TV Cameraman attacked in Sierra Leone

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Jerry Cole, a senior television cameraman with the state-owned Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), was attacked by supporters of the main opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) in Freetown, the sub-regional media freedom watchdog, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), reported Tuesday.

MFWA, in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Prof. Kwame Karikari, said Cole and his colleague, reporter Unisa Deen Kargbo, had gone to record an interview with SLPP officials at the party headquarters on the ongoing voter registration exercise for the 17 November general election when they were attacked.

“Without provocation, the supporters attacked the journalist while he was shooting persons being interviewed by his colleague Kargbo,” the press freedom watchdog stated.

The attacked journalist also told MFWA “I don't see where I went wrong to interview any one of them. It was a lady who first approached me in a rude manner and tried to push me out of the building without even asking me why my camera is on.”

“I was only taking the footage while Unisa Deen Kargbo was conducting the interviews. This is a big disappointment for a party that wants to come to power,” Cole added.

The sub-regional body then appealed to freedom of expression lovers to petition the SLPP party leadership to restrain their supporters from attacking “journalists performing their professional obligations.”
-0- PANA MLJ/VAO 21March2012