Denying media access to information equals fueling misinformation
Eight journalists, including a civil rights activist, were arrested yesterday by national security for covering a press conference called by some aggrieved members of parliament at the main parliamentary hall.
According to the information, the national security officers said the journalists did not follow the right procedures despite the fact that the media outlets have been covering several events at the parliament.
They confiscated the recorders and took the journalists in for questioning, though they were later released and told to always seek permission before covering a parliamentary event. Indeed, those journalists who were unlawfully arrested and detained were from different media houses. They were invited by the MPs themselves to cover the event.
However, such scenarios may even make it impossible for society to fight against misinformation when there is no access to information.
Therefore, if the event entailed discussions that were not packaged for public consumption, then the people concerned should not have invited the media. At that point, the journalists had committed no crime because they had responded to the invitation. On the other hand, those who served the media with the invitation should have been the right people to be questioned.
Secondly, if the group of aggrieved MPs had specific concerns to be discussed by the assembly, they should have conducted that press conference in a different venue instead of the August House, where vulnerable reporters became prey to harassment. They should have conducted that press conference in a hotel or on their party premises.
However, journalists are just like the messengers that existed in traditional society, especially in African society, where messengers were relied upon in the monarchical regimes.
A messenger is always not treated as a criminal because his or her work is just to deliver information.
At this particular point, you cannot understand why the journalists were taken for interrogation and not the MPs who were the hosts of the event. Whatever the case, it is important for the authorities and journalists to coordinate among themselves to avoid misunderstandings because, in most cases, journalists are viewed as law offenders even though they have not committed anything wrong.
On several occasions, it is only the journalists who are blamed and detained for covering the event that the authorities deem illegal, not the organisers.
All over the world, journalists are facing similar challenges, and South Sudan is not an exception. So, there is a need to provide a conducive environment for journalists to conduct their work efficiently without interruption.
The working relationship between journalists and different public institutions also needs to be improved to allow the media to exercise the right to the freedom of expression and access to information so that they can provide the public with the right information.
