The Chairperson of the Independent Media Commission [IMC] has disclosed in Freetown that the electronic media ‘behaved more responsibly than the print media’.

Bernadette Cole was speaking on Friday during the 2009 IMC/ZAIN Media Awards held at the Bank Complex in Kingtom. According to Mrs. Cole the IMC recorded thirty-seven complaints from the public in 2009, a figure which she said was lower than 2008. The IMC chairperson said that the media-scape indicated that the country was enjoying both press freedom and media pluralism. She also spoke of the need to broaden the participation of other interested parties in the Media Awards. The President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists Umaru Fofanah described the media awards ceremony as a call for journalists to work professionally. Handel Mac Williams of CTN won the award for the best radio feature for 2009. His entry, Wetin di Pipul says; featured the use of music for socio- political comment. The Award for the Best News story was won by Nfa Alie Koroma of Premier News for a news report captioned ‘Ariogbo at State House’. The other awards categories included Development journalism, Investigative reporting, Human rights, gender, and politics, among others.