The gall tacitly expressed before by pro-government newspapers before the last elections is understandable. All their valiant efforts seem to have been in vain. There are other newspapers that seemed to be on the fence as it were waiting to jump to the winning side. There are newspapers on the left, right and at the centre but most of them were of the impression that the then government would not only win but by a landslide.
What is rather curious is that most of the papers that were supporting the APC have not been inclined to change their stance. They are still trenchant in their criticism and are of the view that they can remove the incumbent government in the 2023 elections. And why not? After all hope is the last thing extinguished in the heart of man.
A certain well-known newspaper was one of the factors responsible for the removal from power of the SLPP government in the 2007 elections. The newspaper now housed in Brookfield’s Freetown cashed in upon the unfortunate statement of the late President Kabbah that the government of Sierra Leone received three ship loads of rice as if the rice was distributed to SLPP members free of charge. The fact is that the consignment was sold and its proceeds were used to establish institutions like NASSIT of which the then opposition leader was aware. The APC official organ We Yone has been rather ineffective since the retirement of the late Sam .J.E. Metzger. During his editorship of that newspaper it was best selling. His successors have been so mediocre that We Yone is at the bottom of sales. The incumbent editor was constrained to indulge in some corrupt practices in order for the newspaper to be kept in circulation. Their stance is obvious because a democracy in the Western sense of the word needs opposition as part of its definition.
The SLPP had not been serious with a newspaper as a crusading front and as a result they have not yet placed great premium on newspaper publicity. During the last APC government they failed to be trenchant at a time when the then opposition SLPP parliament could only be described as lack luster and fractious.
After the war the Unity newspaper was almost a nonentity and the then Vision newspaper had to come to the rescue of the Tejan-Kabbah government. The newspaper was about the only one to publicize the government in the face of fierce criticism from the ever-anxious APC to return to power even after its disappointment of the electorate. The Vision has since gone through vicissitudes and its present stance is anybody’s guess.
The rest of the hordes of about 30 registered newspapers consist of about 15that are published regularly. Among these are the Concord Times that had ever been so neutral, the Awoko also seemingly neutral and The Nationalist with vitriolic writing to bring down the SLPP government the next day.
Objectivity for most newspapers has been rather elusive mainly due to the fact of penury and the fact that he who pays the piper calls the tune. Newspapers are supposed to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is refreshing that in spite of their proprietors some editors can refuse to bend the truth. They should be untrammeled by sinister influence from any quarter. When occasion demands they should raise hell. Newspapers should stop dishing out trash to the public.