A civil society activist has called for the support of media houses as South Sudan gears towards a fully-fledged democratic dispensation to avoid misinformation and disinformation in the transformation process.
The Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, said financing the media would salvage the few available outlets to produce credible information for public consumption in the ongoing political development in the country.
“Financing the news media outlets right now in South Sudan is essential for creating space for effective civic engagement in the political transitional processes, especially constitution-making, transitional justice, institutions, and legislative/policy reforms,” Yakani said.
“Without vibrant news media outlets across South Sudan, the chance of misinformation and disinformation taking the lead in shaping public opinion is very high. Proper financing leads to vibrant news media outlets. “
According to Mr Yakani, South Sudan’s ongoing political transitional process, aimed at ending the violence and bringing peace through the genuine implementation of the Revitalised Agreement, requires vibrant media.
In a statement released yesterday, Yakani stressed that CEPO’s civic space watch realised that financing news media outlets in South Sudan was becoming problematic, impacting negatively on the sustainability of scarce news outlets in the country.
He further stated that the availability of the media as the fourth estate or the fourth branch of the government allows the public to make informed decisions, hold leaders accountable, and have access to diverse opinions without the influence of the government.
“CEPO Civic Space Watch programme realised that since 2013, annually the news media financing has been reduced and this demonstrated [by] the evidence of professional journalists leaving the news media houses and joining media tasks in non-news media institutions.”
“New emerging newspapers are not staying for long, old news media houses are witnessing regular turnover of journalists, and radio stations are fitting to the commercial industry than newspaper,” said Yakani.
He continued: “The political transition process in South Sudan requires influential news media outlets. The low rate of financial investment in news media in South Sudan is making most news media outlets close or lose professional journalists. This means a low trigger for public motivation for civic engagement. “
At independence, South Sudan had over 10 newspapers, such as The Citizen, The Juba Post, Sudan Mirror, The Southern Eye, The Star, The New Times, The Hero and the Nation, among others, but all have closed due to either pressure from the government or financial constraints.
In recent years, some newspapers, such as Agamlong and Star Tribune, ceased publication for what was considered financial incapability.