Southern Sudanese to formulate media policies

Sept 29, 2005 (RUMBEK) — Southern Sudanese journalistes and media practitioners, assembled in Rumbek from 21 to 23 September to discuss and formulate media policies to be submitted to the government of Southern Sudan for consideration .

The meeting was attended by a northern Sudanese observer, Faisal al-Baghir, and some international media experts.

The Rumbek media roundtable conference was officiated by the vice-president of the government of Southern Sudan, Riek Machar, who lamented the lack of adequate media outlets of southern Sudan. He urged southern Sudanese journalists to hurry with their proposal to the government which is willing to use their expertise.

He said it was in the plan of the government of southern Sudan to have a radio and a television station in every state.

Dubbed a roundtable media conference, this was the second time Southern Sudanese journalists were meeting to discuss the development of the media in southern Sudan.

The first one took place in Nairobi early this year under the auspices of the Association of Media Development in Southern Sudan, an umbrella organization of media house owners. It was at this meeting that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) requested the journalists to come up with a draft policy proposal on which the government of southern Sudan will base its policies.

The unanimous decision was that any existing law or body that restricts the freedom of the press should be scrapped. The meeting declared that the National Press Council has no place in a democratic country which Sudan is aspiring to be. The journalists said it should be disbanded as it is being used as a tool of repression by the government.

The roundtable also declared that if there was a need to register journalists it should be done by a professional body formed by journalists themselves but not by a government body.

(Khartoum Monitor/ST)