Prime Minister’s Office issues strong threat of censorship on media freedom

 

THE Office of the Prime Minister has threatened media organisations with censorship, warning “any further failure to comply with this request will result in necessary action being taken to address the matter more comprehensively …”

These actions included establishing a media code of ethics for all media outlets.

The warning was contained in a letter written by the Special Secretary to Prime Minister, John Muria jnr.

“I refer to my letter dated 11th April 2017 relative to the above captioned matter.

Since dissemination of my letter, print media continues to publish articles that have

not been subjected to proper verification procedures including taking active steps to verify authenticity of the facts,” Mr Muria wrote.

He said whilst the role of media is respected, “the media has an ethical responsibility to ensure the accuracy of information that is disseminated for public consumption.”

“This responsibility includes the duty to thoroughly research and investigate the

subject matter being presented as opposed to making speculative assertions and

quoting unnamed sources to simply justify the statement being presented or quoting

unqualified sources from social media.

“In view of the above, I will restate my invitation to your respective organisation that

should there be any queries or clarifications with regards to prospective publications

relevant to the political Government, are to be communicated through the Senior

Officials in the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

“Any further failure to comply with this request will result in necessary action being

taken to address the matter more comprehensively and expedite the establishment

of a Code of Ethics for Media outlets within the country,” Mr Muria said.