May 05, 2025  – By Denis Logonyi

As the World commemorates Press Freedom Day, the media in South Sudan encounters numerous challenges. Among many questions that linger in the minds of journalists, is, Are Journalists free?  Despite creation of the Media Authority to respond to issues affecting journalists, Censorship and safety, have come at the fore front.

Okech Francis, a journalist and an editor for The Dawn Newspaper in South Sudan cites removal of articles that do not favor the government by security agencies, as an element of censoring press freedom.  

According to Okech, security officers posted at printing press, have always removed articles that they deem “not fit for publication”, an act which infringes on the rights of the writer.

“We are not free. We haven’t achieved that freedom. And the truth is, censorship is still being imposed on us. Up to today, when our stories go to the printing press, the stories are still being removed. They replace them with adverts from the printing press” Okech said. 

In South Sudan, access to information still remains a big challenge with journalists finding it difficult to reach to several government officials and even reaching local population in the villages is more difficult.

Okech points at leaders who have failed to deliver to the citizens, and don’t want anybody to talk about it. The threat of the media is due to exposure of issues of lack of services and incompetencies, to the public. 

“So, they try to harass us, they try to intimidate us; they arrest us simply because they want to stop us from informing the public about things as they are” Okech stressed.

National Security Bill was passed last year, after a tough engagement with analysts and activists, calling for stripping of articles that give power for arrest without warrant. 

Many journalists have been arrested and detained after passing of the Bill, view by many as hostile. Some those arrested are still in detention without trial causing a fear to practicing journalism in the country.

Okech also notes with concern the continued arrest and detention of his Editor In Chief Emmanuel Monychol who continues to be detained illegally by the National Security Service. 

“I think holding him there, to me, again, is just a way of telling us journalists that even if you guys are proved innocent, we can still continue to do anything we want with you people,” he lamented.

Omara Joseph, a lawyer with the South Sudan human rights defenders’ network says there is a shrinking civic space and journalists often fear to report on the developments in the country.

“The situation of media freedoms in the country is still very fragile at this particular moment. That’s why we have a lot of surveillance being put on the media,” Omara observed.

Omara says the challenges facing the media now are just structural, and the law is already there but there is an issue of implementation.

“We have the media laws that actually regulates, stipulates, and regulates this. We have the Constitution that stipulates, actually, media freedoms. But, however, its implementation has not been to the peak.”

He urges the government should come out to defend media in the country if South Sudan is to realize media freedom.

“It is not only that they should look at, monitor, regulate the media, especially mainstream media, but they should also come out to defend some of the things that happen, especially when there is interference by the security agents.”

However, Victor Keri Wani, a veteran journalist, who is in his seventies, blames journalists for not doing enough in uncovering issues affecting the citizens.

“The actual practice of the press in the current South Sudan has lost touch with real coverage of events objectively and professionally,” Keri expressed.

He added that there’s a missing link. “The press is supposed to be very vibrant and strong and is to reflect the actualities in the country but it is not the case,” he noted.

Keri argues that the media is supposed to play its fourth estate role, but it has lost its ground because journalists no longer have the power, the capacity to be counted upon as an estate.

“An estate is a vibrant, a huge body that is consisting of professionals who maintain their integrity and their profession, not to be used by other people just as spokespersons.”

Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS), Union of Journalists of South Sudan (UJOSS) and national press club (NPC) have organized several workshops and meetings to tailor relations between the media and the security organs but these seem have achieved less.

Boboya Joseph an independent policy analyst says a vibrant and free media is important to guarantee democracy quotes Walter Cronkite, a scholar that “Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.” 

“It’s important for South Sudanese people, including the media itself to be able to engage holistically on freedom of the press, because it’s the best shift and the best skill for democracy, if we need to attain democracy in South Sudan,” Bobya emphasized.

With the growing challenge of artificial intelligence journalism is becoming a threat to the practice putting Professionalism in question.

Boboya says the growing trend of misinformation and disinformation online by young South Sudanese trading hate speech is a challenge to freedom of expression which calls for a vibrant media.

“There should be some mechanism in terms of promoting diversity within the media itself, because if the media is seen as, tribalistic, if the media is seen belonging to specific political parties, then this media will not become independent”. 

Boboya, acknowledges the need to work towards building a robust free press by holding the decision makers more accountable. “We must also be able to advance social changes within South Sudan through the media and also keep citizens informed because if we don’t keep the citizens informed, we cannot rally citizens even to be able to hold their leaders accountable.” 

In 2013 and 2014, President Salva Kiir endosed the Media Authority Act, the Broadcasting Corporation Act, and the Right of Access to Information Act, which constitute the legal framework for the promotion of press freedom and access to information. But these laws have not prevented repeated press freedom violations.

According to the World Press Freedom Index 2025 published by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders, South Sudan has risen to 109^th position from its ranking of 136^th in 2024, and was classified as having a “very serious” press freedom situation. Currently, the press freedom environment in South Sudan is classified as “difficult.”

RSF data for the 2025 World Press Freedom Index, in 160 out of the 180 countries assessed, media outlets achieve financial stability “with difficulty” — or “not at all.” Worse, news outlets are shutting down due to economic hardship in nearly a third of countries globally.