Sierra Leone has continued to make impressive leaps on its media freedom credentials. In the 20th World Press Freedom Index report published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday 3rd April 2022, Sierra Leone was ranked 46th out of 180 countries, jumping 29 places up from 75th position in 2021.

This is the highest Sierra Leone has ranked over the last five years, as it was 85 in 2017, 79 in 2018, 86 in 2019, 85 in 2020, 75 in 2021. Sierra Leone has been in the ranking since 2013.

The annual RSF World Press Freedom Index assesses the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories based on the political, economic, sociocultural contexts, media legal framework, and safety of journalists.

The new methodology for Press Freedom Index defines press freedom as “the effective possibility for journalists, as individuals and as groups, to select, produce and disseminate news and information in the public interest, independently from political, economic, legal and social interference, and without threats to their physical and mental safety.”

“This RSF’s new selection criterion sits well with our efforts to support and promote media freedom in Sierra Leone. Our impressive World Press Freedom ranking this year is a testament of the Government of Sierra Leone’s concrete actions to unshackle the media and chart a pathway for sustainable funding mechanism for the media in a manner that is inclusive, transparent and sustainable, and guarantees the free flow of public interest content,” the Ministry of information and Communication stated.

“The repeal of part 5 of the 1965 Public Order Act, the new IMC Act and code of practice for journalists, the Cyber Security and Crimes Act 2021 and the just concluded media viability and investment conference were all the cumulative building blocks for this progress,” they added.

The information ministry noted that, “While we celebrate the world freedom index report, we also believe that this by itself is not enough to guarantee and sustain press freedom and the free flow of trusted public interest content without a viable media.

The Ministry further noted that at this year’s World Press Freedom day meetings, they are told that Sierra Leone is already ahead of the game.

“We are already working with partners across the media ecosystem to improve the funding environment of the media and to re-energise the media to be more transparent and improve its systems and processes to enhance its access to public interest funding. As we forge ahead with determination to improve the media landscape, we are also happy to report that Sierra Leone has been included in a list of 17 countries, on the maiden call for funding by the International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM). We hope that access to IFPIM and other donor funding will allow us to roll out our media viability national action plan developed during the Media Viability and Investment Conference,” they stated.