Communicating Justice

From the Court Chamber to the Court of Public Opinion – facilitating local media coverage of the trial of Charles Taylor

The BBC World Service Trust (BBCWST) is implementing a two-pronged project. It is developing, deploying and supporting a team of Liberian and Sierra Leonean reporters to cover the court proceedings from The Hague, as it works with media outlets across Liberia and Sierra Leone to develop and produce their own locally-appropriate programming.

Since the trial’s debut in June 2007, each team has filed daily correspondence-style reports from the court chambers to partner radio stations in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Off the back of these reports, project staff in country have worked to produce a weekly 30-minute radio programme for broadcast throughout the two countries. Team members have also provided sustained on-the-job training and mentoring (backed up by equipment donations) to more than 30 radio stations. Furthermore, these stations, and others in the project’s distribution network, produce their own programming around key transitional justice and development issues arising from the case, primarily in the area of civic education.

Le procès de Charles Taylor

L'ancien président libérien, Charles Taylor, est actuellement jugé à la Haye par le Tribunal Spécial pour la Sierra Leone