The Guild of Editors has strongly condemned an alleged assault on Prince Christopher Kamara, Editor of Open Space Newspaper, by multiple staff of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) on Tuesday whilst he was on SLBC’s New England Ville premises to cover a strike action.
In a press statement the Secretary General of the Guild, Ishmail Saidu Kanu, said Prince was at the SLBC premises to verify reports of a staff strike action when he was identified by some employees as the author of a critical article. He was then allegedly beaten by over a dozen individuals and sustained a head injury before being forcibly removed from the premises.
Mr Saidu Kanu described the act as “one which constitutes a gross violation of journalistic freedom and a breach of Mr Kamara’s constitutional and legal rights”. He said, “The Guild views the assault as a dangerous precedent for freedom of expression and the safety of journalists in Sierra Leone”.
The Guild has urged the SLBC leadership to immediately launch a thorough and impartial investigation and hold all perpetrators accountable.
Chairman of the Guild, Thomas Josephus Dixon, said: “The media that is always probing and giving opinions of others should be more tolerable when the light is turned on itself. Media gangsterism should not be encouraged. We are trained to use our pens and microphones intelligently. Let us reject media gangsterism”.