American investigators say Dawn Newspaper is owned, operated by national security agents

JUBA – A newly released report by US-based investigative firm, The Sentry, has concluded that the National Security Service (NSS) owns and operates The Dawn Newspaper, a major daily newspaper based in the country’s capital Juba.

In the report titled “Undercover Activities Inside the National Security Service’s Profitable Playbook”, investigators said that the National Security Service which they accused of being “ruthless” infiltrated several media operators including the News Corporation which operates The Dawn Newspaper.

“The NSS has infiltrated several news outlets, as well. According to corporate records, the News Corporation is majority owned by persons who internal government documents reviewed by The Sentry identify as NSS agents,” they said.

“The News Corporation, meanwhile, owns and runs the Dawn Newspaper, one of the four print newspapers in Juba,” it added.

The report further said that influential members of National Security Service (NSS) hold shares in The Telegraph Media Company Limited which was operating an unidentified now-defunct newspaper linked to the office of the president.

“Several influential NSS officials are also shareholders in The Telegraph Media Company Limited, which ran a now-defunct newspaper directly tied to the Office of the President that was designed to ‘promote national sovereignty,’” it said.

It identified Emmanuel Monychol, the editor in chief of The Dawn Newspaper, is a major in the South Sudan National Security and has been in the position since the launch of the publication in 2015.

“The editor-in-chief was Emmanuel Monychol Akop, a major with the NSS according to internal documents reviewed by The Sentry,119 who has been the editor-in-chief of the Dawn Newspaper since 2015,” it added.