Advocate Reech Malual during a talk show on Eye Radio on July 15, 2025. (Photo: Eye Radio/Moses Awan)

Juba, South Sudan (Eye Radio) – The Media Authority Act does not empower the National Security Service to police the media, Advocate Reech Malual has argued.

Advocate Malual made the statement on Tuesday, July 15, during Eye Radio’s Dawn program, which focused on the roles of media and security agencies in South Sudan.

According to him, the Media Authority Act explicitly prohibits the National Security Service from policing the media.

“The National Security Service Bill details everything that the security should do, for example, I would challenge any other lawyer, or any other person, if they can tell me whether the security can police the media, it is not there,” Malual said.

“It is not also within the powers of the National Security to discipline the media. If you look at the media acts, for example, the access to information details what information a journalist should publish.”

According to Reech, journalists are not allowed to publish classified information.

“You cannot publish how many guns we have, that is a crime; you cannot publish the number of our combatants that will allow the enemy to plan and invade South Sudan, those are red lines,” he stated.

“There are also unclassified and classified information, and a journalist needs to know between those. Now, if a journalist acts and publishes information that is supposed to threaten our National Security, the security is allowed to take measures against you,” Malual continued.

Advocate Malual advised journalists to remain ethical in their reporting and to refer cases of abuse to the Media Authority.

“To journalists, we stay ethical and anything that happens to you, report first to the media authority, any other anything else can come after,” he advised.