The Inquirer (Monrovia)
C. Winnie Saywah
24 April 2008
With almost thirty local dailies in Monrovia alone, the Liberia Media Center (LMC) has observed that there is a staggering percentage of newspaper-readers bringing to mind that Liberia still has a high percentage of uninformed people.
In its second findings on the media performance in Liberia, the LMC's report concentrated on the penetration of the media in Liberia with its focus on three counties; namely, Montserrado, Margibi and Grand Bassa Counties, few of the closest counties to the capital city, Monrovia.
According to the LMC media reach and penetration study, again the electronic media is being graded as being hugely penetrated in the three areas of the survey with a percentage of 55.9 despite information by some newspaper owners of having circulation agents in far remote communities.
The LMC's report that is mainly comparing and contrasting why most people would rather listen than read, observed that unlike the electronic, the print media has a poor distribution and circulation of the local dailies, and lack diversity in content, backed by the high literacy and poverty rate in the country.
The LMC Executive Director, Lawrence Randall, giving the summary of his center's sponsored study on the media penetration and reach said that other reasons for the poor penetration of the print media especially in the rural areas could be a result of the young people dominating the readership of newspapers who are mostly sports lovers and with international soccer dominating many community discussions, there is this drive for news on the global soccer scene.
He said as far as the survey could reach, by-weekly Sportsmax and Tidings, one of the best entertainment papers so far, are the most widely read papers in the three counties collecting a total of 39% each of the reading audience; though they may not be the most widely circulated papers in Liberia.
The media center which considered its report as a snapshot and opens doors for more critical thought-processes aimed at stimulating debates to better define other parameters or researching the media sectors in the country said that results released are not conclusive and falls short of an exhaustive study that presents any holistic picture of the sector.
However, Mr. Randall told reporters that there is a need for government to support the Liberian media effort by reviewing the media communication systems noting that the media has so much lapses evidenced by the weak systems put in place by government.
He said that the three media laws presented to the National Legislature by the Liberian media recently should be treated with urgency in order to manage public expectation adding that the media renders lots of services to government that are not paid for.
Mr. Randall said that more ethical issues are mostly noticed with the print than the electronic media therefore editors should explore systems of media accountability as government also ensures the establishment of a media steering committee that would help in the support of the local media so that the public can be adequately informed.
Meanwhile copies of the LMC's second summary report were distributed to media institutions after the launch at the media center on Wednesday with the hope that keen interest would be given to further such media research across the country.
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