Sidiki Trawally
1 October 2007
Providence — The President of the Press Union of Liberia says the Liberian media will remain resolute in exposing corruption in the government, public and private sectors. George Barpeen said while the role of the media is critical in Liberia's new democracy, a lot must be done if such democracy is to florish in the country.
Addressing the Liberian Media Forum in Providence, Rhode Island Saturday, Barpeen said most past government officials have viewed the media as opposition and have strong-arm tactics to contain or intimidate its effort to ensure that democracy is sustained.
However, he said in this new political dispensation unfolding back home, "the media is in the vanguard to ensure that people are well informed, educated and entertained with hard facts or reality obtaining on the ground and abroad."
Barpeen asserted that the Liberian media has presented itself as a "progressive partner of the government in the deliverance of the socio-political economic and cultural goods and services to the people and not one that is being used as a public relation mouth piece of the power of the day, equally so emphasizing social justice for all."
The Press Union Chief told the forum that while the media is making effort to do its work, it continues to struggle for freedom of expression, the rights of the people to be informed about happenings in the government and around them.
He declared the media will remain uncompromising on the frontline to dig out, expose the woes in society and fight corruption, be it in the government, public and private sectors.
"Even in the churches and schools, as part of the media responsilities, we will make sure everybody within the territorial boundary of the country lives by the laws of the land."
Barpeen informed the forum that a draft bill on information act is being submitted to the legislature. If passed, he said the bill will enable the media to have access to important information from institutions, as well as government. He said the bill will also empowers the media to sue these institutions if they refuse to provide information.
Lawrence Randall on Media Sustainibility
On media sustainability, Lawrence Randall said the media in Liberia is as much in transition as the wider society. According to him, close to three years of uninterrupted stability has brought a different experience from the preceding period of violent conflict, repression and civil strife. "The evidence of the changing situation can be seen in the increased number of media outlets," he said.
According to LMC Executive, there are at present 40 newspapers in Liberia, which he said has tripled the pre-war statistics. For radio, he said there are more than a dozen stations which are currently broadcasting, representing almost four times the pre-war figures.
Despite these encouraging statistics, the media executive noted, the scars remain. "This is because the severity of the media repression during the decades of political, military and civil strife is such that it is taking some time for the Liberian media to maximally realize its potential as an agenda setting and conflict resolving entity.
It cannot yet even fully meet its basic information dissemination obligations especially outside Monrovia. The irony is obvious. There is freedom to report but there are insufficient tools and resources to exercise this freedom."
Randall said the Liberian will be essential for the cultivation of a culture of public accountability, rule of law and democracy, and accessible independent media will be a fundamental building block for facilitating and supporting the process of social, economic and political transition.
The forum was attended by a cross-section of Liberians including the President of the Liberian community of Rhode Island, Dr. Mator Kpangbai, Rodney Chessen, who served as the moderator, Michael Wreh and Nyekeh Forkpa. Also attending the forum was Michael Keating, Dierctor, Liberia Media Project, and Visiting Fellows at the Center for Democracy and Development at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.
Liberian Media Forum Opens In Rhode Island
The Liberian Media Forum, at which nine visiting Liberian journalists would be addressing the role of the media in an emerging democracy in Liberia has started at the eddiface of the Community College of Rhode Island.
Visiting journalists include the President of the Press Union of Liberia, George Barpeen, Isaac Yeah of the United Nations radio, Veronica Kpan, producer for Star Radio, and Lawrence Randall, Executive Director of the Liberia Media Center, which is a media policy research and media development center affiliated with many international partners both in the US and Europe.
Others are Mai Azango, Senior Reporter at the Daily Observer newspaper, S. Matthias Daffah, producer and reporter at Star Radio, Torwon Sulunteh-Brown, an employee of the UN radio and James Dorbor Sao, Station manager of Super Radio Bongese, a rural community radio in Suacoco, Bong County.
In his opening statements, an executive of the Liberia Media Support Initiative (LIMESI), Samuel Togba Slewion informed the audience that the visiting journalists come from diverse spectrum of the Liberian media landscape, including the print and electronic media as well as civic media organizations, including the Press Union of Liberia, Female Journalists Association of Liberia and the Liberia Media Center.
He said the forum will highlight the role of the media in an emerging democracy. The journalists are expected to speak on pertinent topical issues impacting the emerging democracy in Liberia, including the contribution of the media to the march towards sustainable democracy and the media environment - how it has changed and how it could be enhanced, at a Community Forum in Providence, Rhode Island on Saturday, September 29, 2007.
The Community Forum is part of an Exchange Program for the journalists. Earlier at the Liston Campus, guests lined up to view photos from the Liberian civil war.
The photo exhibition was presented by renowned Liberian Photojournalist, Gregory Stemn, former Photojournalist and Photo Editor of many reputable newspapers in Liberia, including the Daily Observer and Inquirer newspapers.
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