Information Minister Chernor Bah Initiates Workshop to Review National Media Policy

Sierra Leone’s Minister of information and civic education, Chernor Bah has on the 7th September 2023 opened a one-day workshop on the review of the Draft National Media and Information Policy at Dohas Hotel in Bo.

The workshop which was organized by the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MoICE), incorporated different media practitioners from across the country to discuss on the draft policy and have a comprehensive document that will serve a national purpose.

The National Information Policy is aimed at transforming leadership and shared governance as well as propagating Sierra Leone as a model nation-state in the global community.

The minister stated that the media landscape needs urgent attention, and lauded the efforts of the organizers for putting together the workshop that is intended to shape the media landscape in the country. He implored media practitioners to grab the opportunity to go digital as the media world evolves daily. He called on all institutions to have a functional website to enhance credibility.

He called on stakeholders in the media ecosystem to ensure they promote the active participation of women in any process involving the growth of the media industry.

“We cannot move this country forward with only men at the forefront. The President has demonstrated his willingness to promote women’s participation in governance through the GEWE Act. I want to call on institutions to obey the legislation and ensure women’s representation is actualized. Women are development partners,” he said.

In addressing the challenges in government communication, the Minister disclosed that, there will be a review of the whole Government Information Architecture in order to come up with a comprehensive information framework that will speak to how the Government can effectively communicate to its people and concluded by wishing the organizers a fruitful deliberation and urged them to bring out a National Media and Information Policy that speaks to the 21st Century media.