I cover the court proceedings from Monday to Friday. Each morning, I spend some time in the courtroom to observe proceedings, before leaving the actual court room to watch the hearing from the Press Office. It's from here that I record the audio from the court and turn the day's events into a news bulletin ready for radio stations across Sierra Leone to broadcast later that day. Many of the witnesses speak Krio which is the local language spoken widely in Sierra Leone. Therefore, I record the proceedings both in English and Krio. This helps to ensure that listeners who don't understand English will still understand what is happening throughout the trial. What's most challenging is selecting an angle each day to write about. The court is in session from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm most days, and I have to turn several hours of witness testimony, and other court room discussions, into just five minutes' worth of information for a news bul- letin in Africa. My work is all produced digitally, so I use a computer software package to edit the audio material from the court room and email the final version to more than 15 radio stations in Sierra Leone, including radio stations like UN Radio, which broadcast across the entire country. Many of the radio stations also broadcast local programmes, which cover other aspects of the trial and transitional justice issues affecting their own community. The interviews are also used for their magazine programmes, which provide an opportunity for the listeners to take part in the programme either by phoning or sending in text messages. Radio stations that are based in the provinces read the scripts of my reports in many local languages like Mende and Temne, so that everyone can be informed. When there is also a striking issue in the court, some radio stations will interview me to find out more about what is going on. And it's not just radio stations that are using the material. Newspapers across Sierra Leone and Liberia also publish what I've produced. My relationship with the members of the Bench and the Bar is very cordial. I have never had the opportunity to interview the Judges, but interviewed both heads of the Defence and the Prosecution. 1 have conducted a series of interviews with the Lead Defence Lawyer for Charles Taylor, Courtney Griffiths QC and most of the inter- views have been published in all of the news- papers back home as well as in Liberia. I don't have any direct contact with the wit- nesses as journalists covering the trial are not permitted to conduct their own interviews with them that's the job of the prosecution SPECIAL ISSUE 2 N.E. DECEMBER 2008 and defence teams. The only way I can source information from the witnesses is by recording what they testify in court and then using that audio in my reports. At the end of a long day, I find it really encour- aging to hear from friends, family and former colleagues back home, telling me that they are hearing my reports and keeping up to date with the trial. Many of them have said that the reports have helped them to better understand what caused the war and the events that took place during the war. This is really important to me because it demonstrates that people are really following the trial and are becoming more interested in seeing justice take place. M * Sierra Leonan Producer/Reporter actually based in The Hague. Keywords Charles Taylor; Sierra Leone; Liberia; war crimes; trial; Special Court for Sierra Leone; International Criminal Court (ICC); The Hague; Freetown; Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone (RUF). 0 tremendous experience Covering the trial in a balanced, accurate and objective manner is how I've been trained by the BBC Woirid Service Tirust, who employs me. With funding from the UK Government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the BBC is able to facilitate this project and under the Project Management of Claire Ziwa, ensure that listeners in West Africa understand the trial. This opportunity, until the end of December 2008, has also given me lots of training as a journalist. My skills have improved and 1 know that those skills will last for my whole career, way beyond the trial itself. One thing that 1 usually say to myself is that 1 am not the Judges nor, the Prosecutor, nor the Defence Lawyers. 1 am only serving as a mediator between the people of Sierra Leone and Liberia and happenings in the court. The reason why 1 am very conscious of the way in which 1 file my reports is to avoid passing judgement on the accused Former President of Liberia Charles Taylor because it's the court's job to decide if he is innocent or guilty and not mine. My experience in covering the trial in The Hague cannot be over emphasised. In fact, it has really changed my life. It has helped to improve my journalistic skills greatly and provided me with a great source of employment and livelihood. It has also helped me to contribute to the development of my country by training other journalists and providing coverage of Charles Taylor's trial from The Hague.