A vibrant, independent media sector is essential for development and needs support and proper planning.  Good journalism can shape public opinion and act as a lever for policy change. It can raise awkward questions and champion the views of poor people. At a time when the world is struggling to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, an independent media such as CTN is essential for development and democracy in impoverished countries such as Sierra Leone.

CTN provides citizens with access to information on key aspects of public life significantly affecting their well-being and involvement. Such coverage yields benefits for society as a whole. Public interest journalism practiced by CTN plays its own independent, vital role in sustaining the public awareness, debate and participation needed if citizens are to exercise their rights and responsibilities effectively in the newly democratic society of Sierra Leone. By bringing crucial information into the public domain, CTN encourages accountable governance and supports the ability of citizens to hold all powerholders

Radio is the main channel through which citizens can confer with each other.  It has also brought ideas and news from the rest of the world to Sierra Leone's doorstep. A multitude of topics-politics and governance, marital and social councils, health tips, public awareness cam­paigns, music and entertainment-are available through CTN to ordinary people through radio.

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CTN is the newest project of Fondation Hirondelle, Media for Peace and Human Dignity, a global nonprofit based in Lausanne, Switzerland.  Fondation Hirondelle is an organisation of journalists that sets up and operates media services in crisis areas. Since its foundation in 1995, Hirondelle has established and managed Radio Agatashya in the Great Lakes Region of Africa; Star Radio in Liberia; the Hirondelle News Agency at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda at Arusha, Tanzania; Radio Blue Sky in Kosovo; Radio Ndeke Luka in Bangui in the Central African Republic; Moris Hamutuk, a radio programme for refugees in Timor; Radio Okapi, a national network in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Radio Miraya, a national network in Sudan, as well as a support project with the Radio-Television of Timor-Leste (RTTL).

Fondation Hirondelle took its name from the first of its radio operations, 'Agatashya', which means ‘little swallow' in Kinyarwanda. The appeal of the name is in its simplicity and universality.

An independent media outlet has a fundamental role to play in post-conflict societies such as Sierra Leone.  An independent radio station can play a crucial role in furthering peace by dissipating rumours, avoiding propaganda and focusing attention on hard facts. By providing a population that is deprived of impartial, professional, hard news with just that kind of information, the radio station is doing nothing more than recognizing a fundamental human right, the right to be informed.

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CTN, a daily radio news package from the studios of Radio Mount Aureol at Fourah Bay College, was launched in Freetown, Sierra Leone on 14 February 2007. A newly created CTN team of journalists began almost immediately - starting from Monday, 19 February 2007 - to produce a daily service of live news and information broadcasts. The sequences run simultaneously on Radio Mount Aureol and UN Radio Sierra Leone. They are also fed by satellite to leading community radio stations throughout the country. News in English, Krio, Limba, Mende and Temne is also heard on short wave for listeners out of range of FM transmitters. In addition, CTN news bulletins and programmes are offered on the internet (www.cottontreenews.org). Within six months CTN was able to produce six hours of professional daily broadcasts in the five main languages of Sierra Leone.

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Sierra Leone is a small country in West Africa that has just emerged from a decade of war which destroyed the country's infrastructure, and killed, maimed, and displaced hundreds of thousands of its citizens. On August 11, 2007 Sierra Leone voted in the second presidential and parliamentary election since the war.  It was the first election run by the new National Election Commission (NEC) and the first since UN peacekeepers left the country two years ago.  Election coverage by CTN stimulated and strengthened the media landscape in Sierra Leone.  CTN was launched seven months prior to the election.  At the time of the election it was made up of 24 journalists and included 5 volunteers. 

James Lebbie and Sarah King anchored the broadcasts during the elections and run off weekends, with a news summary on the hour and live phone calls to correspondents around the country. Eight reporters were deployed in Western Area Rural and Urban (Freetown), where 23% of the registered voting population resides.  Two reporters in the West and Western Rural paired up with one vehicle as did the two in the east of Freetown as far as Waterloo.  Four journalists used motorcycle taxis to circulate in the remainder of the city.  Reporters gave live updates by cell phone.  Reporters were deployed in Bo, Moyamba, Makeni, Kailahun, Kenema, Kambia, Lungi, Port Loko, Kono, and Mile 91.

During the run-off, CTN was on air 5.5 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday on Radio Mt. Aureole and several community stations, with UN radio relaying 5 hours each day nationally.  The final stage of the election was marked by outbreaks of violence in several parts of the country. On August 29 President Tejan Kabbah threatened to impose a state of emergency. A selective media survey by the European Union observer mission showed that a significant proportion of radio stations and newspapers were partisan.  The ruling Sierra Leone People's Party was peacefully voted out of office and the leading candidate, former vice-president Solomon Berewa, ceded the presidency to the opposition. 

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In Sierra Leone, where much of the population is illiterate and poverty is rife, COTTON TREE NEWS (CTN) has taken on an extraordinarily important role. CTN radio programs are not only the means through which people entertain themselves and get the daily news, they are also playing a proxy role for the health clinics, schools, social support networks, and continuing education. Women debate their role in society; citizens call in to complain about poor local services; CTN report­ers, microphones in hand, meet with politicians and ask for answers on the air. CTN has flourished in a remark­able way in this country still emerging from over a decade of war. Its programs provide the entire county with independent news and information. CTN represents a new approach to media enhancement in a post-conflict electoral landscape.

As part of the Promoting Information and Voice for Transparency on Elections (PIVOT) initiative of DIFD, Fondation Hirondelle created CTN, an independent news and information organization at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. The 22 month broadcast and training project, which runs through November 2008, is funded by DFID, IrishAid, the EU RRM, and Switzerland. From studios on Mt. Aureol in Freetown, CTN produces six hours daily live news and information programming that is broadcast nationally through FM, SW, and satellite feeds to community radio stations.

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