Monrovia — The Office of the Liberian President has quietly honored four local journalists as Executive Mansion reporters of the year 2008.

The four journalists were Jimmey C. Fahngon of The NEWS, Fatoumata Fofana of the Daily Observer, Fredrick Dainsee of the State-owned Liberia Broadcasting System and Vivian Gartay of Star Radio.

It is not clear what criteria the Executive Mansion used in selecting the journalists. But there are more than forty news-gathering institutions in the country, most of whom are required to detailed correspondents to form the Executive Mansion press corp.

It is also not clear what the four journalists were awarded with. But it is reliably learnt that the President gave each of them Twenty-five United States dollars (US$25.00).

Due to budgetary constraints, most newspapers and radio stations rely on the generosity of the office of the President to facilitate coverage of the Executive Mansion.

However, Managements of newspapers and radio stations periodically cautiously rotate their correspondents at various beats including the Executive Mansion to avoid them nurturing an overly-friendly relationship at the expense of their reportorial duties.