Liberia: Sirleaf Sets Continental Record

20 October 2010



The imperial undercurrent of African leadership culture has often put Africa’s democratic governance on collision course with the media. On this course, the suppression of the media through intimidation and imprisonment of journalists and the enactment of draconian laws to circumvent freedom of speech have become the norm rather than the exception. It has been so since the emergence of independent Africa in the 1960s. Now with international relations favoring good governance, the picture is changing: moderate governments are eliminating restraining laws as they enact media friendly laws. Liberia is at the head of that moderate pack, making President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the trailblazer, according to the African Editors’ Forum (EAF), which met last week in Bamako, Mali. The Analyst, reports.

The continental elite media group, African Editors’ Forum (EAF), has awarded President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf the 2010 “Friend of the Media Africa Award”, making her the first ever sitting president on the African Continent to win the prestigious award.

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