sentence him to 5000 years in prison says a lot about the extent silencers of the truth and oppressors of free speech and human rights would go to keep journalists like me from exposing the ills in society.
“Today, scores of my colleagues across the continent have been killed, maimed and persecuted. newspapers have been shut down and fear permeates our work environment. Others live in exile, disconnected from their families. A few others have not been so lucky.”
In South Sudan, considered as the youngest country in the world, Mr. Sieh explained that nearly a dozen journalists have been killed since the start of the civil war in 2013 while Nigeria and the Central African Republic have also recorded journalists’ death in the past few years.
“In The Gambia, where I spent a few years as a reporter for the BBC in the 1990s, I and a lot of my colleagues endured the wrath of former President Yahya Jammeh. I was forced into hiding after reporting about the arrest of my uncle Mr. Kenneth Y. Best, publisher of the Daily Observer newspaper.”
Lamenting Jammeh’s Wrath
Others, he said were not so lucky to escape.
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He recalled the saga of slain Gambian journalist, Mr. Deyda Hydara, who was correspondent for AFP and co-founder and primary editor of The Point, a major independent Gambian newspaper, was an advocate of press freedom and a fierce critic of the government of President Jammeh.
The Jammeh’s government was openly hostile to journalists and had passed two media laws – One, the Amended Criminal Code Bill of 2004, allowed prison terms for defamation and sedition; the other, the Amended Newspaper Bill of 2004, required newspaper owners to purchase expensive operating licenses, registering their homes as security. “When Mr. Hydara announced his intent to challenge these laws, he was assassinated by an unknown gunman while driving home from work in Banjul. Two of his colleagues were also injured.”
Mr. Hydara’s family filed a lawsuit against the government for negligence, and an ECOWAS court ruled in favour of the family in 2014, awarding them $60,000 in damages and legal fees. Up to the time of Mr. Jammeh’s forced exit from power, the government had not yet complied with the ruling.
The FPA editor, who worked for both the Daily Observer and a reporter for the BBC in Banjul at the time, recalled that a few years earlier when Mr. Jammeh seized power on July 22nd, 1994, he was the first journalist to interview he and other coup leaders and says Jammeh was emphatic about returning the country to democratic rule but like most African dictators, he failed to fulfill the pledge.
“Having just fled Liberia and witnessed gruesome killings of my friends, families and loved ones, I was keen to know what Mr. Jammeh’s stance was on human rights and whether he would be another Samuel Doe? Mr. Jammeh emphatically told me, He would not be. In fact, he pledged a speedy return to civilian rule in the shortest possible time. Of course, he went on to rule for 22 years until his fall from the ballot box, going into exile in January 2017 after regional troops made his attempt to hold on to power untenable.”
Mr. Sieh added that threats against journalists in Africa and other parts of the world are at an all-time high but it will not stop the pursuit of the truth. “These are some of the prices media owners like me face on a daily basis. We take risks by putting our lives on the line – without fear or favor.”
Reporting Stories That Matter
The FPA editor said his newspaper’s reporting on critical issues such as female genital mutilation (FGM), prostitution, human rights, corruption, transparency and accountability issues often mean having to break from the norms.
“For example, in 2010, Mae Azango, one of our fiercest journalists, best known for her reporting on FGM, went undercover in 2010 to expose the traditional practice, which is often conducted in secret on young girls. Thanks to Azango, FGM is now been banned in Liberia – outlawed by former President Ellen Johnson- Sirleaf on her last day in office in January.”
He also trumpet the newspaper’s efforts to draw attention to prostitution. “Mae Azango, and another female reporter, also braved the night to shadow prostitutes, who shared their ordeals about the dangers that come with giving up their bodies for as little as five Liberian dollars the equivalent of £0.02 at a time.”
He described the challenges of bringing these stories to light as enormous. “Reporters take risks for little pay as newspaper owners struggle to pay staff and keep the generator running because of an unstable electricity supply. This is often compounded by rigid imposition of taxes many media owners cannot afford.”
In Liberia, he said, corruption, nepotism and greed were among the key reasons a young master sergeant named Samuel Doe and a bunch of low-ranked army officers staged a coup d’etat on April 12, 1980, ending decades of Americo-Liberian rule. Yet, those issues continue to be the main factor stalling Liberia’s progress.
“Today, we have a new government which criticized the previous government for corruption but yet, reports of missing containers with billions in local currency is dominating the news and the government is struggling to explain how it distributed US$25 million intended to curb rising exchange rates. The finance minister says the money was divided amongst money changers in the streets but where is the paperwork? Who received the money?”
These issues he started as far back as April 14, 1979 when a band of progressives advocating against the increase in the price of rice, the country’s staple food took to the streets, killing several and wounding many more as the William R. Tolbert-led government was put on notice that those at the bottom of the economic ladder were eager to see their plight addressed.
“Growing up as a witness to these events helped prepare me for the long journey ahead and what has now become my reluctant claim to infamy – jailed for failing to pay libel damages of $1.6m (£1.2m) won by a former minister who sued my paper after we published the findings of a government audit that found that funds worth $6m intended to combat an army-worm epidemic were unaccounted for.”