Council Of Ministers To Approve Media Bills Hon. Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin the Minister for Information and Broadcasting has announced that the media bills are now ready and are awaiting approval by the Council of Ministers before they can be taken back to the National Legislative Assembly for enactment.29 August 2011 Dr Marial addressing participants at the media workshop organised by the Information Ministry and co-sponsored by Japanese International Cooperation Agency [©M. Safi] JUBA, 29th August 2011 – Hon. Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin the Minister for Information and Broadcasting has announced that the media bills are now ready and are awaiting approval by the Council of Ministers before they can be taken back to the National Legislative Assembly for enactment.
Dr. Marial made these remarks on Friday when he opened a media workshop, co-sponsored by his ministry and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), in Juba. He appreciated the role played by the Japanese government in supporting media development in the country through capacity building. The Information Minister said that said that the bills, which include the Media Council Bill and South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation Bill have been returned to the Ministry after being refined by the Ministry of Justice. He said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will meet with the Ministries of Justice, and Telecommunications and Postal Services to review the bills before submitting them to the Council of Ministers, possibly this week. The minister reiterated the government’s commitment to press freedom. However, he pointed out that the people of South Sudan have high expectations of the media. He urged media practitioners to work diligently so as not to disappoint the people. He said that there is need for programmes to build the capacity of the media professionals to empower them to design and deliver appropriate media products for South Sudan. He also explained that South Sudan has made remarkable strides towards buttressing media freedom in the country in spite of the fact that it has just become independent. He appealed for patience and explained that the media environment needs time to mature. He said that even leading media entities like the BBC took time to develop. Dr Marial also said that the information needs of a country like South Sudan, which has diverse socio-cultural setups and challenges, cannot be met effectively by the government alone without the input of the independent media. For instance, he explained that it is through community radios, television stations and other neighbourhood media that the needs of the majority of the citizens living in the rural areas can be met. “We cannot rely on a single media channel to meet the information needs of the people; that is why we encourage the emergence of FM radio stations, especially the ones that broadcast in native languages and vernaculars”, the minister said. Talking at the same workshop, the JICA representative in South Sudan Mr. Atsushi Hanatani expressed JICA’s readiness to support the media in South Sudan through a wide range of programmes. He underscored the role of a free and professional media in the development of a democratic society. He said that JICA has brought leading media experts from Japan to share tips with their South Sudanese counterparts on various elements of media practice. The Acting Undersecretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Mr Mustafa Biong Majak thanked JICA for sponsoring seven of the Ministry’s senior officials and five journalists for two-week training in Japan in May this year. He said the course provided a good opportunity for the officers to get exposed to and learn modern journalism techniques. The one-day workshop discussed on election reporting, challenges of the mass media in post-conflict countries and enhancement of the media through technology, among other topics. There was also be a special session for media engineers. Posted in: Home, Media News CommentsThere are currently no comments, be the first to post one. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
