28 November 2008
The Assistant Foreign Minister for Public Affairs, Josephus M. Gray, says he is taken aback by the sheer unprofessionalism and unethical conduct exhibited by a reporter of the New Democrat Newspaper, Festus Poquie, who - he said - erroneously attributed comments to him in the paper's recent back-page story concerning the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Outraged by the level of unethical reportage by the reporter in the Tuesday, November 25 Edition of the New Democrat, Minister Gray complained the reporter to the New Democrat Management and demanded retraction of all attributions traced to him in the story.
Minister Gray described as "naïve" attribution that he [Gray] told the paper, "that the law provides for only the Minister of Foreign Affairs to speak on such matters."
The Assistant Minister said he could not have made such statement to a reporter when in fact he has been playing the spokesman role at the Ministry, signing press releases, granting interviews and performing other public affairs roles since his appointment as Assistant Minister for Public Affairs at the Foreign Ministry.
"Why it is undisputable that the Minister Proper is "the Chief Spokesperson" of the Ministry, he is aware that the Assistant Minister for Public Affairs is the "Official Spokesman" of the Ministry," he said.
In Minister Gray's letter to the Proprietor/publisher of the New Democrat, Mr. Tom Kamara, he said "I am pleased to present my compliments and hereby register my disapproval about an attribution made to me by reporter Festus Poquie in the Tuesday, November 25 Edition of the Democrat with backpage lead story.
The Assistant Minister continued, "May I clarify that at no time did reporter Poquie and I spoke on record relative to this matter. In fact, I did not grant him an interview during his visit at my office. However, as a journalist, I accorded him due courtesy; I am therefore surprised that he went ahead and attributed comments to me."
Consequently, Assistant Minister Gray requested immediate retraction of statements attributed to him in the story and is demanding apology from the New Democrat for the embarrassment and injury the report has caused not only to his office, but also to his professional my reputation.
For the same reason of the breach of ethics, Mr. Gray also reported the New Democrat reporter to the Press Union of Liberia and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
In his letter to the Press Union of Liberia, Mr. Gray spoke of the "serious embarrassment" the New Democrat story caused his office, and said he would highly appreciate "were you to please intervene in a timely manner for the management of the New Democrat to retract the statement attributed to me and to avoid a recurrence of the embarrassing situation."
Besides, he informed the Minister of information of the same unethical behavior exhibited by the New Democrat reporter and called for the Information Ministry's intervention to avoid recurrence of the ugly reportage by the Reporter Festus Poquie.
Minister Gray recalled that this is not the first time the New Democrat had caused him embarrassment. The first time was when the paper, on two occasions, referred to him as "Public Relations Officer" in total disregard to the presidential commission and senate confirmation he holds.
Mr. Gray who is also a professional and renowned journalist, with over 15 years of practical experience, says he has no doubt that the Management of the New Democrat newspaper will institute the necessary action to avoid the recurrence of the ugly and sheer unprofessionalism reportage by the Reporter Festus Poquie.
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It is unfortunate that allAfrica.com will publish on its respected site a bias story. The Analyst is an unfortunate media establishment that publishes story on a malicious basis. This one sided story published here is a glaring indication and manifestation of its pseudo journalism credential.
Mr. Moses Gray is a shameless character on the rampage, tarnishing a cherished and respected character after he had undermined his office.My writings as contained in the said articles are hard facts. If he wants to gain or regain his employers' confidence I can assure him it will not be at the expense… [Read Full Text]