Unlike previous leaders’ meetings, ASOJ is reliably informed that some FMS leaders expressly demanded that journalists be barred from covering the meeting. "By barring journalists from covering the leaders’ meeting based on the whims of politicians, the leaders risk undermining the very agreement of September 17 that is the subject of discussions in their meeting, and which in actual sense, explicitly guarantees media freedom and freedom of expression for all Somalis” said Ali Adan Hashi. To quote the 17 September 2020 electoral agreement, signed by FGS and FMS leaders, "...