By Musa Paul Feika
The Judiciary of Sierra Leone, through the Judiciary Legal Training Institute (JSLLTI), in collaboration with Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), on Friday 18th June, 2021, has concluded two days training workshop with court reporters across the country.
The event took place at the Peace Museum Special Court Complex, Jomo Kenyatta Road in Freetown, and the purpose of the training was to ensure journalists were specialized in court reporting and court proceedings.
Justice E.E. Robert made the opening remarks, stating that the purpose of the training, which is to guide journalists on how they should report and what they cannot report till certain matters come to their logical conclusion.
Umaru Fofona, one of the trainers, taught journalists on court reporting based on international best practices. According to him, for international standards, a journalist should mention the name of a suspect who has not been officially charged to court, more especially when journalist is reporting on sexual penetration matters, the name of the victim and address should be in a news stories. This is because when the person is officially charged to court and has not been found guilty of the offence being charged, his/her name should not be withdrawn.
Justice A.B. Binneh Kamara J. said a court reporter should do thematic reporting, which means he/she would gather all the necessary information, ranging from the particulars of offences, which contain the names of the accused, address and when the action occurred. He said by doing so, it would create a difference between citizens’ journalism and a mediator communicator (a professional journalist).
Citizen journalists are those who receive any information and disseminating same as they see it without cross-checking and fact checking the information. This, he said, will create drama in mainstream journalism.
According to Justice Alhadi Bintu, the Industrial Court of Social Justice in Sierra Leone was established by Section 3 of the High Court Division of Serra Leone, in order to try matters that have to do with institutions, which have not named their business entities and have failed to pay their National Social Security contributions to NASSIT for their workers.
In addition, Magistrate Marke Ngegba threw light on the Industrial Court by stating that matters, which are tried in the Industrial Court, are somehow different from the normal proceedings at the Magistrates’ courts level. He added that the essence of the Industrial Court trials was not actually to remand the defendants, but rather to ensure that the defendants fulfill their obligations. As a result, most defendants were normally granted bail.
In his closing address, Hon Justice Brown-Marke, the acting Chief Justice of Sierra Leone, applauded journalists for jobs well done in court reporting. He said there are over thousands if not a million Sierra Leoneans who did not have time to attend court proceedings. But he said journalists have been helping the Judiciary of Sierra Leone by disseminating information to the general public about court proceedings.