AMDISS on October 24, 2023, held a meeting with the management of the Media Authority to share notes on issues affecting the media development in South Sudan.
The meeting was part of AMDISS’ advocacy activity for civic space, free press, freedom of expression, and safety of journalists.
During the meeting, the Chairperson of AMDISS Koang Pal Chang expressed concern over the recent trends of confiscation of media gadgets and harassment of journalists and urged the Media Authority to engage the relevant institutions to bring an end to such threats against the media.
AMDISS also briefed the Media Authority on its plan to organize a Media Stakeholders Forum that will take place this November and shall have the participation of key institutions, including government, media, civil society, academia, researchers, youth, and women among others.
AMDISS also seized the opportunity to brief the authority on the progress of MDI’s training, and their outreach training that targets journalists based in the states among others.
In his comment, the Managing Director of the Media Authority, Elijah Alier acknowledged that the meeting came at the right time.
He applauded AMDISS for being consistent in its advocacy which he said has created a great impact and has improved the media landscape of South Sudan.
“You people of AMDISS have been so active and consistent in your advocacy and this is the reason why the media is growing. The work that you do is creating great impact and that is so motivating,” Hon. Elijah Alier, MD of Media Authority said.
The MD spoke about the coming general elections and called for collective preparation for this first-ever election exercise.
“We have elections coming and we need to prepare now as the media sector. As media, we should have a clear direction on how to approach election coverage. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the media upholds the principles of good journalism, that is to say, impartiality, accuracy, independence, humanity, and accountability,” Elijah emphasized.