South Sudanese journalists have called on the government to establish the media authority under the media laws.

They say the authority would help regulate the work of journalists and enforce media freedom.

He spoke at a two-day conference in Juba to discuss media freedom.

“Until this body is established, we the editors have nothing to celebrate about the press freedom and the freedom of expression in this country,” said Koang Pal, Chairman of the National Editors Forum, “simply because the security will continue harassing the editors by telling them not to publish views from certain people that the government does not like.”

However, the government says it has no money to establish the media authority.

“Implementing the media authority act is not just an appointment; it is more than that,” said Michael Makuei Lueth, Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

“There are physical institutions to be established and these institutions require funding and there has been no funding to establish these institutions. And if we don’t have the funds, then how do you expect us to move forward?”

Mr. Makuei added that the fact that media laws are not operational does not allow journalists to work as they want.

He says media houses should focus on how to restore peace:

“Let us work for peace and it is only through peace that you will work in a peaceful and conducive atmosphere because if the situation continues like this, then a day may come when we may even be forced to declare a state of emergency.”

In a report released yesterday, the Freedom House ranked South Sudan as the third country in the world with a significant decline in the freedom of the press in 2014.