''The Citizen'' is an English-language

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

based in

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a population ...

, the national capital of

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

and the state capital of Central Equatoria. The newspaper was first founded during the second period of autonomy for what was then known as Southern Sudan, the ten states in the deep south of the

Republic of the Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic ...

, in 2006. It became South Sudan's largest newspaper when the country formally declared independence on 9 July 2011.

Circulation

Due to poor infrastructure in South Sudan, virtually the entire regular readership of ''The Citizen'' is concentrated in Juba and its environs in the southern region of Equatoria. Newspapers can take several days to reach states like

Northern Bahr el Ghazal Northern Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 30,543 km² and is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. It borders East Darfur in Sudan to the north, Western Bahr el Ghazal to the west and south, and Warrap and the ...

that are located relatively far from the capital.

Staff and coverage

The newspaper employs close to 50 people, but only about half of them are full-time employees. ''The Citizen'' relies on

stringer Stringer may refer to: Structural elements * Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened * Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal * Stringer (stairs), ...

s to cover much of the country, with its full-time reporters concentrated in Juba and other major Equatorian cities and towns. The Citizen has recently started publishing their articles online on their website

Controversies

Encounters with law enforcement

''The Citizen'' has had a history of run-ins with security officials in South Sudan, which editor Nhial Bol attributes to the lack of familiarity South Sudanese police and soldiers have with constituting forces answerable to a legitimate government espousing democratic ideals, with many being veterans of the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated ...

in which they fought as an irregular force predicated on

frontier justice Frontier justice is extrajudicial punishment that is motivated by the nonexistence of law and order or dissatisfaction with justice. The phrase can also be used to describe a prejudiced judge. Lynching, vigilantism and gunfighting are considered f ...

. Though the South Sudanese government has positioned itself as a champion of freedom of the press, Bol and his reporters have faced arrest on several occasions and in February 2011, the newspaper's offices were reportedly ransacked by plainclothes security officers. Bol has also alleged distributors of ''The Citizen'' in Juba have faced harassment by police.

Allegations of bias

The independent South Sudan News Agency published a withering critique of an article ''The Citizen'' ran under an anonymous byline alleging ties between an independent parliamentary candidate in Western Equatoria and the paramilitary group the

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), also known as the Lord's Resistance Movement, is a rebel group and heterodox Christian group which operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the ...

in April 2010. SSNA called the article's author "an anonymous coward" and decried the report as "the cheapest of all propagandas".

References

External links

* http://www.citizen-news.net./ {{DEFAULTSORT:Citizen Newspapers published in South Sudan