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Liberia: Media Policy Reform Group Presents Draft Laws to Legislators
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Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)
PRESS RELEASE
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Three bills to improve the Liberian media landscape have been submitted to the National Assembly at a ceremony in Monrovia on April 17, 2008.
The bills are drafts for the Freedom of Information Act, an Independent Broadcasting Regulatory Body, as well as an another one to transform the Liberia Broadcasting System into the Liberia Public Broadcasting Service.
It took nearly four years for working group, Media Law and Policy Reform Working Group, under the auspices of the Liberia Press Union (PUL) to prepare the drafts bills.
Before the presentation ceremony, the group had earlier marched through some principal streets of Monrovia, the capital. The demonstrators – mainly media practitioners, civil society organizations, students, women’s groups, and officials of the Liberian Ministry of Information – carried placards to create awareness among the general public.
Some of the placards read “Information Is Power: Support the Freedom of Information Act” and “Let’s Strengthen Our Democracy: Create A Non-partisan Public Broadcaster.”
Receiving the three draft Acts separately, the Information Committees of the Lower and Upper Houses of the Liberian Legislature assured the PUL and the civil society representatives that they will look into the draft acts for passage into laws.
PUL Secretary General Peter Quaqua said the draft acts would help to strengthen democracy in Liberia.
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Presidential Press Secretary Cyrus Wleh-Badio, who also marched with the group, assured the presenters that the “government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf fully supports a Freedom of Information Act for Liberia.”
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