JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN
Journalists in both Sudan and South Sudan say threats, intimidation and arbitrary arrests are part of everyday life, limiting their ability to inform the public.
South Sudan ranks 128th and
Sudan ranks 151st out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’
annual World Press Freedom
Index, released Tuesday to coincide with the United Nations’ annual
recognition of World Press Freedom Day. The bigger the number, the worse the
environment for news media.
Irene Ayaa of the Association
for Media Development in South Sudan says government censorship in her country
is widespread.
"Last month, we
registered four articles removed from newspapers," she said.
Between January and March
alone, security personnel removed dozens of articles from the Juba Monitor,
Anna Namiriano, editor-in-chief of an English-language daily, told South Sudan
in Focus. "They removed stories and we left the space blank. They say why
we are not listening to them, so on 17th of March, they suspended the
newspaper."
In February, a handful of
journalists were briefly detained for covering a press conference by opposition
lawmakers in parliament. A Juba Monitor newspaper article about
the incident was removed by security agents at the printing plant.
"We don’t have freedom of
the press in the country," Namiriano said. "The solution is let us do
our work as media houses. We have the code of conduct, we have the media law to
guide us, and removal of stories is really very bad."
South Sudan’s information
minister, Michael Makuei, insists press freedom is alive and well in his
country.
"South Sudan is the only
place where journalists are free, where they enjoy absolute freedom according to
the law. I say, 'according to the law,' because there is nothing absolute in
this world," Makuei told South Sudan in Focus.
The United Nations Commission
on Human Rights refutes that assertion. In a report issued last October, it
said the government is harassing activists, journalists and their families,
limiting their activities and targeting their work and finances. South Sudan is
one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist, according to
the commission.
"South Sudan has a lot of
work to do to establish and solidify the institutions that are critical to a
well-functioning democratic state," David Renz, charge d’affaires for the
U.S. Embassy in South Sudan, said in a statement Tuesday, adding that the U.S. remains
deeply concerned about the state of press freedom in South Sudan.
"We have seen some of the
local radio stations shut down over very trivial matters," Renz said.
"And we also are aware that journalists of radio and television and even
social media are self-censored" and wary of local and national
governments’ actions "to penalize journalists who say things the
government would prefer that they not say."
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