AMPS strongly condemns ostracising of Seychelles Independent Newspaper |09 December 2022
The Association of Media Practitioners Seychelles (AMPS) strongly condemns the decision by State House to no longer include the Seychelles Independent Newspaper (SIN) in the Presidential press conferences.
AMPS learned of the issue on Monday December 5 and immediately sought to engage with State House to get the raison d'être behind such a decision and did not receive an official answer.
The only explanation given was in the email from the Chief Press Secretary to the Editor of SIN, which said that this was due to the State House implementing a new format for the press conference. There was no elaboration, neither did AMPS get an answer to its query as to whether this was restricted only to SIN, or also applied to other media houses.
AMPS sees this as an unacceptable situation in that SIN is a registered, licensed newspaper which has been operating in the country for years now and has stood the test of time.
AMPS refutes the inference in the answer the President gave to journalists who asked him about the matter in the press conference itself, that the association was in the know about this from the day it met with the Head of State.
Never, at any time during AMPS deliberations with the President was there ever any talk of sidelining or ostracising any media house. Yes, the issue of what was termed irresponsible journalism was raised, but it formed part of the greater debate as to how the media environment could improve and, on that matter, the specific role of the Seychelles Media Commission was brought up.
The media landscape in Seychelles is already small and fragile with a nascent sense of freedom of expression among the practitioners. AMPS sees the actions of State House in ostracising SIN as being detrimental to the progress the country has clawed back in regards to freedom of the press and freedom of expression.
In its meeting with the President, AMPS had pointed out that the way that the State House treats the media sets the tone for the whole nation and once again the message being put out there is a negative one.
Media houses in general encounter a lot of difficulty in getting access to information and being included in the coverage of events which are newsworthy. The decision by President Wavel Ramkalawan will give the impression that it is okay to exclude certain media houses, simply because someone is not comfortable with their output.
He had himself said that when a citizen feels aggrieved due to any malpractice, they can have recourse to the courts. The same should be applied here as has been the case for decades now.
AMPS has noticed a glaring disparity between the reason put forward by the President in his reply to questions put by journalists and the written explanation given by the Chief Press Secretary. From the words of the president, there is clearly no new formula being implemented here. The move targeted one specific media house only and set a dangerous precedent.
AMPS feels that the explanations put forward by the President are not in line with the spirit of democracy, to the principle of access to information and freedom of expression.
AMPS reiterates its commitment to responsible journalism and urges anyone who feels aggrieved to use the mechanisms in place, such as the Seychelles Media Commission, to address these.
AMPS urges the authorities to err on the side of caution and always practice inclusivity rather than exclusion.
AMPS is furthering its cause of freedom of the press by alerting the international media watchdog organisations of the ongoing development in the Seychelles media scenery.
Press release from AMPS