By Kemo Cham
[First published by www.politicosl,com] The Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC)
has suspended five of its staff in Kono over the brewing dispute over a
controversial mining project.
The
reporters working with FM90.2 in Kono were sanctioned for failing to report on
a press conference organized by a government minister at the center of the saga,
details of documents seen by Politico indicate.
According to
one of the suspended journalists, Abass Foday Kallon, they were suspended
because they decided against airing comments by the minister, Karamoh Kabba,
which they felt could have worsened an already tense environment in the
district.
Kono, in the
east of the country, has been divided
for months now over the government
sanctioned mining activity at a popular bridge linking the diamond-rich district
to the capital, Freetown. Congo Bridge is thought to be sitting on a vast
reserve of diamond. But exploiting it, besides been illegal as per the
country’s mining laws, also required that a bypass had to be created.
Heavy downpours
last month saw the bypass flooded and the entire district was virtually cut off
from the rest of the country as a result. A number of houses were affected,
with about five totally destroyed, according to reports.
This reality
provoked anger among residents who protested the mining activity and called for
an end to it.
Mr Kabba,
who is Resident Minister for the Eastern region, and the major political
sponsor of the mining program, reportedly angered the residents, particularly
the women folks, with remarks responding to their protests. Kabba reportedly repeated
his comments at the press conference.
Four of the
five suspended journalists who were in attendance decided not to air the story
on the basis of “professional judgment.”
One of them,
Abass Foday Kallon, a reporter and producer, said they decided at an editorial
meeting against airing the minister’s comment because they felt it could have
worsen an already complicated matter for which the media had already been blamed.
The initial
protests had been blamed on alleged inciting media coverage. The resident
minister reportedly ordered a journalist working with a private radio station arrested
over the issue, although that order never materialized.
“Owing to
the fact that SLBC is a national broadcaster, and we try to maintain peace and
stability as part of our functions, we decided to come into our newsroom, we
shared ideas together…” Kallon told me on a telephone interview.
One of the suspended
journalists, an editor, was reportedly penalized for endorsing the decision not
to air the report.
Kallon said
a team of producers, including himself and devoid of the Station Manager,
usually takes a decision on whether a news item gets aired. He said they
decided to call the Station Manager this time round because of the sensitive
nature of the report. But the Manager did not turn up on time, he said.
The Station
Manager, David Francis Cole, could not be reached when contacted by Politico.
But a copy
of a letter of suspension bearing Cole’s signature explained why Kallon was
suspended.
“You should
by now know that you are under the direct supervision of the Regional Station
Manager, who alone controls the authority over what is aired or not,” it reads
in part.
It adds that
Kallon failed to communicate properly to his office.
SLBC was transformed
as an independent broadcaster in 2010 to promote independent journalism within
the state broadcaster.
The
management is arranged so that it works independently of government and
politicians, both in terms of decision making and how it is funded. But very
few believe the broadcaster is really independent.
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