To understand the struggles that reporters face in South Sudan we must first understand how South Sudan came to be. South Sudan was created six years after the Second Sudanese War which occurred because the central government attempted to regulate and exploit the undeveloped Southerners and Inland Sudanese people. Now that the South Sudanese people have been liberated a free and open media would be ideal after they were oppressed.
According to Freedom House President Kiir of South Sudan signed three media bills that were created to establish a press, set up public broadcasters and were supposed to facilitate easy access to open information. This is the second time that this particular bill will be introduced due to the ineffectiveness of the previous time. Even though these are the laws that have been passed these are not the practices that are observed. Routinely press is attacked and intimidated with impunity and according to Freedom press the status of the media is not free, even though the constitution of South Sudan guarantees press Freedom under article 32 and a presidential decision to ban pre-publication censorship.
However, the Civil War that continues to happen throughout South Sudan has sorely hindered media Freedom throughout the country. The NISS or the National Intelligence and Security Service has had their powers strengthened by the parliament in October through the National security service bill that allows them to monitor Communications detain and arrest suspects, conduct searches, and seized property with clear judicial oversight. According to Sarah Goomar a reporter for Enough "The NISS utilized confiscation and intimidation in order to abridge press liberties, forcing news sources into bankruptcy and denying journalists their livelihood." Parliament passed this bill that directly clashes with the Press Freedom Act which is also known as article 32 which calls for all levels of government to uphold press freedom.
