South Sudan witnessing increasing infringement on media dissemination, journalists’ body warns

By Tapeng Michael Ohure

There is an increasing infringement on media dissemination in South Sudan included deleting articles from pubications and denying journalists access to information, the Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) said.

The body that brings together journalists operating in the country singled out newspapers in Juba as victims of the acts.

On Tuesday, March 15, two articles were removed from Juba Monitor as well as one article from the Dawn Newspaper, and again on Thursday, March 17, Juba Monitor saw five articles plucked out of its pages.

“The removal of articles from the newspapers is a violation of the public’s right of access to information and therefore denies the public crucial information which they need to know to make choices in their life,” UJOSS President, Oyet Patrick Charles, said in an emailed statement on Friday.

The statement mentioned that journalists operating in Bentiu, the capital of Unity State were also blocked from covering elections of the Youth Union State Branch officials on Friday.

“These practices are not in conformity with Articles 24 and 32 of Transitional Constitution of South Sudan 2011, as amended,” Charles said.

Charles called on authorities at all levels to observe utmost restraints and allow journalists to freely do their work of informing and educating the public. “We also appeal to any offended party to report any grievances to the Media Authority, the institution legally tasked with media regulation,” he said.