The ruling party
politicians often rail against the Opposition newspapers, but in general we
know for a fact that they are very up to date with our weekly publication. They
read it, take notice of what we publish and often take actions to rectify
concerns we raised.
The latest
manifestation of this Opposition press love-in involves Le Seychellois Hebdo
and the Seychelles Weekly newspapers.
On Tuesday’s State of
the Nation Address (SONA), Parti Lepep’s Plaisance MNA, Roma Aglae, spoke of
the vital role the Opposition press play to report on the other side of the
country’s actualities.
Ms Aglae admitted that
if it was not for the Opposition press, the Government and the public would not
know about a lot of things that is happening the country.
Her remark although a
rare admission of the truth certainly made a valuable point with regards to the
roles the newspapers play as a vehicles for social change.
Whilst her other
colleagues were not as appreciative, such as the Leader of the Government
Business, who took time to counteract LSH article about the President’s
gratuity and others who opposed our views on the crisis in the health sector
amongst other current affairs.
Since the return of
multiparty politics, newspapers like Regar, Seychelles Weekly, the Independent
and now LSH have been an important source of information particularly news that
the authority does not want the community to know about. They have broken
stories that have shocked the nation and exposed several corrupt and unethical
practices. Some reports have been so embarrassing to the Government that they
have resorted to bullying tactics including hefty lawsuits and direct threats
on the lives of particular individuals.
Although the changing
technological environment may bring about increasing competition for the weekly
Opposition newspapers in terms of immediacy of news from the new media, we are
keen on embracing the changes and shall continue to strive to report on what
really matters to the Seychellois public.
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