Media Reform – 1997
1997
In 1997, an increasing number of journalists were arrested for critical coverage of the President and other officials. According to the Committee to Project Journalists, 1997 was characterized by a serious crackdown on the media:
“The proposed press law amendments include provisions requiring editors to have 10 years’ prior experience in journalism, five of them in an editorial capacity, and all journalists to hold a degree in their field. Members of the press would be subject to police certification. And a proposed measure directed at controlling publications that the government regards as radical would require newspapers that began circulation after February 1996 to re-register. On May 6, the parliament passed the first section of these amendments to the press law, known as the Newspaper Act of 1997, by an overwhelming majority. The Media Practitioner’s Act of 1997 passed unanimously on May 12. Both bills will now go to Kabbah to be signed into law.”1
- “Sierra Leone 1997,” Committee to Project Journalists, accessed Jan 19, 2015, http://cpj.org/reports/1997/05/sierra.php.