Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah has commenced a one-day workshop on the Review of the Draft National Media and Information Policy. The National Information Policy is aimed at transforming leadership and shared governance and also geared towards propelling Sierra Leone as a model nation-state in the global community.
The workshop is organized by the Media Reform Coordinating Group (MRCG) in partnership with the Ministry of Information and Civic Education (MoICE), and assembled media gurus across the country to participate in the formulation of a draft policy to bring out a comprehensive document that will serve as the National Media and Information Policy.
Delivering the keynote address, Minister Bah stated that the media ecosystem 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.
As a Minister with a feminist background, 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.
The Minister 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.
Other speakers from the Independent Media Commission, Right to Access Information Commission, Women in the Media Sierra Leone and the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists contributed to the workshop to push for a National Information Policy that will transform the media to a proactive, progressive and participatory one.
