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Media Reform
SPLM/SPLA-IO, Addis Ababa.
Press Release
August 31, 2014(Nyamilepedia) — South Sudan’s armed opposition proposes that the freedom and independence of electronic, print and all other types of media shall be guaranteed by the Federal Republic of South Sudan (FRSS).
The opposition proposes that the government of the Federal Republic of South Sudan shall not penalize any person for any opinion or view or the content of any broadcast, publication or dissemination.
The reform Republic, FRSS, shall not “exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium; or Freedom of expression or freedom of the media”.
The Federal Republic shall give all media the freedom to establishment and broadcasting in any form, subject only to licensing procedures that are necessary to regulate the airwaves and other forms of signal distribution, and are independent of control by government, political interests or commercial interests.
The state-own outlets of the Federal Republic of South Sudan shall be free to determine independently the editorial content of their broadcasts or other communications, be impartial and afford fair opportunity for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions.
The report below is recorded near verbatim.
Begin the report …
SPLM/SPLA POSITION
ON
MEDIA REFORMS
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA
AUGUST 28, 2014
Media Reforms
- The freedom and independence of electronic, print and all other types of media shall be guaranteed by the FRSS
- The FRSS shall not—
(a) Exercise control over or interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, the production or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium; or Freedom of expression or freedom of the media.
(b) Penalize any person for any opinion or view or the content of any broadcast, publication or dissemination.
- Broadcasting and other electronic media shall have freedom of establishment, subject only to licensing procedures that—
(a) are necessary to regulate the airwaves and other forms of signal distribution; and
(b) are independent of control by government, political interests or commercial interests.
- FRSS-owned media shall—
(a) be free to determine independently the editorial content of their broadcasts or other communications;
(b) be impartial; and
(c) afford fair opportunity for the presentation of divergent views and dissenting opinions.
- Parliament shall enact legislation that provides for the establishment of a Media Council, which shall—
(a) be independent of control by government, political interests or commercial interests;
(b) reflect the interests of all sections of the society; and
(c) set media standards, regulate and monitor compliance with those standards by journalists, media practitioners and enterprises.
(d) Promote and protect independence of media.
(e) Ensure that all journalists and enterprises of the media community maintain professionalism and are required to have high ethical standards to ensure complaint to the code of conduct.
(f) Accreditations of foreign media journalists and set up the validity of their duration.
(g) Manage and regulate funds raised through accreditation, fees and registration of Journalists.
(h) Develop code of conduct for its business.
(i) Handle issues of violations and disputes among the media community.
(j) Develop code of conduct for practice of journalism that requires all journalists to report fair, accurate and unbiased story on matters of public interest.
(k) Setup regulation to govern its own procedures.
(l) Review Media bills developed by the Ministry of Information and broadcasting and enact them in to law.
SPLM/SPLA© 2014 2
